Legislative and Activist Efforts
Maria Weston Kuhn, a crash survivor, founded Drive US Forward to advocate for incorporating advanced female dummies in NHTSA testing, following her serious injuries in a 2019 crash.
Bipartisan support for the “She Drives Act,” introduced by , aims to mandate NHTSA's use of gender-diverse crash dummies, reflecting growing awareness and concern over vehicle safety disparities.
Technological and Global Perspectives
The current NHTSA testing dummy, , is criticized for its outdated male-centric design, failing to account for physical differences that lead to higher injury rates in women.
While the U.S. lags in updating crash test dummies, Europe and countries like China and Japan have adopted more advanced models, highlighting a global shift towards more accurate and inclusive vehicle safety testing.