When is the first lady Michelle Obama going to visit the headquarters and manufacturing facilities of Humanetics the world’s leading producer of dummies (crash dummies).
In the 1930’s they dropped cadavers down elevator shafts to perform tests to benefit car safety, well we’ve come a long way baby. Vehicle manufacturers must prove their safety with dummies before they can be legally sold in the US and Europe, and these unsung heroes have developed into extraordinarily sophisticated tools for collecting data and assessing risk. The fact that fatalities as a result of vehicle accidents is at an all time historic low is due in large part due to the evolution of the “crash dummy”.
The most recent version of crash dummies is considerably larger, reflecting the propensity to obesity in the population. One prototype has already been produced that weighs 273 pounds with a body mass index of 35.
“The newest dummies can have over 130 channels of information,” says Chris O’ Connor, CEO of Humanetics,in a cnn interview. “So the amount of data is up four or five times what it could years ago.”
Data analytics reveals that the likelihood of dying in a car crash is 78% higher for obese people. As the population ages models are being developed to replicate the passenger age although replicating age is a more complex challenge. It is important the age be considered as serious injury increases to 20% and 40% for 50 and 80 year olds respectively.
Humanetics recently unveiled the latest model and most technologically advanced dummy “THOR” (Test device for Human Occupant Restraint) they are rolling out for median range occupants with the most advanced sensitivity.,
Humanetics‘O’Conner said it’s unclear whether heavier passengers are also in greater danger but he said he assumes so. He also said the data used to create the new dummies indicated that obese women drivers had double the risk of becoming a fatality compared with obese men.
With more than 70 percent of Americans now either overweight or obese, according to the CDC, O’Conner said the death risk for obese people in cars is a serious problem that must be addressed.
“We need to find a way to make cars safer for everyone, regardless of size,” he said.
The heftier Humanetics dummies will go into trial usage by the end of this year and become available for wider use sometime next year, O’Conner said.