The World’s Most Expensive Dummies Safe Lives
Read the article below and learn how Volvo Safety experts test Volvo cars.
The crash-test dummy is involved in all research into and development of car safety. It represents the human being in the car and using the dummy, Volvo Cars’ safety experts find out how a real human being is affected in a collision.
“It’s very difficult to develop crash-test dummies. The aim is to create as close a resemblance to a real human being as possible. At the same time, however, it has to be a tough tool. One highly successful example dates from the 1990s when Swedish researchers developed a crash-test dummy for rear-end collisions. This dummy, which features a very detailed spine, is now used the world over to evaluate whiplash injuries,” says Lotta Jakobsson, biomechanics and technical specialist with the Safety Centre at Volvo Cars.
At Volvo Cars, the Crash-Test Dummy family is structured around 19 family members – eight adults and 11 children. The smallest is an infant weighing 3 kilograms.
There are family members of different configurations and for different purposes, making a grand total of more than 100 dummies. The family is so large because it is necessary to include both children and adults of different ages, sizes and to cover different collision scenarios.
Advanced measurement tool
The first crash-test dummies were developed in the mid-sixties and were fairly simple in their design. Today there are many different types of crash-test dummy – European, American and individual designs for specific purposes such as frontal, rear or side collisions.
In order to aid standardisation of crash-test dummies the world over, researchers are now working on the development of a standardised side-impact dummy. This work has gone on for more than 10 years and underlines just how advanced a measurement tool a crash-test dummy is.
Crash-test dummies smash into walls every single day without making a fuss and they can undergo about five collisions before it is time for rehabilitation – or recalibration as it is known in technical jargon.
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Source: Volvo
