For years I have been told that unfortunately due to the crash test dummies being a male body that women are more likely to die in a car crash
Some factors that come in to play are the seatbelt, the airbag and the head rest positioning for example. Whilst these features more often than not save your life, women have a higher risk of injury and death because they are designed for male anatomy
This leads to my question, is anyone doing anything about this?
Is there a company out there that makes, for example, interchangeable air bags and seatbelts specifically designed for women?
Is there a car manufacturer out there that just so happens to make a safer car for women?
Apologies for not listing the statistics as different data is quoted on different sites
Comments
ugh i wish they’d do something about seatbelts, fed up of them sitting across my neck
I don’t know the answer to your specific questions, but Volvo has been an industry leader in terms of including women in safety testing. They were using female crash test dummies before other brands and before it was required (but those dummies afaik were just small male dummies b/c at that point that was all that existed). And of course, once more kinetically realistic female crash test dummies were designed in recent years they adopted those too.
They’re known for good safety ratings, but I have no idea how much their safety features actually accommodate women specifically. If you find out, let us know.
If you haven’t read it, the book Invisible Women by Caroline Criada Perez looks at this and all of the other ways the world screws us over.
If memory serves, even since they had to start using female crash test dummies it’s also still only in the passenger seat.
It’s honestly a bit ridiculous, isn’t it, how much testing goes into making things “one-size-fits-all” when women’s bodies are demonstrably different, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around how it’s so hard to adjust airbags, but could someone explain to me the physics behind it?