Washington — The Department of Transportation recently released designs for a “first-of-its-kind” female crash test dummy, intended to represent women more accurately in vehicle safety testing.
Current National Highway Traffic Safety Administration female crash test dummies, measuring 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 108 pounds, represent the fifth percentile of women in the 1970s. Today’s average woman stands 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 171.8 pounds, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
A DOT press release states that the updated model is “more durable, accurate and lifelike, enabling it to collect three times more injury measurements” than its predecessor, designed in the early 1990s.
NHTSA administrator Jonathan Morrison praises the development.
“Better understanding the unique ways in which women are impacted differently in crashes than men is essential to reducing traffic fatalities,” he said in the release.
In a separate release, National Safety Council CEO Lorraine M. Martin said the change will make car travel safer for women.
“Women continue to suffer higher rates of crash fatality and serious injury compared to men, despite being less likely to get into fatal crashes than men,” Martin added. “This new vehicle crash test device is a breakthrough in efforts to close the safety gap for female vehicle occupants that has persisted for far too long.”
DOT says NHTSA will publish a final rule at a later date, paving the way for the dummy to be used as part of NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program and in determining Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
