Since 2019, sex equity in traffic crashes has been a highly debated topic in
vehicle safety, especially following the 2019 study by Forman et al. (1) claiming that female occupants face a 73
percent greater risk of serious injury in frontal crashes compared to male
occupants. This was soon followed by a Consumer Reports Article by Keith Barry
(2), which attempted to identify
underlying factors contributing to the higher risk. These have been embraced by
several parties since 2019. Firstly, it was alleged that vehicle design practice
over the last four decades considered safety for the male population only and
ignored that of the female as evidenced by the exclusive use of the mid-sized
male Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) in Regulatory and Safety Ratings tests
and not with an average sized female ATD. The absence of such an ATD for testing
of vehicles “set the course for four decades’ worth of car safety design, with
deadly consequences” (2). Secondly,
although there is a recognition of the fact that Regulatory testing with a Small
Female ATD, the Hybrid III-05F, was introduced in the FMVSS208 in 2003, this ATD
was only a scaled version of the average male ATD of the 1970’s implying that
this ATD is incapable of driving the design of restraint systems for females due
to “They’re put together differently. Their material properties—their
structure—is different” (2). Thirdly,
according to a quote “These same trends have been observed in many, many studies
in the past.” We assume that the trends refer to the apparent disparity in
safety of females when compared to those of males.
This document aims to outline historical activities, associated research and the
development of countermeasures addressing crashworthiness concerns related to
vehicle safety for females, as well as factors affecting both males and females,
such as age-related impacts. This paper deals mainly with the frontal crash
modes, mentions side impacts briefly as it affected designs of inflatable
restraints for side impact to protect the smaller portion of the population from
inflation induced injuries but the history behind the use of female ATDs by IIHS
and NHTSA in full scale testing is not covered. Where ever possible, the time
periods of reported activities related to female safety have been divided to
pre-1997 corresponding to a change in US frontal crash regulation to address
serious-to-fatal injuries to females and children, between 1997 to 2003
corresponding to the proposal by Canada for its frontal impact standard, and
between 2003 and 2006 when the Advanced Restraint Regulation in the US FMVSS 208
was promulgated. This was followed by activities between 2007 and 2019, and post
2019 period.