The First Female Crash Test Dummy Has Finally Arrived: All You Need To Know

The first female crash test dummy finally arrived after a team of Swedish engineers developed the dummy. Since the 1970s, crash test dummies modelled on men were used to determine car safety.

Crash test dummies are used by researchers and automobile manufacturers to predict the injuries a person may sustain in a crash. This allows them to design their safety features accordingly.

The first female crash test dummy has finally arrived after several reports that women's bodies react differently to car crashes.

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First Female Crash Test Dummy: 10 Things To Know

1. A team of Swedish engineers were behind developing the first female crash test dummy. The research team was led by Astrid Linder.
2. Linder is the director of traffic safety at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute.
3. The crash test dummy will represent an average woman’s body and the new dummy measures 162 centimetres in height and weighs 62 kilograms.
4. Several reports revealed that due to decades of male-focused testing using male crash test dummies resulted in women being at a higher risk of being injured and killed in car crashes.
5. Evidence showed that women’s bodies reacted differently to car crashes than men’s, however, the use of male crash test dummies persisted.
6. Data from the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that female drivers and women in the passenger seat are 17 percent more likely to be killed in a car crash then men.
7. Regulators have been asking for a female dummy since 1980 and there was an automaker’s petition in 1996 fought for the same.
8. In 2003, the NHTSA began using its versions of female dummies, which was a scaled-down version of the male dummy.
9. The scaled-down versions of the dummies were close to the size of a 12-year-old girl. The dummy was 149 cms tall and weighed 48 kg and represented only five percent of women.
10. Swedish engineer Linder said in an interview with NPR, “We have some geometrical differences between males and females, but we also have differences in joint stiffnesses”.