Crash test dummies in the U.S. should have more obese bodies, to more accurately represent their passengers

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loveURpooView@reddit

Perhaps make CTD's that appear pregnant. Women make up more than half the world's population. I can get on that debate.

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loveURpooView@reddit

This can be accomplished with math & is completely unnecessary. Reddit Math Bot please enter chat.

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JollyGreenGigantor@reddit

I've honestly had this morbid thought many times as a 6'9" driver. Like nothing of importance on my body is where it would be for an average person. No clue how an air bag would even work on me.

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GarbageGobble@reddit

I don’t even want to survive the crash anymore

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infinitenothing@reddit

Unfortunately, you can't increase the odds of dying without also significantly increasing the odds of making the rest of your normal life span miserable with a horrific injury.

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redbo@reddit

So we need something like airbags, but instead it ensures a clean kill.

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HaraBegum@reddit

How long did it take for them to include dummies to represent women?

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Odd-Ad-9634@reddit

Sadly, we are still waiting for them to actually start using any.

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xRVAx@reddit

Mmm mmm mmm mmm

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SockeyeSTI@reddit

Once, there was this boy who…….

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adalric_brandl@reddit

Got into an accident and couldn't come to school...

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shomenee@reddit

And when.....he finally came back...

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Pure_Swiv@reddit

I work for a company that builds crash test dummies. We have an obese male option, though it is a design from the 70s, when 220lbs was considered obese.

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vowelqueue@reddit

I mean, 220 lbs is obese for anyone under like 6 foot, which is most of the population

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SoNerdy@reddit

They finally bought up and made test dummies that [represent half of the population](https://www.npr.org/2025/11/21/nx-s1-5616284/female-crash-test-dummy-design-approval) like a month ago.

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Canacarirose@reddit

Yeah, I was gonna say, women still aren’t represented in the crash test dummy sphere. It’s awesome there is one on the way finally!

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slenderwin@reddit

Problem is, most women are overweight and obese like the men, so they’re still not represented.

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archtopfanatic123@reddit

Yup this one makes sense

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rathe_0@reddit

thought it was talking about the band...

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Fireproofspider@reddit

Your post got me wondering. These are the crash test dummies in the US: https://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsas-crash-test-dummies It does seem to have a few glaring holes

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flopsyplum@reddit (OP)

Yeah, where are the 95th percentile adults?

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Accomplished_Ant5895@reddit

That’s what happens when you design for the “average”. US Air Force learned that lesson long ago: https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/when-u-s-air-force-discovered-the-flaw-of-averages/article_e3231734-e5da-5bf5-9496-a34e52d60bd9.html

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Ok_Explanation_5586@reddit

They doi. That's not a crazy idea so much as basic common sense.

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dogatthewheel@reddit

Could we please have a single crash test with accurate boobs while we’re at it? Large chested women have been complaining for years that our seatbelts sit across our necks and still not a single test done to evaluate this.

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nopointers@reddit

The dummies are for safety in a crash. They won’t do anything for constant discomfort when the car isn’t busy crashing.

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PumpkabooPi@reddit

The way my seatbelt moves above my breasts, if I get into a bad enough crash it'll decapitate me. It shifts up all the way to my neck and this is unavoidable most of the year. If I wear a big enough jacket, I'm fine. The dummies that were used to test the effectiveness and safety of those seatbelts were male in stature, and had properly fitting seatbelts, so I effectively became a safety guinea pig. For me to be able to have the belt at the correct and safest angle, it has to go between my breasts, and if I move my arms or turn at all, it rubs against the lowest part of my neck. Happens regardless of if I adjust the height of the door anchor point.

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WorkerAmbitious2072@reddit

That explains why women are constantly being decapitated by seat belts it’s in the news like every other day

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JawtisticShark@reddit

I used to work in automotive R&D and we have used male and female crash test dummies for decades, as well as using various child sizes for passengers as well. This rhetoric that somehow all of these engineers who include women and men who have wives and daughters are all just so oblivious to the fact that women exist is moronic. I worked in vehicle interior design and there were women both In the crash test department as well as the group that designed seatbelts.

