19:29 31-12-2025

Are hybrid cars more dangerous in crashes? Key risks explained

Experts say hybrid cars face higher crash risk from complex high-voltage systems, fire hazards, weight, and emergency-response limits; 2025 Kuga PHEV recall.

On December 29, The Times reported, citing experts, that drivers of hybrid cars are significantly more likely to die in crashes than those in vehicles powered solely by internal-combustion engines. The explanation under discussion points to the nature of hybrids themselves: a single body houses a gasoline engine, a traction battery, and electric motors. That mix adds complexity in severe impacts and can be more vulnerable to fire if structural members and the high-voltage system are damaged. In a worst-case scenario, complexity rarely works in your favor.

There is also the issue of emergency response. Putting out a fire and safely recovering a hybrid call for dedicated training and specific tools, since standard procedures do not always suit high-voltage architectures. To illustrate the risks, the piece mentioned an episode from spring 2025: Ford announced a recall of several thousand Ford Kuga plug-in hybrids over a detected short-circuit risk that could raise the likelihood of a fire.

Physics plays a role too: hybrids are usually heavier because of the battery and electric motors, and that added mass changes the dynamics and the way energy is distributed in a crash. It’s the kind of factor that seldom helps when something goes wrong.