Chevrolet Blazer worst in driver-death study

General Motors vehicles had the highest and lowest driver death rates from 2002 through 2005, according to a study being released today by the insurance industry.

Two-door, two-wheel-drive Chevrolet Blazer sport-utility vehicles built from 2001 to 2004 had the highest rate -- 232 driver deaths per million registered-vehicle years -- during the four-year span, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says.

By contrast, the Chevrolet Astro minivan had the lowest rate with only seven deaths per million registered-vehicle years. It was followed by Nissan's Infiniti G35, the BMW 7 Series and the Toyota 4Runner, according to the institute, a nonprofit that's funded by insurance companies.

Honda's two-door Acura RSX had the second-highest rate with 202 driver deaths, followed by the Nissan 350Z, which registered 193 deaths.

Auto makers said the study was limited in its scope because it did not include factors that could play major roles in fatalities.

"The study doesn't really take into account driver behavior or how the vehicles are used, so it's difficult to really draw much significance," General Motors spokesman Alan Adler said.

GM's Astro and Blazer went out of production in 2005.

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Nissan said all of its vehicles "are engineered to meet or exceed government safety regulations as well as our own rigorous internal safety requirements, and the 350Z is no exception." The auto maker said it urges "everyone driving a Nissan or Infiniti vehicle to do so safely."

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Chris Naughton, a Honda spokesman, said the company has "long striven to build very safe vehicles with a long list of safety features." He said the Acura RSX, a sports coupe, typically had younger buyers, which could have contributed to its ranking.

The institute said the average death rate for all vehicles had declined from 110 per million registered-vehicle years in 1990-94 to 79 for 2002-05.

"This is a big improvement over time. The rates have gone down about 30% since the mid-1990s," said Anne McCartt, the institute's senior vice president for research.

The study also reaffirmed past research, which found that heavier vehicles generally had lower death rates. Data came from the federal government's Fatality Analysis Reporting System and registration counts from the Polk Co., a Michigan provider of automotive information.

This article was reported and written by Ken Thomas of The Associated Press.

Driver-death rates per million registered-vehicle years:

Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

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