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dogatthewheel@reddit

You don’t think a seatbelt across the neck has any potential safety implications for a crash?

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nopointers@reddit

I don’t think the crash test dummies would change anything. I do think it’s worth changes. Not sure what change would help.

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door_of_doom@reddit

It's not rocket science my guy. Boobs redirect seatbelts. If the way that boobs redirect seatbelts isn't accounted for in crash tests, they can't actually test how safe the vehicles are for women. If vehicles start failing tests with female dummies, they will need to address the design flaws that cause those failures, resulting in change.

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Yuukiko_@reddit

have you seen how long its taken for them to use female dummies??

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Corprusmeat_Hunk@reddit

Mmm mmm (mm mm)

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JuliaLouis-DryFist@reddit

Obese Navidad everyone.

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flopsyplum@reddit (OP)

LOL

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OrthodoxAnarchoMom@reddit

Wait until you hear about federally mandated male only crash dummies.

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sumguyontheinternet1@reddit

Makes me wonder why this is. As a federally mandated male, I worry more about our pregnant female counterparts and children being hurt. I’m a man who has spread his seed, my usefulness has been exhausted

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OrthodoxAnarchoMom@reddit

I don’t know about all that but they could just have both. The female ones exist they’re just not allowed to be used for testing. Meaning, it’s not a crime to put a female crash dummy in a car and test it as a car manufacturer, but the tests to pass safety can only be done with male crash dummies.

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sumguyontheinternet1@reddit

Idk man, as a father and husband, I prefer that priority be put on safety for women and children. Maybe I’m showing my age and tradition.

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discostud1515@reddit

At first glance I thought you were talking about the band The Crash Test Dummies and an American tour. I had to read the sentence a few times to make any sense of it.

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thirdeyefish@reddit

They should be shaped exactly like Brad Roberts and Ellen Reid.

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flopsyplum@reddit (OP)

LOL

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Mundane-Caregiver169@reddit

We should also imbue them with consciousness and a fear of death, if possible.

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TopSudden9848@reddit

I say add in an ability to crave vengeance on their creators

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Mundane-Caregiver169@reddit

As long as we’re in there, we should add a slew of one-liners it could say while executing justice on said creators.

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TopSudden9848@reddit

Such as?

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Mundane-Caregiver169@reddit

“Head on collision! One fatality!” (They say this while head butting the person, exploding their head like a watermelon) ?

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Robot_Alchemist@reddit

Or you could have at least one using a doll that’s meant to represent a female body

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CoolGuy54@reddit

Kinda unfair to increase the risk of death for healthy weight people though...

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Anannamouse@reddit

Or ones shorter than 6 feet. For all those petite women and kids and average height men that exist.

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Mediocre_Daikon6935@reddit

You mean this one? https://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsas-crash-test-dummies

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Anannamouse@reddit

Neat!

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no_sight@reddit

They don't even have dummies for women yet

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RetroCaridina@reddit

[Yes they do.](https://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsas-crash-test-dummies)

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no_sight@reddit

No they don't. Even if the link you shared, the female dummy is "5th Percentile" It's 4' 11" and 108 pounds. Is that really a good representation of an adult human woman? For example, one who might be driving a car?

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Mediocre_Daikon6935@reddit

Put down the Oreos. You’ve had enough.

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RetroCaridina@reddit

The 5th percentile woman is to supplement the 50th percentile male. Most women fall within that range, so if the car is safe for those two dummies, it's likely to be safe for all.

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Mediocre_Daikon6935@reddit

Were not the UK.

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Liraeyn@reddit

This is a sane idea

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writenroll@reddit

Obese occupants are up to 78 percent more likely to die in a car crash than an average weight driver, which is why crash test dummy manufacturers have been meeting demand for models with morphology that matches average obese people in various countries. Automakers, for example, are using dummies up to 100 pounds heavier for crash tests. Obesity trends have also influenced auto cockpit designs, from seat width to steering column angles to airbag performance and so on. One of those scenarios where reality overrides a crazy idea, for better or worse.

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