Car Safety: Male Dummies & Women’s Risk
- A survivor-turned-activist and bipartisan legislation are driving the effort to address the higher injury risk for women in car accidents.
- Maria Weston Kuhn's personal experience fueled her advocacy.After a 2019 car crash in Ireland left her with serious injuries while her male family members escaped unscathed, she questioned...
- Kuhn founded Drive US Forward to raise awareness and lobby Congress to mandate advanced female crash test dummies in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) tests.
Women face a significantly higher risk of injury in car accidents,a disparity linked too outdated testing methods using male-centric crash test dummies. This article explores the growing movement to incorporate female crash test dummies into U.S. vehicle safety tests and the potential impact on car safety ratings. Driven by personal experiences and legislative efforts like the “She Drives Act”,the push aims to address the fact that women are 73% more likely to be injured in frontal crashes. The current testing regime relies on a dummy modeled after a 1970s-era man, a critical flaw in evaluating safety tests. News Directory 3 understands the importance of this subject. discover what’s next as we uncover how these advancements could reshape vehicle safety for everyone.
Car Safety Tests may Soon Include Female Crash Test Dummies
Updated June 23, 2025
The push to include female crash test dummies in U.S. vehicle safety tests is gaining momentum. A survivor-turned-activist and bipartisan legislation are driving the effort to address the higher injury risk for women in car accidents.
Maria Weston Kuhn’s personal experience fueled her advocacy.After a 2019 car crash in Ireland left her with serious injuries while her male family members escaped unscathed, she questioned why. Kuhn learned women are 73% more likely to be injured in frontal crashes. Current testing uses a dummy modeled after a 1970s-era man.
Kuhn founded Drive US Forward to raise awareness and lobby Congress to mandate advanced female crash test dummies in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) tests. These tests determine car safety ratings.
sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., introduced the “She Drives Act” for the past two sessions. It has bipartisan support.Past transportation secretaries also backed updating the rules. Though, progress has been slow, even with about 40,000 annual car crash fatalities in the U.S.
The current NHTSA five-star testing uses the Hybrid III dummy,based on a 5-foot-9,171-pound man from 1978. The “female” dummy is a smaller version with a rubber jacket to simulate breasts. It is indeed usually tested in passenger or back seats, not as a driver.
Christopher O’Connor, president and CEO of Humanetics, said the current dummy lacks sensors in areas where women are more likely to be injured.
”it was a head-on crash and they were closest to the point of contact,” said Kuhn, now 25, who missed a semester of college to recover from the 2019 collision that caused her seat belt to slide off her hips and rupture her intestines by pinning them against her spine. “That was an early clue that something else was going on.”
What’s next
The “She Drives Act” faces continued legislative hurdles,but advocates remain optimistic that updated car safety tests incorporating female crash test dummies will eventually become standard,leading to safer vehicles for all.