Female crash test dummy; Wisconsin lab studies equity in safety
MILWAUKEE - As a trauma surgery nurse practitioner, Susan Cronn regularly sees crash patients.
"It’s dramatic to think of how quickly a person’s life has changed," Cronn said.
For years, she noticed women with more injuries from crashes compared to men. "I was seeing breast hematomas in women, not seeing them in men," Cronn said.
Statistics back up what she picked up on. Studies show women in the front seats are more likely than men to be injured in a crash and more likely to die.
"I just started thinking about it and asking about it not getting enough answers," Cronn said.
Susan Cronn
That’s what led Cronn to a Medical College of Wisconsin crash lab, where the focus is female. In the lab, a team is working to save lives through the development of female crash test dummies.
For decades, government crash tests have relied on smaller, male crash test dummies to represent women.
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"Using a scaled down version of a male dummy, I don’t think we have all the information," Cronn said.
The team uses a THOR-5F female dummy for testing. It’s 5 feet tall and 100 pounds and better represents a woman’s body. It’s covered in sensors. During a crash test, cameras capture what the eyes cannot follow.
"The crash test we’re currently doing, we collect over 300 channels. It’s a lot of data to look through," said engineer Hans Hauschild.
"We're talking about thousands of lives and serious injuries that can be saved if we employ female crash test dummies in our ratings systems with regard to crash test worthiness for cars," Former U.S. Congresswoman Susan Molinari said.
Molinari now co-chairs Verity Now, which advocates for closing gender disparities in vehicle safety.
U.S. Congresswoman Susan Molinari
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) says equity in safety is central to its mission and female fatality risk has been reduced in newer vehicles.
In a statement to FOX6 News, a NHTSA spokesperson said, "The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will allow NHTSA to accelerate research to evaluate remaining gender disparities in fatality and injury outcomes and determine how to eliminate them."
"There's no doubt that using a female crash test dummy will save women's lives," Molinari said.
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Researchers hope their published work will lead to equity and change.
"That dummy is real," Cronn said. "That dummy is a patient I saw that very same day."