VERITY Now Statement on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the THOR 50th Percentile Adult Male Test Dummy

Every day, millions of women in the U.S. get behind the wheel of their cars to drive to work, run errands, or travel. Many of these women are not aware that they are far more likely to be injured or die in a vehicle crash than men are. The statistics are startling: due to differences in female physiques and the way they are situated while driving, they are 73% more likely to suffer serious injury and 9 to 28% more likely to die in a crash than men. The main culprit for these discrepancies is outdated crash test standards, which don’t accurately reflect female bodies.

There is a solution to this problem—one that will save lives. Adopting advanced crash test dummies, such as the THOR generation, will go a long way to reducing the gender gap in vehicle safety tests. We are concerned that while the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has praised the THOR generation of dummies, the agency hasn’t put forth a plan to mandate the use of these advanced dummies. Our full public comment to the agency outlines our concerns.

We are left to question whether the U.S. government actually has a plan for making crash tests and dummies more equal or whether the safety of female drivers will be prioritized. We call on NHTSA to require the same number and nature of test for both males and females, and to use the most advanced dummies.

Without these much-needed changes, women will continue to be injured or killed at disproportional rates. The technology to address this crisis is available, as are the tests. What is lacking is the political will to make it a reality.

###