Most people would agree that the lives of women and men are equally important. It follows that most should agree that research into people’s safety while traveling in vehicles should also be equally weighted between women and men.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. Whether or not you consider car crash testing to be biased against women, one thing is sure – it is definitely biased in favor of men.
It all comes down to the crash test dummies
Crash test dummies used in the majority of testing, such as that the NHTSA carries out, have always been based on male bodies, not female bodies. The logical thing would be to carry out testing on specifically designed female-based dummies as well as male-based dummies. Yet, despite calls for some time to make this a legal requirement, there is, as of yet, no law requiring vehicle testing to give equal weight to protecting women.
This is not to say there is no testing carried out with females in mind. There is. It’s just that the “female” dummy they use is actually a smaller version of a male one with something to simulate breasts added onto it. There are designed from the ground up female dummies available, but they have not been widely adopted due to the fact they cost more.
Different bodies, different effects
How a car crash impacts a person’s body, and how in-car safety features such as airbags and seat belts protect those bodies, will vary significantly depending on whether the person is male or female. So there are situations when a woman will suffer injuries in a collision that a man would probably have avoided, because the vehicle was designed around him, not her.
Anyone who suffers injuries in a crash may need compensation, and — unless changes to testing are made — there’s a good chance that a woman may need more than a man would have in the same situation.
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