The WORST Car Accidents From Every Brand

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]When his airbag deployed, the metal inflator canister ruptured and expelled metal fragments into >> Oh my god, that honestly is just extremely terrible. Look, the worst car crash deaths from every major car brand.

[00:00:13]>> The Porsche incident on September 30th, 1955.

[00:00:16]>> Okay, I think with the more expensive cars, low-key, y'all got to prove y'all worth, right? I want to see for these high-end cars that y'all obviously care about your craft so that the safety is good. I better see the craziest car incidents come from cars that are as more cheap, right? Cuz it makes sense.

[00:00:32]>> James Dean had just finished filming Giant. The 24-year-old actor was finally free to pursue his true passion, racing.

[00:00:38]9 days earlier, Dean had traded in his Porsche Speedster for something faster, a brand new Porsche 550 Spider.

[00:00:45]>> It does look cleaned out. But bro, speeding with a drop top car sounds insane to me. You know, you have no protection at all. And we're talking about the 1900s here. Their cars were probably made out of like scrap metal.

[00:00:57]Gang, you'll probably find some spare pieces in the junkyard. I don't think I trust a 1900's ass car with anything speed related.

[00:01:04]>> Silver, lightweight, and dangerously quick. He paid $7,000 for it and had a custom painter add the words bastard across the back. A week before the crash, Dean ran into actor Alec Guinness in Los Angeles. Guinness would later write in his diary that the Porsche looked sinister to him and warned Dean not to drive it. That Friday afternoon, Dean set out for a race in Selenus with his mechanic Ralph Witherick riding shotgun. At 3:30 p.m., a California Highway Patrol officer pulled them over for speeding near Bakersfield. Dean got >> Wait, so you got a ticket? Like they bin warned your ass. Do not tell me that you crashed on the same day. Bro, that is crazy.

[00:01:40]>> A ticket. It didn't slow him down. At 5:45 p.m.

[00:01:43]>> 2 hours later, my boy, you didn't even thought, you know what? Maybe we should cool it down for the day. We're moving reckless. 2 hours, my boy tried to save your life. Dean was barreling down Route 466 at an estimated 85 mph. Near the town of Cholame, a 23-year-old college student named Donald Turnup Seed was driving a >> Your last name is Turnup Seed. Yo, okay, now y'all giving these randomized ass gaming names. Turnup Seed. They named you off of PlayStation user tag.

[00:02:09]>> Ford tutor in the opposite direction.

[00:02:11]Turnup Seed turned left across the highway. He never saw the lowslung silver Porsche coming. The impact was almost headon. The spider crumpled like aluminum foil. Dean suffered a broken neck, massive internal injuries, and severe head trauma. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. He had owned the car for 9 days. Wuther was thrown from the car and survived with serious injuries.

[00:02:33]>> For you to be thrown from the car and surviving it. Hold on. So, do we really need seat belts? Food for thought. RIP him. No.

[00:02:40]>> Turnup Seed walked away with minor bruises. The 550 Spider was a racing car with license plates. It weighed just 1,200 lb. There were that little petite ass car. Even I could carry that [ __ ] >> No seat belts, no roll cage.

[00:02:53]>> No seat belts. Wait, when did seat belts become like an actual thing? Was it not already law for you to wear a seat belt?

[00:03:00]>> No crumple zones. Porsche built it to win races, not to protect driver.

[00:03:04]>> Yo, if that's the craziest Porsche incident. That's not bad, right? Unless he didn't really report what the craziest incident was. Cuz even though, yes, a car crash is bad, it's not that crazy.

[00:03:13]>> James Dean's death at 24 made him a legend.

[00:03:16]>> RIP. the Tesla incident. Joshua Brown was a believer. The 40-year-old former US Navy member had bought a Tesla Model S and fallen >> Is it the self-driving? Did you trust the self-driving?

