- Defective Tyre Casualties Surge: Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) casualties resulting from illegal, defective, or underinflated tyres jumped 19% year-on-year, rising to 201 in 2025.
- Worsening Five-Year Trend: The five-year average for tyre defect KSIs reached 163, up from 150 in the previous period.
- Broad Impact Across Vehicle Types: Car occupants account for the largest share of tyre-related KSIs (120 in 2025), while motorcyclist casualties linked to tyre defects hit a decade high of 39.
- National Picture Off Track: Total KSIs across Great Britain rose 4% to 29,918 in 2025, putting national progress out of step with the Government’s 2035 Road Safety Strategy targets.
- Call to Action: TyreSafe urges the Government to adopt the DVSA’s annual 2 million MOT tyre failures as a key Safety Performance Indicator (SPI) to prevent avoidable harm.
Figures released today by the Department for Transport (DfT) in its Reported Road Casualties Great Britain, Final Results: 2025 report paint a stark picture of vehicle maintenance on Britain’s roads. TyreSafe, the UK’s leading tyre safety charity, is urging immediate policy and driver intervention following a 19% year-on-year surge in Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) casualties caused by illegal, defective, or underinflated tyres.
In 2025, tyre-related KSI casualties reached 201, up from 169 in 2024. Total casualties across all severities caused by defective tyres reached 667 in 2025 (up 14% from 585 in 2024), whilst overall collisions involving tyre defects rose to 447. This pushed the five-year average for tyre-related KSI casualties up to 163 (from 150 last year), underscoring a worsening trend in preventable vehicle defect incidents.
Defective Tyre Casualties & Collisions (RAS0701 – Adjusted)
| Metric / Breakdown | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 5-Yr Average |
| Defective Tyre KSI Casualties | 117 | 145 | 186 | 169 | 201 (+19% YoY) | 163 (Up from 150) |
| — Cars (KSI) | 72 | 95 | 130 | 104 | 120 (+15% YoY) | 104 (Up from 100) |
| — Motorcycles (KSI) | 33 | 21 | 28 | 36 | 39 (+8% YoY) | 32 (Up from 27) |
| All Casualty Severities (Defective Tyres) | 491 | 531 | 594 | 585 | 667 (+14% YoY) | 574 (Up from 542) |
| Fatal or Serious Collisions (FSC) | 100 | 122 | 148 | 139 | 165 (+18% YoY) | 135 (Up from 123) |
| All Collision Severities (Defective Tyres) | 347 | 366 | 396 | 412 | 447 (+8% YoY) | 394 (Up from 376) |
A Closer Look: Vehicle Types and Historical Trends
The breakdown of the 2025 casualty data highlights growing risks across key vehicle categories:
Car Occupants: KSI casualties involving defective tyres rose to 120 in 2025 (up from 104 in 2024), continuing a sustained rebound from the pandemic low of 72 in 2021.
Motorcyclists: Vulnerable road users remain significantly impacted. Defective tyre KSI casualties among motorcyclists reached 39 in 2025—the highest single-year total recorded in the dataset since before 2016.
Long-Term Trajectory: While total casualties across all severities dropped significantly from 2016 levels (876 down to 507 in 2020), figures have steadily climbed every year since 2021, reaching 667 casualties and 447 total collisions in 2025.
National Road Safety Trajectory: A Strategic Setback
The sharp rise in tyre-related incidents reflects a wider, troubling national trend.
In 2024, GB road casualties had shown minor improvements, reporting 1,602 fatalities (-1%), 29,467 KSIs (-1%), and a total of 128,272 casualties of all severities (-4%). At the time, Great Britain maintained a strong international standing, ranking 4th out of 36 countries for the lowest fatalities per million population.
However, the latest 2025 figures show that national progress has stalled and, in key areas, reversed:
- Fatalities: 1,538 in 2025 (-4% vs 2024).
- KSIs: 29,918 in 2025 (+4% vs 2024—an increase of over 450 serious casualties).
- Overall Casualties: 127,883 in 2025 (virtually unchanged from 2024).
Impact on 2035 Strategy Targets
In January 2026, the DfT launched its new Road Safety Strategy, setting out two flagship targets for 2035 against a 2022–2024 baseline:
- A 65% reduction in total KSIs.
- A 70% reduction in child (under 16) KSIs.
With total KSIs jumping to 29,918 in 2025, the baseline trajectory has immediately taken a step in the wrong direction. To achieve a 65% reduction by 2035, Great Britain needs steep, consistent annual drops in serious injuries. This initial rise alters the required trajectory, requiring sustained, systemic interventions to get back on track.
Preventative Maintenance: Bridging the Gap in the Safe System
While TyreSafe welcomed the explicit inclusion of its programme in the Government’s Road Safety Strategy in January 2026, the 2025 casualty figures prove that preventative vehicle maintenance must be given far greater prominence within the ‘Safe Vehicles’ pillar.
Over 2 million vehicles fail their MOT every year due to tyre-related defects, millions of which are driven on public roads until test day and beyond.
TyreSafe is calling on the Department for Transport to include DVSA MOT defect data as a core Safety Performance Indicator (SPI) within the Road Safety Strategy. Tracking MOT failure rates provides a vital leading indicator of vehicle health, allowing for proactive intervention before a defect results in a serious collision.
Stuart Lovatt, Chair of TyreSafe, commented:
“Last year we called for urgent action as casualty figures remained stagnant. The 2025 data shows that far from improving, tyre-related casualties have jumped by 19% in a single year. That represents 201 families whose lives have been impacted by entirely preventable vehicle failures.
“Seeing motorcycle tyre-related KSIs hit 39 and car occupant KSIs rise to 120 demonstrates that poor vehicle maintenance is a widespread hazard across all road user groups. We welcome the overarching targets set out in the Government’s Road Safety Strategy, but a 4% rise in overall KSIs in year one shows we are heading in the wrong direction. Preventative maintenance is a vital element of the Safe System approach. By integrating DVSA MOT data as an official Safety Performance Indicator and backing dedicated public campaigns, we can address better tyre safety management before it leads to disaster on our roads.”
Key Recommendations & Priorities for TyreSafe
To achieve zero harm on UK roads due to illegal and poorly maintained tyres, TyreSafe continues to advocate for four primary systemic changes:
Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs): Formal inclusion of DVSA MOT tyre defect data in the Road Safety Strategy to monitor vehicle roadworthiness as both a leading and lagging indicator.
Police Prioritisation: Inclusion of tyre and vehicle defects as a priority offence within the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) forthcoming Roads Policing Strategy.
Government Campaign: Agreement from the DfT for a dedicated, government-funded UK-wide THINK! campaign focused on vehicle / tyre safety.
Driver Retraining: The creation of a National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) module specifically for motorists caught driving with vehicle defects.
