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In addition to helping improve seat belts, air bags, and child passenger restraints, crash test dummies are important to the improvement of the following safety devices.

  • Head restraints. Contrary to popular belief, head restraints are not just for comfort. Head restraints are designed to keep the body more in its natural alignment during a rear impact crash, thus minimizing the potential for whiplash injury. During testing, the movement of the dummy's head relative to the dummy's torso is measured and must stay below a certain limit.
    • Air bags and collapsible steering columns. In a front-end crash, a driver's body moves forward toward the steering wheel. Instruments in the dummy measure the impact to the chest during the crash. Air bags and collapsible steering columns help to decrease the impact.
  • Knee bolsters. The dashboard near the driver's knees is a high-impact point during a frontal crash. The dummies have special instruments that measure this impact. Vehicles are required to meet specific standards to reduce injury to the knees and legs.
  • Pretensionsers. As part of many seat belt assemblies, a pretensioner activates before the crash. Sensors detect sudden deceleration of your car immediately before a frontal crash and trigger the pretensioner to take out the slack in your seat belt. During this fraction of an instant, the seat belt brings you closer to the seat back to provide maximum benefit of the safety systems.
  • Load limiters. Also part of many seat belt assemblies, this device limits the force exerted on a person's chest during an impact. Crash dummies tell how effective the load limiter is by measuring the amount of chest compression during a crash test.

Meet NHTSA's Crash Test Dummy Family

The following crash test dummies are used in NHTSA's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

Dummy Name   What does the dummy represent? What is the dummy's specialty?
Hybrid III – full family 50th percentile male, 5th percentile female, 10-year-old child, 6-year-old child weighted, 6-year-old child unweighted, 3-year-old child Upper and lower body movement, head impact, neck force, chest compression, impact to legs; Used in frontal impact crash tests and child restraint systems tests
Q3s 3-year-old child Head and neck movement; Developed for side impact testing; Used at NHTSA for side impact testing with child restraint systems
ES2re 50th percentile male with upper arms only Upper and lower body movement, chest, abdominal, and pelvic impact; Used in side impact crash tests
SID IIs 5th percentile female with upper arms only Upper and lower body movement, head and pelvic impact; Used during side impact crash tests
Free Motion Headform Head shape of an adult 50th percentile male (without a nose) Measures the impact force to the head as it comes into contact with specific locations inside the vehicle
CRABI 12-month-old child Upper body movement; Used in child restraint testing and frontal impact occupant protection testing
CAMI Newborn Weight and size of the average newborn baby Dummy has no instrumentation but is weighted and sized to be used in child restraint systems

Development of new crash test dummies

  • THOR (Test device for Human Occupant Restraint) – In development and evaluation, these advanced dummies have more human-like response throughout the body (neck, chest, shoulder, spine, thighs/pelvis, lower legs, and abdomen) as well as advancements in instrumentation that will help assess more advanced restraint systems.
  • WorldSID – Currently in development by an international group of experts, the WorldSID dummy has more instrumentation to detect possible injury during a side impact crash. A 50th percentile male and a 5th percentile female dummy are being evaluated.
  • BioRID II (a 50th percentile male) – Currently being assessed for improved rear impact protection, this dummy has increased instrumentation to assess loading of the human spine.
  • Advanced frontal 6-year-old/10-year-old child dummies – New frontal impact child dummies are in development, designed to have improved human-like response (neck, thorax, spine, abdomen) and instrumentation for assessing interactions with child seats and vehicle restraints to include improved assessment for submarining-related injuries (sliding below the lap belt of a seat belt).