The First Truly Female Crash Test Dummy Makes Driving Safer for Women
The First Truly Female Crash Test Dummy Makes Driving Safer for Women
Because cars are built for men, women currently have a 17% higher risk of dying from a car crash
For the last 60 years, car manufacturers have been working hard to make cars safer.
Airbags, ABS, and collision sensors, among other improvements, have all made driving safer. But there’s a catch: Women aren’t as safe in cars as men. Both development and car safety testing focus primarily on men’s physique.
Crash test dummies play a major role in the development of safer vehicles. But the dummies used until now are modeled exclusively on male bodies. Ignoring female biological differences has devastating consequences for women.
While men are more likely to be involved in a car crash, women have a 17% higher risk of dying in a crash. We also have a 75% higher risk of being injured in an accident.
Swedish researchers at the National Institute for Road and Transport Research (VTI) are trying to remedy the situation by making safety testing more realistic. They’ve now developed the first adult female crash dummy.
I’m not terribly surprised to hear that it took 60 years for someone to bother including female bodies in crash tests. Caroline Criado Perez’s bestseller, “Invisible Women,” focuses entirely on the omission of data about women from research.
Cars are less safe and less comfortable for women by design, and researchers have been aware of this for a long time.
When I drive my car, I struggle with many little things. Among them is my seat belt, which keeps slipping off my breasts and to my neck. I am always afraid that it will strangle me if I have an accident.
Seatbelts don’t account for women’s breasts. Especially bigger breasts.
But these are minor annoyances compared to the fact that I have a higher risk of dying in an accident. And the fact that this is by design.
Did you know that there is a standard seating position in a car? And that safety evaluations assume that you’re sitting in that position to ensure that you take full advantage of the safety features in your car?
According to Consumerreports, the average woman is 5.4 inches shorter and 27 pounds lighter than the average man. Women sit closer to the wheel and, due to their anatomy (breasts), wear their seat belts differently than men.
Because women have shorter legs, they cannot sit in the “standard” position that has been standardized for men.
In engineering design, the medium-sized male body (1.75 m; 78 kg) has been taken as the norm. It is no surprise then than men fitting this profile suffer the fewest injuries in automobile accidents (Carter et al., 2014).
As a result, women are considered “out of position” drivers.
And because our naughty “non-standard” female knees and legs are sitting at an “incorrect” angle, we have a higher risk of injury to our legs and knees. And all other parts of our body.
But higher risks don’t just have to do with breasts, height, and seating position. The female body is biologically different. We have less muscle, more fat, and smaller bones.
The geometry of a woman’s pelvis is different from that of a man. Just like a man’s neck is stronger than a woman’s when it comes to forces that bend it. And the upper torso muscles are different.
It’s a mystery how car manufacturers can gloss over these fundamental differences — by simply defining the anatomy of women — 51% of the population — as ”non-standard.”
Science, medicine and the safety industry have done an amazing job ignoring that women’s bodies differ from male bodies when it suits them.
Men are usually quick to point out that women are the weaker sex and can, therefore, not perform certain tasks or jobs that they’d prefer to keep to themselves. Because of our biology.
But in this case, they’ve been ignoring our biology for centuries.
When women began to drive more during the '60s and '70s, men were ready to point out potential dangers. Women’s shoes with heels were deemed unsafe to drive. It was insinuated that women would lose focus because they’d be doing their makeup while driving.
Men were sure women were worse drivers than men. This belief was so common it was even reflected in the ads of the time.
Statistics consistently show women are safer drivers. They’re far less likely to be involved in car crashes.
So much less, insurance companies used to offer lower premiums to women. Until the EU gender equality commission forbade this in 2012.
Why? Because men complained about gender inequality.
None of the men’s concerns about women driving, however, focused on the real safety problem that women face in cars.
And that is that cars are not built with women’s bodies in mind. And safety tests ignore the differences between male and female anatomy. Putting them at greater risk.
The irony is that car manufacturers are aware that safety is one of the most important deciding factors for women’s buying decisions. And they will actively market their cars this way. On Autoinc. you’ll find the following recommendation for automakers:
Women often prioritize safety when it comes to buying a car. Highlighting safety features and providing clear information on safety ratings can be a powerful way to appeal to female consumers.
In light of the knowledge that women are less safe in their cars, this feels as if they’re making fun of women’s concerns.
It took 23 years, from 1980 to 2003, for the demand for a “female” crash test dummy to be first addressed. But the dummy that was created was simply a scaled-down version of the male dummy.
It was scaled down so much that it also doubled as a dummy for a 12–13-year-old child.
It goes without saying that the dummy that was used beginning in 2003 did little to improve the situation for women. It didn’t address the core issue.
Obviously, women are NOT small men.
What was needed to improve this untenable situation was a new dummy. One that reflected not only the height and weight of women but our entire anatomy. The different distribution of fat and muscle. And the fact that women’s bodies “break” more easily in different places than men’s.
This is what Swedish researchers under the guidance of Professor Astrid Linder at VTI created this year in May. SET 50F (Seat Evaluation Tool).
The world’s first average-sized female crash dummy.
It has the torso shape and the pelvis of an actual woman. It also accounts for the different weight distribution in women.
Volvo and some other car manufacturers have started to use SET 50F, but general adoption is still limited.
So we’ll have to wait and see how quickly other automakers will adopt this new dummy. And how long it will take for the test results to influence the development of new car designs.
The track record so far shows that efforts to make cars safer for women are not high on their agenda.
Until they decide to take action, there are a few steps you can take to make yourself safer while driving;
Push your seat back. Your legs should be fully extended. This will reduce the risk to your legs and knees.
Try to sit as far back from the steering wheel as possible. You should not be closer than 27 cm to the airbag.
Raise the height of your seat — use a cushion if necessary — to get a better view and improve the fit of the seat belt. Don’t forget to adjust the seat belt down.
Make sure the headrest is behind your head, not under it, so your neck is better protected in a crash.
Safe driving!
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