Statistics, which provide a simplified and supposedly objective representation of phenomena, are an effective way to highlight public problems. The sociology of statistics affords an original angle from which to observe phenomena of mediatization. At the beginning of the development of the car industry in the US, in the early twentieth century, road accident statistics were at the heart of a national controversy, the outcome of which seemed to be able to compromise the announced success of the motor car. The economic stakes were so high that the main protagonists in this battle were the corporations. History illuminates the political dimension of road accident statistics, imported into France from the US.