[00:03:27]>> In love with it. He named the car Tessy and posted YouTube videos showing off its autopilot system. Tesla found >> I think I speak for everyone when I say when Teslas first came out, everyone was like, "Ooh, ah, this is cool. All these features are nice." And then everybody started seeing how lame Elon Musk was and everyone started saying too much Teslas. And then now Tesla's became like, eh, okay.

[00:03:47]>> Founder Elon Musk retweeted one of his videos. It got a million views. On May 7th, 2016, Brown was cruising down a Florida highway with autopilot engaged.

[00:03:57]The system had >> Would y'all ever trust a self-driving car? I don't think I would. Or if I do, I still have to be behind the wheel.

[00:04:03]Like, I'm going to be attentive at the very least.

[00:04:05]>> Given him seven warnings to put his hands on the wheel. He ignored >> Oh, so you're supposed to be putting your hand on the wheel just in case.

[00:04:11]scored them all. Ahead, an 18-wheel tractor trailer was turning left across the highway. The trailer was white. The sky behind it was bright. Neither brown nor the autopilot system saw it coming.

[00:04:22]The Tesla drove straight into the side.

[00:04:25]This seems like so avoidable, too. This is not even a car accident. That's like, oh my god. There was not much he could do. My boy, you seeing that big ass 18-wheeler turning, you're on the edge of the 18-wheeler. You could have easily just halted >> of the trailer at 74 mph. The trailer sheared off the roof. The Tesla crashed through two fences and came to rest against a telephone pole. A portable DVD player was found in the wreckage.

[00:04:49]According to the truck driver, it sounded like a Harry Potter movie was playing. Joshua Brown died instantly. He was the first known >> Harry Potter not even all that to be distracted. RP the dude. Harry Potter.

[00:05:00]Texting and driving is also bad. Don't text and drive. Don't Harry Potter and drive. Harry Potter the last movie is the best one. If he was watching the last one, I understand. I don't understand. You shouldn't be distracted at all. But >> one person killed while using a semi-autonomous driving system. The technology he trusted with his life did not detect the trailer and the driver did not intervene despite repeated warnings.

[00:05:20]>> The Toyota incident. On August 28th, 2009, California Highway Patrol officer Mark Sailor picked up his wife Cleo, their 13-year-old daughter Mahala, and Cleop's brother Chris.

[00:05:31]>> Please tell me they survived. They are way too young.

[00:05:34]They were driving a loner 2009 Lexus ES 350 from the dealership. A car that had been reported as speeding out of control 3 days earlier. As they drove north on State Route 125, the car began accelerating on its own. Mark, >> it accelerates on its own. Get me out of that car? WHAT? HELL NO. WAIT, SO YOU CAN catch a ticket and it ain't even your fault? Bro, you got family in the whip? You should not be doing that.

[00:05:57]>> Mark pressed the brakes. The car kept speeding up. From the back seat, Chris Lstrella called 911. We're in a Lexus.

[00:06:04]We're going 120. We're in >> Okay, this might be a dumbass question.

[00:06:07]Is Lexus a part of Toyota? I thought Lexus's were its own brand.

[00:06:10]>> Trouble. There's no brakes. In the background, Cleophi was praying. Mahala was screaming, "Hold on and pray. Pray."

[00:06:18]The line went dead. The Lexus struck a Ford Explorer at over 120 mph.

[00:06:24]>> 120. Bro, there was no way that they could go into the sand. I'm assuming. I don't think they could. They probably would have attempted to do so. launched over an embankment and burst into flames. All four were killed in >> Yo, RIP, man. Nah, that sucks, man.

[00:06:39]Hopefully, they could get a crazy lawsuit from them. Not that that's going to do much, but that is insane. RIP.

[00:06:43]>> Investigation revealed an incompatible floor mat had trapped the accelerator.

[00:06:47]>> What does that mean? So, if he removed the floor mat, could he have potentially went slower?

