SAFER's female crash test dummy can save lives - and is debated in Swedish media
Today, the norm for standard crash tests with cars is crash test dummies based on men’s size and attributes. But there are as many women who drive a car nowadays. And women are at a much higher risk to be hurt in collisions between vehicles.
The differences between women and men's bodies are many; women are both shorter, have a lower weight and have a different stiffness in the neck. Therefore, the researchers at SAFER think that standardized crash tests should also be carried out with female-like crash test dummies. A possible future crash test dummy with female attributes was developed by SAFER, already several years ago.
"The man was the norm, seen as the average car-driver, but it's not really true today," commented Mats Svensson, SAFER profile leader for traffic safety, in a news story in TV4.
The prototype of a female crash dummy, named BIORID 50F, was developed by SAFER already in 2013. The purpose was to study rear-end crashes and whiplash injuries, an injury that is much more common among female passengers than men.
The Swedish infrastructure minister Tomas Enroth is serious about the matter:
“This is of course not acceptable, we must ensure that crash tests are carried out to reflect both men and women's conditions and I will raise this matter in the international forums where this is regulated”.
