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WASHINGTON — For the first time ever, American car companies will soon be required to test vehicle safety using dummies that are representative of women.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday unveiled an advanced female crash test dummy — the THOR-05F — that could help close the staggering gap of higher injury rates for women than men in certain crash scenarios.
Maria Weston Kuhn, who launched the nonprofit Drive Action Fund to advocate for better car safety testing for women, experienced the statistical issue herself when she was in a car crash several years ago that caused life-altering injuries. Recent studies have shown women are 73% more likely to be seriously injured in a head-on car crash compared with men in the same crash. And female drivers and front-seat passengers are 17% more likely to be killed than their male counterparts in the same seats.
But it took about four-and-a-half decades for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to approve the use of a dummy anatomically representative of the average female in terms of height, weight and body type even though advanced models — like the THOR-05F by Humanetics, a leading producer of crash test dummies — have been available for years.
“While I’m 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,” said Jonathan Morrison, the highway safety agency’s administrator, at a vehicle safety research meeting Thursday in Washington, D.C.. “We’re releasing design specifications for the first-ever advanced female crash test dummies.”
Watch NBC News NOW’s “Top Story with Tom Llamas” at 7 p.m. ET Thursday to learn more about the new female crash test dummy.
Morrison said the announcement means “automakers will be able to start purchasing the dummy and using it in tests, learning more about how it will perform before NHTSA formally adopts it for use in ratings and rule makings.”
“This is a crucial step towards the full adoption of this new dummy and learning even more about how to design vehicles to better protect female drivers and passengers,” he added.
While the THOR-05F is not expected to be used in new car safety testing until 2027 or 2028, the technical details released from the highway safety agency are a major step forward. The data will allow automakers to design safety features based on new specifications and not the current standards, which have not been updated since the 1980s.
In the announcement, shared first with NBC News, Duffy criticized “years of delays” during prior administrations in taking this step. “Our team has worked hard over the last eight months to finalize the details for this new, state-of-the-art female crash test dummy. Under the leadership of President Trump, this Department will continue to put the safety of American families — including women — first.”
Earlier this year, NBC News saw the THOR-05F firsthand at the Humanetics facility in Michigan. The dummy is outfitted with more than 150 cutting-edge sensors, including in the legs, where female drivers are at a nearly 80% higher risk for injury than male drivers for the same accident, according to the company’s CEO, Chris O’Connor.
The standard “female” crash test dummy in use today, known as the Hybrid III, weighs 108 pounds and is 4 feet, 11 inches tall. It was created in the 1970s and is based on the smallest 5% of American women.
O’Connor told NBC in April that cars are not designed for women, despite more women today holding drivers licenses than men.
“If you look back in history, the crash test dummy was designed around a male, and that male became the baseline,” he said, adding that vehicles are being designed “around a male.”
According to the Department of Transportation release, the THOR-05F’s “shape and response in a crash are based on female bodies, which will ultimately enable better assessment of brain, thorax, abdominal, pelvic and lower leg injury risk for small female occupants. With its array of sensors, the THOR-05F helps reveal how seatbelts, air bags and vehicle structures perform with female bodies and will inform safer vehicle designs and regulations.”
The announcement Thursday will launch the regulatory process to put the new, modern female crash test dummy into service. Once the final rule is published, the THOR-05F will be considered for use in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards compliance testing.
Weston Kuhn, who has spent the five years since her accident advocating for better car safety testing for women, said the DOT’s new move could help prevent more women from being seriously injured in a crash like she was.
“We at Drive Action Fund are grateful for NHTSA’s leadership on this critical issue,” Weston Kuhn, told NBC News in a statement. She added that she looked forward to learning more about the federal agency’s deadlines for incorporating the new female dummy into testing.
“This is an encouraging sign.,” she said. “But we know the dummies won’t do any good sitting in the storage closet, and that the car companies won’t implement these changes unless mandated.”
O’Connor echoed her concerns, noting that his company’s female dummy is being used in crash testing in Europe and elsewhere.
“What is needed in the U.S.A. is a clear timeline and some urgency so that the industry has a fixed date to prepare for its introduction and avoid further delay to saving lives,” he said.
Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., who are behind the She DRIVES Act — legislation to modernize vehicle safety standards, including by using female crash test dummies — praised Thursday’s announcement.
“It’s far past time to make these testing standards permanent,” Fischer said, “which will help save thousands of lives and make America’s roads safer for all drivers.”
“Any progress here is good,” added Duckworth, “because there’s simply no good reason why women are more likely to be injured or die in car crashes.”
Julie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.
Emma Dion is an associate producer and assignment editor at NBC News.
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