New VW Issue: Questions About Its U.S. Crash Data

As Volkswagen AG struggles with an enormous cheating scandal involving its U.S. diesels, the company now faces a new challenge: explaining why its reported death and injury claims in the country are dramatically lower than those of all other carmakers.

An analysis for Bloomberg News by advisory firm Stout Risius Ross Inc. indicates the average reporting rate for the 11 largest carmakers in the American market was nine times as high as VW's over the past 10 years. The firm says VW's reported incidents are significantly below other companies already cited by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for non-compliance.

The study is based on government data from reports mandated by the 15-year-old TREAD Act. Such reports to NHTSA are intended to help identify safety defects more quickly.

According to the analysis, VW reported 34 incidents per million vehicles on the road. That compares with 524 for General Motors and 301 for the industry average. Stout Risius Ross notes that Chrysler and Honda have been fined for their underreporting rates of 101 and 78 incidents per million vehicles, respectively.