I think overall the manufacturers/dealers of the new generation European machines are doing a good job. I definitely see a shift toward more standardized instruction, CFI accreditation, and better POHs/maintenance manual availability.
It would be difficult to quantify the number of accidents per aircraft or flight hours for each type. I would love to see this info.
But, I did download the entire accident database from the NTSBs website from 1968 to the present. From that I was able to get a pretty good picture of the safety of the new european models vs. the older generation gyroplanes.
It blew my mind.
Overall, the chances of having a fatality in a gyroplane accident is 35%. THIRTY-FIVE PERCENT!!!! That is atrocious. Now, if you separate the European models from everyone else, that rate falls to 9%, which is about the best in aviation. In fact, in the USA there has only been one fatal accident in a New Generation European model, and that was a wire strike over a river, the vintage hardly even matters.
Take a look at the fatality rate of some of the popular older generation models. This represents an occupants likelihood of dying if they have an accident. This is for any type that had five or more reported accidents:
Sparrowhawk 22%
RAF 2000 29%
Dominator 31%
Barnett 33%
Bensen 36%
Sport Copter 58%
Air Command 59%
All European new generation models combined: 9%
AutoGyro alone has well over 100 aircraft flying in the USA, and yet they have had ZERO fatalities. TBH, I've only heard of two accidents that had serious injuries, and ironically it was the same aircraft that crashed twice.
My being a dealer for AutoGyro may make it look like I'm biased, but the truth is, I chose AutoGyro because of this data and other characteristics like this.
I've been actively instructing in AutoGyros for about 2.5 years now, and I have never had an accident, nor have any of my students had any accidents. Actually in my 16 years of instructing pilots, none of my students (or myself) have ever had any accidents. I just teach the POH, good ADM, and use other accidents as examples.