[00:06:51]>> Toyota had known about the problem since 2007. Millions heard the family's last 40 seconds on that 911 recording. Toyota paid $1.2 $2 billion and later admitted it had misled consumers. And >> wait, is this to like everyone that owns the car or just that family?

[00:07:05]>> US regulators about safety issues. For the Sailor family, the admission came far too late. The Ford incident. On May 28th, 1972, Lily Gray was driving her Ford Pinto on Interstate 15 near San Bernardino, California. Her neighbor, 13-year-old Richard Grimshaw, was riding in the passenger seat. They were on their way to meet Lily's.

[00:07:26]>> It's so unfortunate. Obviously, none of these people should die, but when they're being accompanied by someone so young, I'm just like, "Wow, they have their entire life ahead of them. It's sad."

[00:07:34]>> Husband in Barstow. The Pinto was 6 months old and had been nothing but trouble. It stalled constantly, consumed too much gas, and had already been to the dealer multiple times for repairs.

[00:07:45]That afternoon, as Lily approached a congested off-ramp, the car stalled again. She coasted to a stop in the middle lane of the freeway. A Ford Galaxy came up behind her. So, a Ford did caught up by another Ford. You can't make this up.

[00:07:58]>> The driver tried to stop but couldn't avoid the collision. He struck the Pinto at about 30 m hour. At the moment of impact, the Pinto's gas tank was driven forward into the rear axle. A bolt punctured the tank. Fuel sprayed into the passenger compartment. A spark ignited the gas.

[00:08:14]>> NO.

[00:08:15]NO. BRO, THIS SEEMS LIKE SOME [ __ ] YOU see off of Final Destination. Bro, this does not seem like it should happen in real life. Wait, hold on. Okay, so what are like the door like mechanics?

[00:08:25]Obviously, I feel like everything happened in a split second, but from this drawing, you can't really tell how easy it is to get off from the door.

[00:08:31]>> And the car burst into flames. Lily Gray and Richard Grimshaw were trapped inside as flames engulfed them when they finally emerged from the burning wreckage. Their clothing had been almost completely burned off their bodies. Lily Gay died a few days later from congestive heart failure caused by her burns. Richard Grimshaw survived, barely. He had burns over 90% of his body. His nose was gone. His left ear was gone. He lost portions of several fingers. Over the next decade, he would undergo more than 60 surgeries. At trial, it emerged that Ford had known the Pinto's fuel tank was dangerous before the car ever went on sale. Crash tests showed the tank would rupture at just 20 mph. Engineers calculated that a fix would cost $4 to $8 per >> I think they should have been criminally charged. They should have been arrested.

[00:09:18]$4 TO $8. THAT'S ALL IT TOOK TO MAKE SURE everybody is safe. Honestly, y'all are willing to let people die than to just let them be safe. I feel like I can't even sleep at night knowing that the cars that I'm issuing to people is dangerous. Like, how are y'all cool with that?

[00:09:31]>> Executives decided it was cheaper to pay out lawsuits than to recall the vehicles. The jury awarded Richard Grimshaw $125 million, later reduced by the judge to $3.5 million.

[00:09:44]>> OH NO, I'M BEATING THE JUDGE ASS. Y'ALL KNOW THAT one clip where the [ __ ] like jumped up to the judge? That's exactly what's happening. What you mean? I'm going for more than 100 m and then you reduce my [ __ ] to 3.5. Hell no. No, no, no. The judge is going to have to see me afterwards. What? Imagine even being told you were going to get make that much. Obviously, his 13-year-old self probably doesn't care. But no.

[00:10:03]>> Estimates suggest hundreds of people burned to death in Pinto crashes. Ford had done the math. They decided those lives were worth less than $11 per car.

[00:10:11]>> Wow.

[00:10:11]>> The BMW incident. In September 2020, a man in Arizona was driving a 2004 BMW 3 Series when he was involved in a collision. The crash itself was not severe. What killed him was not the impact. When his airbag deployed, the metal inflator canister ruptured and expelled metal fragments into Oh my god, that honestly is just extremely terrible look and a horrible manufacturing. Oh wow. RIP. Uh, just the thought of just imagining how his face turned out after the incident is crazy.

