Maria Weston Cohen had a long -lasting question about the car crash, which led to her forced to undergo emergency surgery during the holidays in Ireland: Why did she and her mother suffered severe injuries while her father and brother, who were sitting in front, were emerging?
“It was an accident and they were close to the contact point of view,” now 25 -year -old Cohen said, which was missed by a college semester to recover from the 2019 collision, causing his seat belt to collide with his hips and his intestines exploded against his spine. “It was an early indication that something else was going on.”
When Cohen returned home, he found an article whose grandmother had carried out of consumer reports and left her on her bed. She learned that women are more likely to be injured in the fatal accident, yet the dummy used in vehicle tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the 1970s and is still a model of a man’s body.
Becomes a survivor
Cohen, who is launching a law school at New York University this fall, took action and pushed us forward. Its purpose was to raise public awareness and eventually encourage Congress members to sign a bill, which would require NHTSA to add more modern women dummy to test it.
The agency has the final word whether cars are pulls out of the market, and the kind of dummy used in its security tests may be affected which five star ratings receive.
“It seems that we have an easy solution where we can have crash test dummy that reflects the average woman as well as men,” “Nebraska, a Republican, San Deb Fisher, has introduced this legislation in the past two sessions.
Senators from both sides have signed Fisher’s “Dros Act”, and the last two presidential administration’s transport secretaries have expressed support for updating the rules.
But for various reasons, the pressure of new safety needs is moving slowly. This is especially true in the United States, where most research is underway and where around 40,000 people are killed every year in car accidents.
Crash test dummy evolution
The crash test dummy is currently called hybrid III used in NHTTSA Five Star Testing, which was developed in 1978 and the model was made after 5 feet 9, 171 pounds (average size in the 1970s but after today’s average 29 pounds). What is known as female dummy is primarily a very small version of the male model that has a rubber jacket to represent breasts. It is usual in the passenger seat or in the previous seat, but rarely on the driver’s seat, though the majority of licensed drivers are women.
“The Michigan -based Humanitics Group, which has developed and developed more than a decade, has developed more than a decade,” he designed a crash test dummy that has all the sensors in the areas where a woman will be injured differently from the man. “
A female dummy of humanitics, equipped with all available sensors, costs about $ 10 million, which is now double the cost of hybrid used.
But, O’Conner says, more expensive dummy is far more accurately reflects physical differences between sexes – including the form of neck, collarbone, pelvic and legs, which includes an NHTSA study, about 80 percent more than women in a car accident than men.
O Conor said such physical dumma will always be needed for vehicle safety tests, and to confirm the accuracy of virtual tests.
Europe immediately after Cohen’s 2019 crash in Ireland. Later, the engineers of Humanetics added a more modern male dummy developed by Thor 50m (50th percent). Several other countries, including China and Japan, have also adopted it.
But the company’s use to compare this model and female version, Thor 5F (a 5th century -based female -based), has faced doubts by some US car makers who argue on more sophisticated devices that they can increase the risk of injury and reduce the safety of the seat belt.
More sensors mean more safety
19 -year -old Bridget Walchsky had to be flown to a hospital, where he needed eight surgery in a month, after which he killed his friend in 2022 after an accident near his home in Shiboggan, Wisconsin, who was driving. Recognizing the seat belt, he possibly survived his life, Walchisky said that his broken collar bone was the result of some injuries, which resulted in a firm reducing it, which he sees that a better test of women focusing on women can improve.
“The seat belts are not really made for bodies on women,” said Walchsky. “Some of my injuries, the way the force hit me, they probably worsened.”
The alliance of an industry trading group, Automoto Innovation, said in a statement to the AP that a better way to ensure safety – which it has called its top priority – is to upgrade the current hybrid dummy rather than make a new mandatory.
“It can be on a fast timeline and the NHTSA can improve more safety than the need to adopt an undisclosed crash test dummy technology,” the Alliance said.
Humanitles’ Thor Dumma got high numbers in the preliminary tests of the vehicle safety agency. Using the original crash cadres to compare the results, the NHTSA found that they performed better to predict the existing hybrid almost all injuries – including the head, neck, shoulders, stomachs and feet.
A separate review of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which provides financial support through auto insurance companies, criticized the dummy’s ability to predict chest injuries in the dummy fatal accident. Despite the widespread extension of the number of sensors, the insurance institute was examined, the male Thor dummy was less accurate than the existing hybrid dumma, which also had limits.
“Not much necessarily good,” said Jessica Jeremakyan, senior vice president of vehicle research in IIHS. “You also have to trust that the data is telling you the right thing about how a real person will rent in this accident.”
Slowly to change the rules
The NHTSA’s budget plan pays to produce women Thor 5F versions with the ultimate goal of incorporating it in the test. But considering the male version of Thor, adopted by other countries may have a long wait that still awaits final approval in the United States
A 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office, which is researching Congress, cited numerous “lost milestones” in the development of various NHTSA’s various crash dummy growth – which includes Thor models.
Cohen acknowledged that the slow process of trying to change the rules was frustrated. She says she understands why she is relieved by auto companies if she is afraid to make changes to a widespread design with more care for women.
“Fortunately, they have a very skilled engineer and they will find out,” he said.
Picture: Kate Hapler adjusted the Thor -5F Family Crash test dummy in a car in Formington Hills, Mick. (AP Photo/Paul Sansa)
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