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307 points MBCook | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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bunderbunder ◴[] No.42151125[source]
I'd love to see some sort of multiple regression or ANOVA on this, instead of singling out a single variable. Is car brand really the best independent predictor? Or is it specific design decisions you tend to see in certain brands?

(Like, say, maximizing driver distraction by consolidating a bunch of essential controls and information displays into a touchscreen display that's really difficult to operate when it's sunny outside. Just to pick something at random, of course.)

Somewhat related, I was recently shopping for refrigerators, and fell down a data rabbit hole. If you just look at the overall style of fridge, French doors look like a terrible option from a reliability perspective. But then, digging in a bit more, it turns out that's kind of a spurious correlation. Actually it's the presence of bells and whistles like through-door ice dispensers that kill a refrigerator's reliability. And then perhaps on top of that the amount of extra Rube Goldberg machine you need to make a chest height ice dispenser work in a bottom-freezer French door refrigerator creates even more moving parts to break. But a those problems don't apply to a model that doesn't have that feature.

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jdietrich ◴[] No.42151582[source]
The Tesla Model Y is a two ton SUV with the performance of a Porsche 911. The base RWD model is fast and the Performance model is stupidly fast. I don't think anyone would be particularly surprised to learn that Porsche drivers get into a lot of fatal accidents.
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floxy ◴[] No.42151851[source]
>I don't think anyone would be particularly surprised to learn that Porsche drivers get into a lot of fatal accidents.

From the actual study:

                               Fatal Accident Rate   Compared to
    Rank| Model               |(per 10^9 Miles)    | Overall Average
    ----+---------------------+--------------------+-----------------
     1  | Hyundai Venue       | 13.9               | 4.9x
     2  | Chevrolet Corvette  | 13.6               | 4.8x
     3  | Mitsubishi Mirage   | 13.6               | 4.8x
     4  | Porsche 911         | 13.2               | 4.6x
     5  | Honda CR-V Hybrid   | 13.2               | 4.6x
     6  | Tesla Model Y       | 10.6               | 3.7x
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IAmNotACellist ◴[] No.42151921[source]
So the Tesla Model Y has a lower fatal accident rate than sports cars, but they report it as Tesla overall having the highest fatal accident rate? Perhaps that's because _all_ the cars they make are stupid fast and heavy, and they don't offer cars where it's far harder to get into those situations?
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1. jiggawatts ◴[] No.42152010{3}[source]
I wonder if it’s because there’s more passengers per model Y on average than a two-door sports car!

One fatal model Y accident might cause half a dozen gas fatalities, but a Porsche wrapped around a tree might kill just the lone driver.

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2. IAmNotACellist ◴[] No.42152140[source]
Good point too. Things that the authors should've thought about.
3. tga_d ◴[] No.42153994[source]
Both the comment and TFA clearly indicate it's measured in terms of fatal accidents, not fatalities.
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4. sneed-oil ◴[] No.42180650[source]
I would guess that having more than one passenger increases the chance of at least one of them dying in an accident