What share of people killed in cars weren't wearing a seat belt?

In 2024, 48% of the people killed in passenger cars, SUVs, pickups and vans weren't wearing a seat belt (9,758 people), counting only those whose belt use is known; it was unknown for about 1 in 9. The share has fallen as more people buckle up: it was over 90% in the early 1980s, before most states had seat belt laws, and about 60% in 2000.

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Key facts

Measure: Percent of occupants killed (known belt use). Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2024, is 48.4%.
  • That is down 48.8 percentage points from 97.2% in 1982.
  • The highest was 97.2% in 1982.
  • The lowest was 46.6% in 2019.

Source and date

Source
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “What share of people killed in cars weren't wearing a seat belt?” Chart. Data: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars (data as of December 31, 2024). https://chart.ly/charts/unbelted-traffic-deaths (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Percent of occupants killed (known belt use)
1982 97.2
1983 96.5
1984 95.1
1985 90.2
1986 85.2
1987 81.9
1988 79.7
1989 78.3
1990 76.9
1991 73.6
1992 71.2
1993 68.1
1994 65.9
1995 65.3
1996 63.8
1997 62.9
1998 61.6
1999 62.1
2000 60.2
2001 59.5
2002 58.7
2003 56.4
2004 55.4
2005 55.4
2006 55.2
2007 54
2008 54.7
2009 53.1
2010 51.5
2011 51.9
2012 51.6
2013 49.4
2014 48.6
2015 48.1
2016 48
2017 46.8
2018 47.1
2019 46.6
2020 50.9
2021 50
2022 49.8
2023 49.3
2024 48.4

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