An Advanced form of the Crash Test Dummies

The Crash Test Dummy commercials were some of the most entertaining and fun to watch albeit corny and a bit crass. During these commercials the dummies would be driving on a road and at least one of them wouldn’t be wearing their seat belt. At the end of each commercial the dummies were in a crash and the one without the seat belt was horrendously mutilated to help spread the message of wearing a seat belt anytime you’re in a vehicle. Even though these dummies were meant to bring light to a serious message they were representations of the human-like testing models that were used at the time.

Over the years the crash test dummies have become more advanced and different automakers have created their own version of these models in order to have some that are built in a more realistic fashion to give us more accurate information with regards to what can happen in a crash. Toyota has been one of the companies at the forefront of creating the right crash test dummies for manufacturers and government officials to use. This should come as no surprise at all considering Toyota is the largest automaker in the entire world.

Recently we noticed that Toyota had filed patents for new versions of their dummies to be used with the software. Now we see their program called Toyota Human Model for Safety (THUMS) will include programs for a wide range of models of different sizes. They have added three child sizes to the model lineup to try and create as much variety in the size of the people inside a vehicle during a crash as they possibly can. The THUMS program will now include six dummies that are either pedestrians or occupants of the vehicle. These six include a large male, average make, small female, ten-year old child, six-year old child and three-year old child.

THUMS has been used by many different automotive companies and government agencies to help them understand the nature of injuries during a crash. These new models have been developed in collaboration with Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and the Collaborative Safety Research Center which is located in the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. With these advanced and more accurately built dummies the testing organizations will be able to more accurately predict the types of injuries that will be sustained in a crash and help develop the various safety technologies we need to be able to survive an automobile accident.

How much does the auto industry trust THUMS? This program and technology has been used in various motorsports as well including NASCAR. This testing program is being used to help NASCAR develop seat shapes that will help reduce the likelihood of rib fractures when a driver is involved in an accident on the track.

As you can see, Toyota is not just about developing their vehicles, but also about creating the right safety technology for the entire industry. As for the original crash test dummies, heed their message and wear your seat belt otherwise you may be the dummy and end up like they did at the end of this video.