As you sit reading this, eating the healthy lunch you prepared using the latest government nutritional guidelines, spare a thought for the crash test dummies that have been put on the fat fast diet.
Since the 1950s the size of your crash test dummy has been made to simulate the average American, at a surprising 12st 4lb. But with the changes to the 21st century diet, 22 per cent of British men are now obese, and NCAP have introduced an uber dummy just under 16st.
“Currently our tests use two average-size dummies in the front, and a one and a half year old and three old in the back… we are still going to use these but we are considering looking at how cars compact when adding different size dummies” comments Adrian Hobbs, secretary general of the crash test organisation Euro NCAP.
The fad trends in body shape are not just for the larger types, they are also looking to follow the size 0 trend and introduce a 4ft 11in, 7st 10lb dummy to mimic the lady driver. “It’s not just that women are smaller, it’s that they also sit closer to the steering wheel” adds Mr Hobbs. “If we design a test that will accommodate the larger dummy and the smaller one, you’d have a safer car”.
PH are now trying to source some dummies to represent the people in the office for further testing, we will keep you posted.