The programme
What Michigan actually tests
Six sedans and nothing else in 1978. No sedan at all in 2026. Every vehicle in every test, by body type.
The argument about what happened to the American police car is usually made with anecdotes. It can be made with a count instead.
This is every vehicle in the Michigan results held here for forty-eight test years, 1978 to 2026, sorted by what it physically was. Nothing is selected or weighted — it is simply what turned up.
Each bar is one year’s field. Hover or tap a block for the count. The empty slot at 1979 is a test whose results have not been located, not a year without a test, and the 1985 bar counts only the four sedans on that year’s scoring sheet.
Seven moments
| Year | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1983 | The first two-door. A Mustang, entered beside Ford’s sedans |
| 1991 | The first station wagon, a Caprice |
| 1992 | The first sport utility, a four-wheel-drive Jeep Cherokee |
| 1997 | Sport utilities outnumber sedans for the first time, five to four. The following year Ford’s sport utilities did not run the road course: Ford had advised they were not for pursuit |
| 2005 | The first pickup |
| 2007 | The first motorcycles. Within two years there are five of them |
| 2024 | No police sedan of any kind, for the first time in the books held here |
The sedan does not decline gradually. It still held a majority of the four-wheeled field in 2018, dropped to four the next year, and was gone within six.
Every year, counted
Gold rows are years with no sedan at all. Shaded rows are years sport utilities outnumbered sedans.
| Year | Sedan | Two-door | Wagon | SUV | Pickup | Motorcycle | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | 6 |
| 1979 | The file holds the schedules and method, but no results | ||||||
| 1980 | 11 | – | – | – | – | – | 11 |
| 1981 | 11 | – | – | – | – | – | 11 |
| 1982 | 11 | – | – | – | – | – | 11 |
| 1983 | 14 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 15 |
| 1984 | 11 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 13 |
| 1985 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
| 1986 | 12 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 14 |
| 1987 | 9 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 11 |
| 1988 | 8 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 10 |
| 1989 | 9 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 11 |
| 1990 | 6 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 8 |
| 1991 | 5 | 4 | 1 | – | – | – | 10 |
| 1992 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 13 |
| 1993 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 14 |
| 1994 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | – | – | 11 |
| 1995 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 13 |
| 1996 | 6 | 2 | – | 3 | – | – | 11 |
| 1997 | 4 | 2 | – | 5 | – | – | 11 |
| 1998 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | – | – | 15 |
| 1999 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | – | – | 13 |
| 2000 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | – | – | 10 |
| 2001 | 3 | 2 | – | 8 | – | – | 13 |
| 2002 | 5 | 1 | – | 8 | – | – | 14 |
| 2003 | 3 | – | – | 6 | – | – | 9 |
| 2004 | 4 | – | – | 4 | – | – | 8 |
| 2005 | 3 | – | 1 | 5 | 1 | – | 10 |
| 2006 | 5 | – | 3 | 5 | – | – | 13 |
| 2007 | 5 | – | 3 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 19 |
| 2008 | 7 | – | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 19 |
| 2009 | 6 | – | – | 2 | – | 5 | 13 |
| 2010 | 6 | – | – | 2 | – | 5 | 13 |
| 2011 | 8 | – | – | 2 | – | 4 | 14 |
| 2012 | 15 | – | – | 4 | – | 6 | 25 |
| 2013 | 11 | – | – | 2 | – | 4 | 17 |
| 2014 | 12 | – | – | 3 | – | 7 | 22 |
| 2015 | 10 | – | – | 4 | – | 7 | 21 |
| 2016 | 11 | – | – | 4 | – | 5 | 20 |
| 2017 | 9 | – | – | 4 | – | 6 | 19 |
| 2018 | 8 | – | – | 4 | 1 | 7 | 20 |
| 2019 | 4 | – | – | 7 | 1 | 7 | 19 |
| 2020 | 5 | – | – | 7 | 1 | 6 | 19 |
| 2021 | 2 | – | – | 7 | 1 | – | 10 |
| 2022 | 2 | – | – | 8 | 1 | 4 | 15 |
| 2023 | 2 | – | – | 8 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
| 2024 | – | – | – | 9 | 3 | – | 12 |
| 2025 | – | – | – | 8 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 2026 | – | – | – | 9 | 4 | 5 | 18 |
Three things the count shows that the story usually misses
The sport utility did not win in 1997. It outnumbered the sedan in every book held here from 1997 to 2003 and again in 2005, and on the 2007 page, whose book is not held here; then the sedan came back — 2012 has fifteen sedans against four sport utilities. The books record what was submitted for testing, not what departments bought.
The collapse is sudden, not gradual. Sedans are the majority of the four-wheeled field as late as 2018. The next year there are four, and in 2021, 2022 and 2023 two. By 2024 there are none. That is not a long decline; it is a market leaving in about five years.
The field has changed shape. Eighteen entries, motorcycles included, were tested in 2026, against six in 1978 and eleven in 1987; the largest field in the books held here is the 2012 test’s nineteen vehicles and six motorcycles. The programme now tests different things, and more kinds of them.