Sweden's car dummies drive for equality

Women car dummies made in Sweden - 28th November 2022

Engineers from Sweden have designed a new crash dummy. Women's bodies were used in the design of the dummy. This could keep female drivers and passengers safe.

Most crash dummies were created in the US in the 1970s. They're for saving lives in car accidents. But the model for the original dummy was a typical American male. Another, smaller dummy is sometimes used, but today it's only the size of a 12 year old American girl. It's just 49 kilograms and 1.5 metres high. The sizes were taken from the smallest 5% of American women in the 1970s.

A team from Sweden has developed a new test dummy. It weighs 62 kilograms and is 1.62 metres tall, so it's closer to a typical female size. Dr Astrid Linder works at an institute for road safety in Sweden. At the moment, she says driving can be more dangerous for women. Some neck injuries from car accidents are three times more likely in women.

The Swedish institute aims to protect the whole population. At the moment, car safety only has to be tested on male dummies. But there are signs that this could change.