[00:10:43]>> To the cabin, investigators concluded a Takata inflator rupture sent shrapnel into the driver, killing him.

[00:10:49]Authorities withheld his name for privacy reasons. He was the 18th person to die from a Takata airbag in the United States and the first in a >> How is it that an airbag, the thing that's actually supposed to help you during a car crash, right, is a thing that's actually killing you.

[00:11:02]>> What?

[00:11:02]>> BMW. The airbags had been manufactured using ammonium nitrate, a propellant that degrades over time in hot climates like Arizona's. When ignited, deteriorated propellant burns too fast, overpressurizing the metal canister and causing it to shatter. The recall eventually covered over 67 million inflators across 19 automakers. The largest automotive recall in history.

[00:11:25]His 16-year-old BMW had become a death trap. Its safety device transformed into a weapon by chemistry and time. The MercedesBenz incident.

[00:11:34]>> All right, this is the car that I have.

[00:11:36]Let's see what is the worst incident. If it's that bad, I'm returning my [ __ ] >> On June 11th, 1955, Pierre Ley was racing a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR at the 24 hours of Lemon. The 49-year-old Frenchman was driving one of the most advanced race cars ever built. Its body made of ultra lightweight magnesium.

[00:11:55]>> All right. Why are y'all making this [ __ ] out of tin foil, my [ __ ] I'm trying to see highly reinforced integrated titanium. I'm making this [ __ ] with alloy. That just sounds like the rap you put on bubble gum >> alloy. Just before 6:30 p.m., Ley was approaching the pits at approximately 150 mph. Ahead, British driver Mike Hawthorne pulled sharply in front of Lance Mlin's slower Austin Healey and breakd swerved left directly into Levy's path. Levy had no time to react. His Mercedes struck the rear of Mlin's car, which acted as a ramp. The 300 SLR was launched into the air, flew over the embankment, struck a concrete stairwell, and disintegrated. The engine block was hurled into the packed grandstand. The magnesium body burst into white hot flames. Leve was thrown from the car and killed instantly. In the grandstand, the carnage was unspeakable. The hood decapitated spectators.

[00:12:47]>> So, my car just has the worst impact.

[00:12:50]What type of luck is this? I'm throwing away the car.

[00:12:52]>> The engine plowed through the crowd for nearly 100 me. This is actually a final destination ass death. By the way, >> at least 82 spectators were killed. More than 120 were injured. It remains the deadliest accident in motorsport history. Switzerland banned motor racing until 2022. Mercedes abandoned the sport for three.

[00:13:10]>> Damn. So they just recently recover from that >> decades. The trag >> 30 years. Honestly, good. They should feel that guilty.

[00:13:18]>> At least racing safety forever. The Audi incident. In the 1980s, the Audi 5000 in the United States became headline after headline as drivers reported that the car would suddenly accelerate on its own without warning.

[00:13:31]>> Bro, honestly, if I'm driving a car like this and the first time I see it make an error, I'm sorry, I'm not driving it.

[00:13:36]Between 1978 and 1987, NHTSA investigations recorded around 700 crashes and at least six fatalities associated with sudden acceleration in Audi 5000 models equipped with automatic transmissions. On November 23rd, 1986, CBS's 60 Minutes aired a devastating segment titled Out of Control. The report showed an Audi 5000 apparently accelerating by >> Do y'all know anyone that would spend like $10,000 or like $5,000 on a used Audi or like a Benz or one of those like high-end cars that has like a 100,000 miles on it? I had a friend that spent like I think like 4,000 on an Audi and it had like 85,000 mi. Bro, why are you doing that? Like and bro, I understand you're trying to look good. I understand you want everybody to be like, "Oh, look at my car." But bro, if it has 100,000 miles on it, like stop. Stop. Bro, that's what a true larer looks like. You honestly just want everyone to just see the brand of your car, even if you know that that [ __ ] is messed up or the lifespan of it is about to end. Stop >> itself. US sales collapsed from 74,000 in 1985 to just 12,000 by 1991. But in 1989 after an exhaustive investigation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that the incidents were caused by driver error, specifically pedal mislication. It later emerged that the 60 Minutes demonstration had been staged using compressed air to force the car to accelerate. The children who died in those crashes were real. The grief of their families was real. But whether the Audi 5000 was truly defective remains contested. What is certain is that the controversy destroyed the brand's American market for over a decade. The Volkswagen incident. In November 2022, near London Bridge Station, a Volkswagen ID4 was parked on a street in Burrow.

