Prius most accident prone car?

[PeteB]

Well, this comes as a surprise to me - I wonder if it's the whole story...

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/toyota/prius/106305/toyota-prius-named-uk-s-most-accident-prone-car

[yossarian247]

Its quite likely due to their popularity as a minicab. The stats are based on accidents per 10000 cars on the road, whereas it would be more useful to look at accidents per 10000 miles driven, for example. 

[BhxTrev]

Hi Pete, finally got the Dashcam installed by Toyota. Thanks for all the past advice. Regarding the crash statistics most Prius cars I see driven around in the Midlands are taxis. In fact the last Prius I saw in a crash was a taxi. These guys do unbelievable mileages & can be on the road Day & night. As they choose the Prius as a 'workhorse' it certainly makes me happy to own one since if anybody knows what a reliable & economical car is they certainly would! It's hardly surprising therefore that because of this, as Nick says, accidents per 10,000 miles driven would probably be more statistically accurate. I hope Autoexpress read these comments & do a proper, fair reassessment of these crash statistics!!

[TonyHSD]

Prius is becoming one of the most popular cars on the roads in any big cities around the globe including 🇬🇧 for an obvious reason, so make sense many of them to get involved in road accidents. 

[kithmo]

According to Go Compare ?

It's just a conspiracy by the insurance companies, so they can up our premiums next year. 🤔

[Duffryn]

As an aside - I was watching a traffic cops type programme (A1 Britains Longest Road?) the other day, where a Prius had been badly rear-ended on the dual carriageway in Yorkshire. The first police car had arrived, and the cops had identified the badly damaged and immobile Prius as a hybrid (!), and, as such they were unable to touch the vehicle as the whole body could be 'live'. They would have to wait until a specialist car recovery team arrived.

I suppose in theory this could be correct, but I just wonder if there had happened to be folk trapped inside the car perhaps hurt how that would pan out?

[Heidfirst]

14 minutes ago, Duffryn said:

I suppose in theory this could be correct, but I just wonder if there had happened to be folk trapped inside the car perhaps hurt how that would pan out?

afaik the fire brigade (usually the ones that cut cars to bits) have hazard details for pretty much every car so that they can makesafe things like airbags etc.

[mickburkesnr]

3 hours ago, BhxTrev said:

Hi Pete, finally got the dashcam installed by Toyota. Thanks for all the past advice. Regarding the crash statistics most Prius cars I see driven around in the Midlands are taxis. In fact the last Prius I saw in a crash was a taxi. These guys do unbelievable mileages & can be on the road Day & night. As they choose the Prius as a 'workhorse' it certainly makes me happy to own one since if anybody knows what a reliable & economical car is they certainly would! It's hardly surprising therefore that because of this, as Nick says, accidents per 10,000 miles driven would probably be more statistically accurate. I hope Autoexpress read these comments & do a proper, fair reassessment of these crash statistics!!

Having several near misses with Taxi driving Prius', I can confirm that.

[PeteB]

4 hours ago, BhxTrev said:

Hi Pete, finally got the dashcam installed by Toyota.   Glad to hear

Thanks for all the past advice.  You're very welcome.  I'm having a new RAV4 4WD Hybrid for a couple of days next week, likely to be ordering one - so my dealer will be called upon again.

Regarding the crash statistics most Prius cars I see driven around in the Midlands are taxis.  There are a few round here (more Auris TS Hybrids than Prius), but I see more privately owned.

In fact the last Prius I saw in a crash was a taxi. These guys do unbelievable mileages & can be on the road Day & night.   After 30 years in IT, in 2006 I became a Prius minicab driver myself for 12 months - did 46,000 miles in the taxi, another 7k in my own Prius (a Mk1 at that time) and about 4k more in other cars.  For the next few years I managed the fleet as it grew from 5 to nearly 300 cars (they have over 600 now, plus fifty or so Toyota Mirai Fuel Cell Vehicles.

 

[Cjohnston1982]

The reason is that Prius cars are generally used in town where the speed is much lower. I suspect most Prius owners are taxi drivers or drivers who live within the congestion zone.

[wass]

 I wonder where the supercars are on that list. Statistics can be quoted out of context. As has already been pointed out, a lot of prius mileage is completed in the most dangerous roads there are. The article just says that the prius is the car most likely to be involved in an incident. I suspect that there were no Prius cars involved in incidents exceeding 200 mph... ever.... so does that make the prius the best car to ride the autobahns?

[PeteB]

3 hours ago, wass said:

 ... I suspect that there were no Prius cars involved in incidents exceeding 200 mph... ever....   maybe if driven off a cliff 😁

...so does that make the prius the best car to ride the autobahns?   unless they get rear-ended!

 

[Living On The Edge]

Cars are not accident prone. Drivers are.

[mickburkesnr]

On 3/15/2019 at 6:53 PM, wass said:

 I wonder where the supercars are on that list. Statistics can be quoted out of context. As has already been pointed out, a lot of prius mileage is completed in the most dangerous roads there are. The article just says that the prius is the car most likely to be involved in an incident. I suspect that there were no Prius cars involved in incidents exceeding 200 mph... ever.... so does that make the prius the best car to ride the autobahns?

