I’ve never found seat belts in cars comfortable. This is true whether I am in the front passenger seat or the driver’s seat. As for the back seat, well, I have to admit that — when I have the misfortune to be there — I almost never use the seat belt.
I often drive rental cars when I am travelling for work, to save the wear and tear on our own ageing car, since – short of winning a lottery – I can’t imagine ever being in a financial position to replace it. When I rent a car, I luxuriate in everything that new cars can offer. I’ll admit that I’m sometimes overwhelmed by the systems that are intended to keep me safer on the road, and the way the car seems to know things before I do can be downright creepy. What I love is the opportunity to talk on the phone and listen and respond to text messages without taking my eyes off the road or my hands off the steering wheel. For me, being able to break up a long road trip by chatting with a friend is a real gift. And, there’s nothing better than plugging my phone into the car system to play my favourite tunes as I speed along the highway.
But, none of these cars has ever offered me a seat belt that feels comfortable. I wiggle around in the driver’s seat, adjust it forward, backward and up and down. I fiddle with the gizmo beside the door that is supposed to adjust the seat belt for people of different heights. I move the belt to rest under my breasts but, inevitably, it creeps up until, as always, it is resting across my throat, feeling almost as though it is trying to strangle me. Sometimes, in desperation, I drive while holding the seat belt out from my body, which I am sure is not safe.
From Sierra Sam to Sierra Samantha?
Imagine my pleasure, then, when, on December 8th, I heard Matt Galloway on CBC’s The Current interview the CEO of a company that has created the first female crash test dummy. I was in my car at the time and, as usual, was struggling to negotiate an arrangement with my seat belt that would make both of us happy. Was it possible, I wondered, that in the not-too-distant future, cars might actually have seatbelts that take women’s bodies into account?
According to Chris O’Connor, the CEO of Humanetics, who is known as the father of the modern crash test dummy, the answer to that question is yes: a new crash test dummy that is designed to reflect women’s bodies, is about to hit the market.
The first crash test dummy, named Sierra Sam, appeared in 1949 and was used to test aircraft ejection seats. By the 1960s, these dummies were beginning to be used by automobile manufacturers and, later, the companies that made seatbelts and airbags. The dummies in use then and now cost approximately $1 million US each, but apparently they last forever. Those old dummies, still in use today, are modelled on what is known as the “male 50th percentile,” meaning that approximately 50% of men are shorter and weigh less than the dummy and 50% are taller and weigh more.
But those dummies don’t help women, with our different sizes and shapes from men. Research over the past few decades has shown that there is a significant gendered disparity in the injuries and fatalities in car accidents. While men make up most of the victims, women are more likely to be killed in collisions and are 73% more likely to sustain serious injuries, especially to their pelvis and legs. Also, over those same decades, the number of women drivers has increased substantially.
O’Connor’s company has developed a female 5th percentile crash test dummy, named THOR-5F, which contains 150 rather than 20 to 20 sensors, many of them positioned in new locations that better reflect the parts of the body where women are most commonly injured.
As O’Conner explained, the male 50th percentile dummies led to car, seat belt and air bag designs that did not keep women drivers or passengers safe. For example, women have a more rounded pelvis than do men, and so “slide under the seatbelts of today’s standards.”
She Drives
As O’Connor said to Matt Galloway:
“You know, somebody is driving, and we’re not all the same size, we’re not all the same shape, and we’re certainly not all the same gender.”