Full family of dummies enlisted for government's air-bag tests

DN Staff

September 7, 1998

1 Min Read
Full family of dummies enlisted for government's air-bag tests

To test designs of new, sensor-packed airbags, the federal government plans to use a whole family of crash dummies. Currently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires automakers to pass crash tests for air bags using only dummies representing adult males. Next year, the agency will issue regulations that will add dummies of a small woman, 6- and 3-year-old children, and a 12-month-old infant. The new dummies will contain more instruments for mimicking human responses and measuring injuries in crashes. For example, the Hybrid III 6-year-old dummy has a multi-segment, highly instrumented neck. Auto manufacturers already use dummies of children in their own testing of airbags. For design engineers, NHTSA will publish manuals and digital descriptions of the patterns and molds of each dummy. E-mail NHTSA's Barbara Hennessey at [email protected] for details.

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