Well it's just volumes isn't it. There are far more Prius' on the road than there are Ferrari Testerossas. There are far more Ferrari F40 on the road than Lada's. So, in that respect, more F40's are in accidents every year on UK roads than Lada's.

[Chris Dance]

Far more important is if you are unfortunate to be involved in a collision is how safe and strong your car is to withstand the impact. A collision can happen at any time no matter how safely you drive. Unfortunately I was  involved in a collision in a Prius Gen 3 a few years ago. The car was recovered and repaired by Toyota. The cost of repair £10,000. There was a lot of damage to the car but nobody was injured thanks to the build of the Prius. The police who attended the collision stated that accidents are avoidable so these type of incidents are classed as collisions. No driver can state that they are never going to be in involved in a car crash. it does not matter if you are the best driver ever it can happen to you. I think that the Toyota safety Pack is one reason that Prius cars are so popular. With more Prius cars on the road then there will be more reports of collisions for the Prius cars.

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by Chris Dance
Wording not correct

[PeteB]

Amen!

My first Prius (a Gen 1) was totalled in a 40 mph collision in 2002.  I'm certain if I'd been in any of the first 5 cars I owned (made in the 1960s and 70s) I'd have died, probably instantly.  I was completely unhurt.

The year before, my Yaris was hit in the driver's door by a Vauxhall Vectra estate 2.6 auto.  The driver admitted he had his foot flat to the floor until the impact as he'd failed to see me and was trying to cross a dual carriageway ahead of the car behind me, which he could see (and this on a clear day, me in bright red car showing dipped headlights - which I did before DRLs).

We estimate he hit my door doing at least 25 mph, and pushed me sideways across both lanes before I spun.  This was before the Yaris got side airbags, but again I walked away (admittedly through the passenger door!).  Again, any of my first 5 cars I'd have been quite badly injured.

Both collisions were held to be 100% the other drivers' fault, so I didn't pay an excess and kept my NCD (although it was protected anyway).  Didn't stop the premium almost doubling for a couple of years though!  Plus, in both cases, I was financially worse off by the time I'd replaced them.

I once heard a collision investigator say that in the 1950s and start of the 60s people occasionally died in crashes at just 10 mph!  There certainly were some spiteful interior features in those days.

[wass]

On 3/15/2019 at 6:53 PM, wass said:

 I wonder where the supercars are on that list. Statistics can be quoted out of context. As has already been pointed out, a lot of prius mileage is completed in the most dangerous roads there are. The article just says that the prius is the car most likely to be involved in an incident. I suspect that there were no Prius cars involved in incidents exceeding 200 mph... ever.... so does that make the prius the best car to ride the autobahns?

Somebody once told me that 90% of statistics are just made up. :) The point is what does this statistic mean? Does it mean that prius plastic parts clips break easily and cost a lot to replace because Toyota only sells then as part of a large assembly and therefore owners put everything through their insurers and therefore lots of little dings and scrapes are  on the insurers records because of weak trim clips? Its already been mentioned that prius cars are used on the very roads which incur the most accidents. As somebody else pointed out, its good to drive a Lada because they are hardly ever involved in accidents these days.... I agree. the statistics agree too!

[FROSTYBALLS]

44 minutes ago, wass said:

As somebody else pointed out, its good to drive a Lada because they are hardly ever involved in accidents these days

Probably because there are only 93 Ladas (Riva, Samara and Niva) in the UK which are still registered for use on the road.

[PeteB]

On 3/15/2019 at 11:43 AM, BhxTrev said:

Hi Pete, finally got the dashcam installed by Toyota....

Update: when I ordered my RAV4 Hybrid last Friday, the service department had a display with a Nextbase Dashcam in it, and a price for supply, hard wire kit and fitting.  While doing the order, the salesman was able to call up a list of DashCams with all the accessories and include it in the spec of the car.

[wass]

On 3/25/2019 at 9:10 PM, FROSTYBALLS said:

Probably because there are only 93 Ladas (Riva, Samara and Niva) in the UK which are still registered for use on the road.

Yes... so if you see one snap it up quick! Sorry, I cant keep a straight face on this anymore. Any vehicle is as safe as the nut behind the wheel irrespective of who makes it. Lending credence to "make news" articles simply encourages more of them.

[alan333]

The Prius is the most accident prone car.  And every mass murderer has admitted to drinking water. Is the water to blame?  Bad stuff that 😉

[Parts-King]

On 3/15/2019 at 3:12 PM, Heidfirst said:

afaik the fire brigade (usually the ones that cut cars to bits) have hazard details for pretty much every car so that they can makesafe things like airbags etc.

We did some training on Hybrid for N Wales fire service, they had no info on Hybrids whatsoever, our chaps showed them how to power down and handle safely etc. A little worrying that they had no info on Hybrids considering the popularity 

[Heidfirst]

odd in light of https://www.toyota-tech.eu/Menu/Safety 

[Parts-King]

37 minutes ago, Heidfirst said:

odd in light of https://www.toyota-tech.eu/Menu/Safety 

They had data and safety sheets on a central system that could be accessed, the problem was that nobody had any idea about what to do with the Battery. In most cases a 12V Battery is just disconnected, with an HV Battery, there is a process to close it down, they had no idea where it was located, or what to do in the event of an HV cable failure, voltages involved etc. This was about 4 years ago, I'm sure things have improved with the number of hybrids on the road these days (You would hope)