Women are 73% more likely to be injured and 17% more likely to be killed in a car crash than men.
Though these sobering statistics are by no means new, they are finally being used for innovation. After decades of criticism of the car industry for using a model based almost entirely on a male body, the U.S. government announced planned design changes to make the female version of the vehicle crash test dummy more lifelike and safe.
Since the 1940s, male models have been used in car design, initially as crash-test dummies based on the average male physique. The first crash-test dummy, Sierra Sam, was created in 1949 and was modeled after a 95th percentile male. Since then, male dummies became the standard in safety testing, influencing how cars were designed around their typical dimensions.
In 1966, a female dummy was introduced. However, the model was that of a 5th percentile female (around five feet and 113 pounds), which was simply a scaled-down version of the 50th percentile male. This model ignored key biological differences between the genders, like muscle and ligament strength, spinal alignment and neck strength.
THOR-05F, the new female crash test dummy approved by the U.S. Transportation Department, is designed to fill those safety gaps. The model includes 150+ sensors and better represents differences in female anatomy apart from size like the neck, collarbone, pelvis and legs.
If adopted for future federal safety tests, the THOR-05F could take the place of the Hybrid III, a dummy modeled on a 5’9″, 170-pound man, making the model more representative of the female body. However, THOR-05F will continue to be a model designed after a 5th percentile female, proving that there is still much to be done in order to generalize safety to the overall population of female drivers.
Additional changes will be made to the method of female crash testing. Since 2011, when the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) began including female dummies in their testing, the models were placed in the passenger or back seat, not the driver’s seat. The inattentiveness to the safety sector of the car industry is highlighted here because, despite women making up 51% of licensed drivers, proper testing for them is overlooked in favor of outdated methods even today.
Overall, these changing standards for vehicles show just how far the car safety industry has come, as well as how far there is left to reach the “end of the road.”
