Will This Newly Approved Crash Test Dummy Make Car Accidents Less Deadly for Women?

The government approved the specifications of THOR-05F, marking a first step toward the government and manufacturers potentially using the dummy in future car safety tests. But it still represents only the smallest women in the United States

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

November 28, 2025

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When a woman gets behind the wheel of a car in the United States, she’s statistically more likely than a man to be injured or die if the vehicle crashes.

Now, the federal government aims to reduce that risk by introducing an advanced female crash test dummy, which represents the female body better than currently used models.

The dummy, announced November 20 by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, is called THOR-05F—short for “Test device for Human Occupant Restraint, 5th-percentile Female.” The announcement marks approval of the dummy’s specifications by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a first step toward the government and manufacturers potentially using the new dummy—rather than one greenlit more than 20 years ago—in future car safety tests.

“While I’m the first to acknowledge that this took far longer than anyone would like, it was very important to make sure that we got this right,” Jonathan Morrison, the NHTSA administrator, said at a vehicle safety research meeting on November 20, as reported by NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin and Emma Dion.

The next step will be for the NHTSA to publish a final rule on THOR-05F. Then, it will be considered for use in NHTSA’s program for assessing whether new cars are compliant with federal safety standards.

In the U.S., car crashes kill a greater number of men than women each year. But women are at higher risk of injury and death when vehicle accidents occur. The severe injury risk holds even when accounting for differences in age, height, body mass index, collision severity and vehicle model year, according to a study published in 2019 in Traffic Injury Prevention.  

Some of that increased risk may come from vehicle safety features—like airbags and seatbelts—designed to protect the bodies of men, even though more women than men have driver’s licenses. These safety features are based largely on tests involving dummies that mimic the average American man from the 1970s, who stands around 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs around 171 pounds.

But male and female bodies are different, and they react differently in car crashes.

THOR-05F has been in development by safety technology company Humanetics for more than 20 years, the past decade of which was in collaboration with NHTSA. In government tests, it could replace a female crash test dummy known as the Hybrid III, which the NHTSA started to use in 2003.

Both were designed to represent a female driver who stands about 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighs around 108 pounds. Only 5 percent of women in the United States would have had smaller measurements—in the mid-1970s—Consumer Reports’ Keith Barry reported in 2019. Today, the average American woman stands about 5 feet 3.5 inches tall and weighs around 172 pounds.

But according to the government’s announcement, THOR-05F is “more durable, accurate and lifelike” than currently used dummies. The newer version more closely mimics the anatomy of female bodies, which have key differences from men in the pelvis, neck and lower legs, Chris O’Connor, the CEO of Humanetics, tells NPR’s Camila Domonoske. THOR-05F is equipped with 150 sensors for gathering data during test crashes, including how seatbelts, air bags and vehicle structures perform with female bodies.

The NHTSA likely won’t start using THOR-05F to assess new cars until 2027 or 2028. Beyond that, its broader adoption may be slow. A spokesperson for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit funded by auto insurers and insurance associations, tells the New York Times’ Adeel Hassan the group has “no plans” to adjust the dummies it uses in its consumer ratings crash tests.

Right now, car manufacturers do not have to use THOR-05F in their testing. Maria Weston Kuhn, the founder of Drive Action Fund, a nonprofit legislative advocacy organization, described the approval to NBC News as an “encouraging sign” but said the recent action does not go far enough.

“We know the dummies won’t do any good sitting in the storage closet, and that the car companies won’t implement these changes unless mandated,” she added.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.