[00:15:21]According to witnesses, the electric SUV suddenly lurched forward without warning. Two children were in its path.

[00:15:27]>> Bro, we can't be having these self-driving cars cuz I promise you AI is going to take over everything and it's just going to just boom. They're going to hijack everything and everything is just going to start driving itself. Bro, >> 5-year-old Farid Amir was struck and killed. His 12-year-old brother, Raphael, was critically injured. The driver claims the car moved on its own.

[00:15:44]In a London court case that followed, he maintained that he never pressed the accelerator, that the vehicle suddenly accelerated by itself while stationary.

[00:15:52]Investigators told the court they found no fault with the vehicle. They believe it was pedal mislication. The driver pressing the accelerator when he believed he was pressing the brake. The case continues. Whatever caused the ID.4 to move that day, Farir is dead.

[00:16:06]>> What do y'all think? Car issue or driver issue? RIP the kid though. That's terrible. If the driver was in that car, it's the driver's fault. He was 5 years old. He was walking with his brother when a parked car became a weapon. The Chevrolet incident. On March 10th, 2010, Brooke Melton woke up to a voicemail from her father wishing her a happy 29th birthday. The pediatric nurse FROM >> ON HER BIRTHDAY, CHEVROLET, y'all got to pay her an extra 10 million. Y'all got to pay the family an extra hundred million, bro. 29th birthday. RIV.

[00:16:34]>> Georgia drove to work, finished her shift, and headed to her boyfriend's place for dinner. 4 days earlier, her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt had shut off while she was driving. The power steering failed. The brakes went stiff. She took it to the dealership. They returned it on March 9th, saying, >> "So, they made it worse. They technically made it worse."

[00:16:50]>> They had fixed the problem. They hadn't on that rainy birthday night. Her ignition switch slipped from run to accessory. The engine shut off.

[00:16:58]>> Accessory or accelerator.

[00:17:00]>> Her power steering failed. Her brakes failed. Her airbags were disabled. The Cobalt hydroplane. So the airbags don't even work. Did y'all do anything in there?

[00:17:08]>> Crossed the center line and was struck by an oncoming vehicle. Her airbags never deployed. Brooke Melton died of her injuries. Her father hired an attorney who discovered that General Motors had known about the defective ignition switch since 2001. Engineers had proposed fixes. Executives rejected them because they cost too much. The defect was eventually linked to at least 124 deaths. GM recalled 2.6 6 million vehicles and paid $900 million in criminal penalties.

[00:17:36]>> Yo, how much money do these companies be making, bro? 900 million, bro. I'm throwing up. RP her, man. That's sad.

[00:17:42]>> Brooke Melton died on her 29th birthday because a part that cost less than a dollar.

[00:17:46]>> BRO, WHEREVER THAT MECHANIC IS, YOUR ASS GOT TO GO TO JAIL, TOO, BRO.

[00:17:49]>> Was not strong enough to stay in position. The Honda incident. On Christmas Eve 2009, Gerget Rathor was driving her 2001 Honda Accord through Richmond, Virginia with her three children in the back. I feel like that's what car companies also got to understand. There are kids in the back of your car. Like you could also be liable for kids dying.

[00:18:08]>> Seat. A male truck struck her vehicle.

