Photo: Ford
Crash test dummies have been doing hard work to make every driver and passenger safe since the late 1950s. Even though they are not living beings, these “dummies” cost considerable sums of money, and their sensors have allowed organizations that focus on crash tests to tell everyone if an average human would survive a crash in a given vehicle.
As you may be aware, the world’s population is getting older, and people are living more than their ancestors ever did. While also reaching higher average ages, the public in developed countries is getting fatter than the generations before it. You can blame fast food, bad diets, laziness, and many other causes, but you can be sure that it is happening.
The United States of America is not doing well when the average weight of its citizens is concerned, and there’s no definite sign of improvement in that area. At the same time, the U.S. has drivers on the road at ages higher than ever before, and automakers have figured out that they also need protection in the event of an accident.
The additional protection that will be designed to help slim drivers and overweight ones alike involves using a new type of crashworthiness test model that will be expanded into an entire line. The dummy in question weighs 273 pounds (123 kilograms), which is 100 lbs (45 kg) heavier than the regular ones employed in crash tests.
According to Dr. Stewart Wang, who is the director of the University of Michigan International Center for Automotive Medicine, the prototype is one of many, and others include a dummy inspired by an overweight 70-year-old woman.
According to research, obese individuals tend to “submarine” during an accident, which means that they could slide under the lap belt and suffer extensive injuries in their lower body. That happens because the three-point safety belt’s lap part has far more slack than any other part of the setup because of the person’s excessive tissue in the area.
This said, overweight people are prone to severe lower-extremity injuries in car accidents, and the research that is being done today will be beneficial in several years. As The Sacramento Bee notes, the lower parts of the body are not the only ones to change as a person gets older and fatter, as the shape and structure of the chest are also becoming weaker, leading to a fifteen-fold increase in the risk of chest injury.
With that in mind, here’s another reason why being fat can kill someone, and that is one of the best fitness motivations we can provide on this website. The other one involves saving fuel and having a better power-to-weight ratio in your car if you lose weight.
The United States of America is not doing well when the average weight of its citizens is concerned, and there’s no definite sign of improvement in that area. At the same time, the U.S. has drivers on the road at ages higher than ever before, and automakers have figured out that they also need protection in the event of an accident.
The additional protection that will be designed to help slim drivers and overweight ones alike involves using a new type of crashworthiness test model that will be expanded into an entire line. The dummy in question weighs 273 pounds (123 kilograms), which is 100 lbs (45 kg) heavier than the regular ones employed in crash tests.
According to Dr. Stewart Wang, who is the director of the University of Michigan International Center for Automotive Medicine, the prototype is one of many, and others include a dummy inspired by an overweight 70-year-old woman.
According to research, obese individuals tend to “submarine” during an accident, which means that they could slide under the lap belt and suffer extensive injuries in their lower body. That happens because the three-point safety belt’s lap part has far more slack than any other part of the setup because of the person’s excessive tissue in the area.
This said, overweight people are prone to severe lower-extremity injuries in car accidents, and the research that is being done today will be beneficial in several years. As The Sacramento Bee notes, the lower parts of the body are not the only ones to change as a person gets older and fatter, as the shape and structure of the chest are also becoming weaker, leading to a fifteen-fold increase in the risk of chest injury.
With that in mind, here’s another reason why being fat can kill someone, and that is one of the best fitness motivations we can provide on this website. The other one involves saving fuel and having a better power-to-weight ratio in your car if you lose weight.
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