History 325 2019

Timeline

1

1949: Samuel Alderson and his research lab invent the first ever Crash Test Dummy. This creation will be a building block for many innovations to come, regarding vehicle safety.

1950s: Researchers used human corpses as surrogates to collect data on human injuries caused by accidents in crash experiments and subsequently adopted animals and volunteers as crash surrogates. 2

1959: At the first Mercedes-Benz crash test in 1959 a test car was accelerated head-on into a fixed barrier made of old press dies otherwise destined for the scrapheap. 3

1960’s:  By the mid 1960s the first-generation sleds had given way to a new type of impact vehicle, to which a complete passenger car body could be attached for load testing if required. 4

1970: The Highway Safety Act of 1970 combines three agencies into the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 5

1971: In 1971, ARL and Sierra collaborated to develop the Hybrid I dummy. This dummy can be used to measure head and chest triaxial acceleration and femur load 6

1973: Hybrid II was created and cleared by NHTSA for use in crash testing

1977: General Motors creates the Model III crash test dummy, most advanced of its time.

Early 1990s: Researchers begin looking into the biofidelic properties of humans to make more accurate crash test dummies. This is seen in the creation of the Hybrid III.

Mid-1990s:  Automakers worked with the aircraft industry in the mid-1990s to bring them up to speed with the advances in crash testing as related to human tolerance and injuries. 7

1997: In 1997, GM’s Hybrid III crash test dummies officially became the industry standard for testing to comply with government frontal impact regulations and airbag safety. 8

2003: Additional dummies represent different size occupants such as children and small women in the occupant protection standard and the child restraint system standard 9

2007: The regulation for head restraints uses an adult male test dummy to increase safety of head restraints. 10

Footnotes

  1. “Toyota Adds Children Models to Crash Test Software – The News Wheel.” Accessed October 30, 2019. https://thenewswheel.com/toyota-adds-children-models-to-crash-test-software/.
  2. Tao Xu, Xiaoming Sheng, Tianyi Zhang, Huan Liu, Xiao Liang, and Ao Ding, “Development and Validation of Dummies and Human Models Used in Crash Test,” Applied Bionics and Biomechanics, vol. 2018, Article ID 3832850, 12 pages, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/3832850.  
  3. “Mercedes-Benz Marks 50 Years since Crash Testing First Car | MotorwayAmerica.” Accessed November 21, 2019. http://www.motorwayamerica.com/content/mercedes-benz-marks-50-years-crash-testing-first-car.
  4. Ibid.
  5. “Safety in Numbers.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, September 2015. 1-3. Retrieved from  https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/dummy_milestones_812189.pdf
  6. Tao Xu, Xiaoming Sheng, Tianyi Zhang, Huan Liu, Xiao Liang, and Ao Ding, “Development and Validation of Dummies and Human Models Used in Crash Test,” Applied Bionics and Biomechanics, vol. 2018, Article ID 3832850, 12 pages, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/3832850.
  7. Bellis, Mary. “The History of Crash Test Dummies, Starting With Sierra Sam.” ThoughtCo, April 17, 2019. https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-crash-test-dummies-1992406
  8. Ibid
  9. “Safety in Numbers.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, September 2015. 1-3. Retrieved from  https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/dummy_milestones_812189.pdf 
  10. Ibid