New Female Crash Dummy Aims to Make Cars Safer for Women

TUESDAY, Nov. 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For decades, car safety tests were built around the body of an average man from the 1970s. Now, federal officials are taking a step to better protect women behind the wheel.

The U.S. Transportation Department has approved a new female crash test dummy called THOR-05F, designed to better reflect how women’s bodies respond in a car crash.

Government data shows that female drivers are 73% more likely to be seriously injured and 17% more likely to die in vehicle crashes compared to male drivers.

"Better understanding the unique ways in which women are impacted differently in crashes than men is essential to reducing traffic fatalities," Jonathan Morrison, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), told The New York Times.

The newly approved dummy is described by officials as more “durable, accurate and lifelike” than previous models.

It includes more than 150 sensors and better represents differences in female anatomy, including the neck, collarbone, pelvis and legs.

If adopted into official safety testing, the THOR-05F could replace the Hybrid III, a crash test dummy based on a man who was about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 170 pounds.

While NHTSA began including female dummies in testing in 2011, those models were usually placed in the passenger seat or back seat, not the driver’s seat, even though women make up more licensed drivers than men by about 3 million.

The new dummy is meant to be tested directly in the driver’s seat, where most serious crashes occur.

However, its use is not guaranteed by the car industry. Lawmakers are pushing to have the dummy used by federal regulators.

Each one costs about $1 million and adding them could cost the car industry between $50 million and $60 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

"The fight is far from over," Maria Weston Kuhn, founder of the Drive Action Fund, who began pushing for this change after being severely injured in a crash in 2019. "Now it’s time we hear from the car companies about how they are going to become part of the solution to protect women’s lives, not the obstacle in the road."

Not everyone says change is urgent. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says the injury gap between men and women has already narrowed due to better crumple zones, the area that absorbs the force of a crash before it reaches the passenger, and modern safety features.

"While we’re continuously evaluating new tools that become available, we have no plans to adjust the dummies used in our consumer ratings crash tests at the moment," Joe Young, a spokesman for the group, told The Times.

Some experts instead point to virtual crash testing, using computer-generated human models of different sizes and ages. But for now, physical dummies are still key to safety testing.

"It’s far past time to make these testing standards permanent, which will help save thousands of lives and make America’s roads safer for all drivers," said Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, who introduced legislation to require wider use of advanced crash test dummies.

More information

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has more on car safety ratings.

SOURCE: The New York Times, Nov. 23, 2025

What This Means For You

Future car designs may better protect women by using more female-specific crash dummy testing.