Vehicle Safety

A female crash test dummy introduced in the early 2000s represents a 5th-percentile woman (under 5 feet tall and 108 pounds) and was designed as a smaller-scaled version of the male dummy without accounting for sex-specific biomechanical differences such as muscle strength, fat distribution, and bone density.

The standard automotive crash test dummy used for regulatory testing is a 50th-percentile male anthropomorphic test device that was designed to represent the average U.S. soldier from the 1960s.

The THOR-05F female crash test dummy is outfitted with more than 150 sensors, is designed to assess injury risk to the brain, internal organs, abdomen, chest, pelvis, arms and legs, and is reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation to collect about three times more injury measurements than current female crash test dummies.

A damaged valve that allows air into a vehicle's fuel tank can cause the fuel tank to expand and contact nearby hot exhaust components, which can melt the fuel tank.

A melted fuel tank can leak fuel, increasing the risk of a vehicle fire.

Symptoms that can indicate a fuel tank or fuel-system fault include audible popping sounds from the fuel tank area, illumination of the dashboard check engine light, and the vehicle running rough.