Media Contact: Helen Jonsen
hjonsen@saferoads.org 202-977-7534
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Statement of Cathy Chase, President
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates)
On New GAO Report Calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation to Improve Crash Test Dummies
(Washington, D.C.-March 13, 2023) The U.S Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report, “Vehicle Safety: DOT Should Take Additional Actions to Improve the Information Obtained from Crash Test Dummies.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has known about dangerous and disastrous shortcomings in the size and shape of dummies for two decades. In that time span, nearly 790,000 people have been killed in motor vehicle crashes. Without more diversity in crash test dummy representation, the usefulness of the crash test results remains significantly limited and motorists remain at unnecessary and preventable risk.
This lapse in agency action is particularly difficult to justify at a time when crash fatalities are skyrocketing. According to NHTSA, almost 43,000 people were killed in vehicle crashes in 2021, and during the first nine months of 2022, nearly 32,000 have died.
We commend Congress for including a provision for the GAO to review the dummies used in NHTSA’s vehicle safety crash tests in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, Pub. L. 117-58) and the GAO for its prompt and thorough responsiveness in issuing this important report.
The current inequities in safety protections are inexcusable. It is incumbent upon NHTSA to implement the GAO recommendations with expediency.