As an ATV owner and the proud parent of two young riders, I want ATVs and side-by-sides to be fun, useful, and safe. Unfortunately, CPSC’s latest report on deaths and injuries in ATVs and side-by-sides shows something else: deaths in these products are soaring.

CPSC documented 990 off-highway vehicle (OHV) fatalities in 2020,^[1] an increase of 33% over the 744 deaths we reported for 2019.  These aren’t just numbers. These are human beings who lost their lives—many of them kids. CPSC’s report shows that 123 children under age 16 and 46 children under age 12 died in OHVs in 2020. OHV deaths for children under age 16 increased 31% in 2020 relative to 2019. And as upsettingly high as these death tolls are, they are likely undercounts, because not all OHV incidents are reported to CPSC. 

The data on emergency department-treated OHV injuries is also sobering—over 100,000 annual injuries on average from 2018 to 2022 without any significant signs that the numbers are trending down; in total, that’s more than half a million serious injuries on OHVs since 2018. 

Americans expect and deserve safe consumer products, particularly for their kids. As CPSC considers its priorities for the coming year, I hope we take our latest report into account and work to bring these numbers down.

Faithfully,

Your consumer advocate at the Consumer Product Safety Commission

Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr. 

^[1] 2020 is the latest year for reported deaths.