The Crash Test Bias: How male-focused testing puts female drivers at risk

This article discusses the dangerous consequences of male-focused testing for car designs and safety measures. This article explains how the test dummies car safety professionals use to model the average male body from 1980, and how despite the differences in female responses to crashes the male dummies are most likely to be used as a base model. Further, this article discusses the misrepresentation of female body test dummies that are used and how they double child dummies because they are so small, marginalizing a large percentage of women. This article explains that the information in this article is not new to safety companies and regulators.

TO REFLECT ON

• Why haven’t safety regulators done anything about the disproportionate effects car accidents have on women?
• What messages are car companies and safety regulators sending by ignoring the disproportions of harm and death towards women?