{"id":325698,"date":"2025-12-01T08:13:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/will-this-newly-approved-crash-test-dummy-make-car-accidents-less-deadly-for-women\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T08:13:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:13:55","slug":"will-this-newly-approved-crash-test-dummy-make-car-accidents-less-deadly-for-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=325698","title":{"rendered":"Will This Newly Approved Crash Test Dummy Make Car Accidents Less Deadly for Women?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The government approved the specifications of THOR-05F, marking a first step toward the government and manufacturers potentially using the dummy in future car safety tests. But it still represents only the smallest women in the United States<\/h2>\n
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Sarah Kuta<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has approved the specifications of THOR-5F, a female crash test dummy developed by Humanetics.
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When a woman gets behind the wheel of a car in the United States, she\u2019s statistically more likely than a man to be injured or die if the vehicle crashes.<\/p>\n

Now, the federal government aims to reduce that risk by introducing an advanced female crash test dummy, which represents the female body better than currently used models.<\/p>\n

The dummy,\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0November 20 by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, is called\u00a0THOR-05F<\/a>\u2014short for \u201cTest device for Human Occupant Restraint, 5th-percentile Female.\u201d The announcement marks approval of the dummy\u2019s specifications by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a first step toward the government and manufacturers potentially using the new dummy\u2014rather than one greenlit more than 20 years ago\u2014in future car safety tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I\u2019m the first to acknowledge that this took far longer than anyone would like, it was very important to make sure that we got this right,\u201d Jonathan Morrison<\/a>, the NHTSA administrator, said at a vehicle safety research meeting on November 20, as reported by NBC News<\/a>\u2019 Julie Tsirkin and Emma Dion.<\/p>\n

The next step will be for the NHTSA to publish a final rule on THOR-05F. Then, it will be considered for use in NHTSA\u2019s\u00a0program for assessing whether new cars are compliant with federal safety standards.<\/p>\n

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Quick fact: The original dummy<\/h4>\n

The first car crash dummy made its debut in 1968<\/a>. Called VIP for \u201cvehicular impact personnel,\u201d the male-mimicking dummy had a steel rib cage, moveable joints and cavities to hold instruments. Before that, crash testing involved animals and human volunteers<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the U.S., car crashes kill<\/a> a greater number of men than women\u00a0each year. But women are at higher risk of\u00a0injury\u00a0and death when vehicle accidents occur. The severe injury risk holds even when accounting for differences in age, height, body mass index, collision severity and vehicle model year, according to a study published in 2019 in Traffic Injury Prevention<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of that increased risk may come from vehicle safety features\u2014like airbags and seatbelts\u2014designed to protect the bodies of men, even though\u00a0more women<\/a>\u00a0than men have driver\u2019s licenses. These safety features are based largely on tests involving dummies that mimic the average American man from the 1970s, who stands around 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs around 171 pounds.<\/p>\n

But male and female bodies are different, and they react differently in car crashes.<\/p>\n

THOR-05F has been in development by safety technology company\u00a0Humanetics<\/a> for more than 20 years<\/a>, the past decade of which was in collaboration with NHTSA. In government tests, it could replace<\/a>\u00a0a female crash test dummy known as the\u00a0Hybrid III<\/a>, which the NHTSA started to use in 2003.<\/p>\n

Both were designed to represent a female driver who stands about 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighs around 108 pounds. Only 5 percent of women in the United States would have had smaller measurements\u2014in the mid-1970s\u2014Consumer Reports<\/a>\u2019 Keith Barry reported in 2019. Today, the\u00a0average American woman<\/a>\u00a0stands about 5 feet 3.5 inches tall and weighs around 172 pounds.<\/p>\n

But according to the government\u2019s announcement, THOR-05F is \u201cmore durable, accurate and lifelike\u201d than currently used dummies. The newer version more closely mimics the anatomy of female bodies, which have key differences from men in the pelvis, neck and lower legs, Chris O\u2019Connor<\/a>, the CEO of Humanetics, tells NPR<\/a>\u2019s Camila Domonoske. THOR-05F is equipped with 150 sensors for gathering data during test crashes, including how seatbelts, air bags and vehicle structures perform with female bodies.<\/p>\n

The NHTSA likely won\u2019t start using THOR-05F to assess new cars until 2027 or 2028. Beyond that, its broader adoption may be slow. A spokesperson for the\u00a0Insurance Institute for Highway Safety<\/a>, a nonprofit funded by auto insurers and insurance associations, tells the\u00a0New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u2019 Adeel Hassan the group has \u201cno plans\u201d to adjust the dummies it uses in its consumer ratings crash tests.<\/p>\n

Right now, car manufacturers do not have to use THOR-05F in their testing. Maria Weston Kuhn, the founder of Drive Action Fund, a nonprofit legislative advocacy organization, described the approval to NBC News as an \u201cencouraging sign\u201d but said the recent action does not go far enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the dummies won\u2019t do any good sitting in the storage closet, and that the car companies won\u2019t implement these changes unless mandated,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

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