[00:18:10]The collision was not severe. But when the airbag deployed, the metal inflator canister violently ruptured. A shard of metal was propelled into RATHOR'S NECK.

[00:18:20]>> AH, MAN. THOSE KIDS ARE probably traumatized.

[00:18:24]Wow.

[00:18:25]>> Severing her corroted artery. The 33-year-old mother bled to death in front of her children. The airbags had been manufactured by Takata Corporation using ammonium nitrate as a propellant.

[00:18:35]Over time, especially in hot and humid climates, the chemical degraded. When the airbag deployed, the propellant could burn too quickly, shattering the metal canister into deadly shrapnel.

[00:18:45]Honda had installed these airbags in millions of vehicles. Testing later revealed certain older inflators had extremely high rupture rates. Despite knowing of the defect, Takata and Honda were slow to act. People continued to die. By the time the recall reached its full scope, at least 27 people worldwide had been killed and more than 400 injured. Takata filed for bankruptcy.

[00:19:07]But for Gerget Rathor, >> who watched their mother die on Christmas Eve, no penalty could undo what they witnessed.

[00:19:14]>> Yeah.

[00:19:14]>> The Nissan, >> bro. They're always going to remember that, bro. I feel like that's some [ __ ] that's going to trigger PTSD. No kid should be looking at their mother dying like that. RIP.

[00:19:21]>> An incident. On January 4th, 2026, a 29-year-old man was driving a Nissan GT-R through Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The GTR produces 565 horsepower and can accelerate from 0 to 60 in under 3 seconds.

[00:19:36]>> Damn.

[00:19:36]>> Its sophisticated electronics keep the car stable in situations where other vehicles would spin out. Police said the GTR lost.

[00:19:43]>> Wait, GTR? This is a pretty like hype car. I know this is a lot of people's like dream car. I actually went into a Nissan GT-R, a Skyline Nissan GTR in Japan >> and crossed into oncoming traffic. The crash killed two people, the GTR driver and the driver of the other vehicle, who succumbed to injuries later. The GTR's computers had been designed to keep its driver alive in situations he should never have attempted. But no electronics can override the laws of physics. At some point on that Malaysian road, the technology that made him feel invincible met its limit. Two families received the worst news of their lives that day. One because a man chose to drive a supercar beyond what any car can survive. One because they happened to be in the wrong lane at the wrong moment. The Ferrari incident. On August 31st, 2014, a Ferrari 458 Spider was traveling on Germany's A40 Autobon near Dortmund. The 458 Spider was Ferrari's convertible masterpiece, a 4.5 L V8 producing 562.

[00:20:44]Bro, you're speaking in Chinese to me right now. I don't understand what you're saying. You're speaking in Russian. Whenever I see these car dudes talking about what type of [ __ ] is in cars, I'm like, "Okay, does it look cool?"

[00:20:54]>> horsepower. Its body built from lightweight aluminum to maximize speed.

[00:20:58]The driver lost control. The Ferrari crashed into the guardrails at high speed. The impact was violent. Then the fire started. The passenger was trapped in the wreckage. The lightweight materials that made the 458 so fast offered almost no protection when things went wrong. Witnesses watched helplessly as flames engulfed the car.

[00:21:16]>> Imagine spending that much money on a car that ends up like that.

[00:21:20]>> She burned to death before anyone could reach her. The driver was thrown from the vehicle. He survived the impact but sustained severe injuries. He died later in hospital. Two people entered one of the most beautiful cars ever made that day. Neither survived. Every gram Ferrari saved to make the 458 faster was a gram of protection they did not have.

[00:21:39]>> If you'd like to see >> Wow. Moral of the story, YouTube, regardless of what car you have, there might be a defect. So, make sure you drive safely. Let me know what car crash you thought was the worst. Make sure you guys like, subscribe, check out the gaming channel, check out the other channels, catch the streams. Watch you for life. I love y'all and peace.