VERITY Now applauds GAO’s new report that urges government action to improve vehicle safety

NHTSA can act now to save lives through improved crash test information

Washington, DC – VERITY Now, a coalition dedicated to achieving equity in vehicle safety, is urging the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to act immediately to fix biases in vehicle crash testing following the Government Accountability Office (GAO)’s report, “DOT Should Take Additional Actions to Improve the Information Obtained from Crash Test Dummies,” released Wednesday.

In the report, the GAO notes that current crash test dummies used in the government’s 5-star safety tests do not account for female bodies – only men. VERITY Now has called this crash test system unequal and dangerous to millions of women, risking their lives and causing serious injuries. Multiple studies show that death rates for women can range from 9 percent to 28 percent higher than men, and that women are significantly more likely to be severely injured in a vehicle crash than are men.

VERITY Now co-chairs Susan Molinari and Beth Brooke released the following statement after the release of the report:

“We are grateful that the GAO’s report acknowledges the actions our government should take to protect women, who are far more likely to be injured or killed in car crashes because of outdated tests and crash test dummies that do not accurately reflect their bodies. The GAO report confirms that current ‘female’ dummies are only scaled-down versions of male dummies and don’t represent female physiology.  Furthermore, no dummy even attempting to represent a female is tested in the driver’s seat in two of three of the government’s 5-star NCAP tests.

This report shines a light on these biases, which continue to put women and others at risk in motor vehicles.  Now policymakers can act urgently on the well-researched, well-documented needs of tens of millions of women across the country.  The government must begin to remedy these injustices right now by adding biofidelic female dummies to all tests where males are currently tested in NCAP.  We are hopeful that NHTSA will take this timely opportunity to immediately rid the NCAP of bias against women as they fulfill their legal obligation to protect males and females equally.”

VERITY Now believes that NHTSA has the legal authority and means, as well as the obligation, to act immediately and fix the 5-star safety ratings today.

About VERITY Now

VERITY (Vehicle Equity Rules in Transportation) Now strives to achieve equity in vehicle safety by educating on, and advocating for, crash testing standards that protect everybody, regardless of gender, height, weight, or age. Inherent biases in crash testing put women, young people, the elderly and heavier body types at significantly higher risk of injury or death in car crashes. This is unacceptable. We need to update vehicle crash testing standards and practices to better understand the safety needs of a broader range of body types.

Technologies and tests exist that can give us a more accurate understanding of how all vehicle occupants are impacted in a crash. These technologies, which employ sensors and other advanced tools, create better data – which can lead to better designs that account for everybody. It is time to deploy these technologies to help save lives. VERITY Now is a group of people who are coming together to voice our concern about these inequities – and talk to policymakers in the U.S. and E.U. who have the power to fix them.

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