The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released new research proving that women are at higher risk of injury than men during vehicular crashes. This study underscores the importance of launching the first-of-its-kind advanced female crash test dummy.

Higher Risk of Injury

According to the study, women have a statistically significantly higher risk of injury than men in 26% of the 150 crash injury models, and women have a higher risk more frequently for moderate injuries. 

“Under President Trump and Secretary Duffy’s leadership, USDOT streamlined efforts to approve the first-of-its-kind female crash test dummy. The Administration did this because acknowledging the biological differences between men and women can save lives,” said NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison. “This study reaffirms the importance of the THOR and will help the Department further build on the progress its already made in lowering traffic fatalities.” 

Crash Types Studied by NHTSA

NHTSA studied six crash types for this report: 

• Frontal crashes

• Near-side crashes

• Far-side crashes

• Rear crashes

• One combining all four of those crash types

• Rollover crashes

Unlike other recent studies, NHTSA’s study covered a broader range of crash types, occupant restraint conditions, and seating positions. 

Report Discovers Increased Injury Risk

Findings related to moderate and higher injuries include: 

• 46% higher injury risk in frontal crashes.

• 55% higher injury risk in rollover crashes.

• 62% higher risk for lower extremity injuries in frontal crashes (including knee, thigh, hip, leg, foot, and ankle).

• 128% higher risk of injuries to the foot and ankle in frontal crashes. 

Injury Risk Increases with Age

This new injury report’s results suggest that, for both men and women, injury risk increases with a person’s age. 

Compared with the youngest age group (13 to 24-year-olds), each subsequent age group (25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and 65 and up) had higher moderate-to-severe and fatal injury risk in all but rollover crashes.

Higher BMI Increases Injury Risk

Having a body mass index of 30 or higher was frequently associated with significantly higher injury risk, especially in frontal crashes.

Occupant height was not significantly associated with injury risk in 86% of injuries studied. 

Newer Vehicles Reduce Fatality Risk

A previous NHTSA report assessed the difference in fatality risk between men and women, finding that this difference was reduced significantly in newer vehicles. The report found that the newer the vehicle, the smaller the disparity. The overall fatality gap between women and men drops from 18% to 6.3% for 2010-2020 vehicles and to 2.9% for 2015-20 vehicles.

Crash Data Taken from Police Reports

The study used data from NHTSA’s National Automotive Sampling System-Crashworthiness Data System from 2000-2015 and the Crash Investigation Sampling System from 2017-2022. These systems are nationally representative surveys of police-reported passenger vehicle crashes. 

Reporting Female Crash Risk to Congress

NHTSA also published its latest Report to Congress detailing its progress on the THOR-05F and WorldSID-05F 5th percentile female crash test dummies. 

The report includes a discussion of NHTSA’s broader female crash-safety research efforts in field data analysis, advanced dummies and experimental biomechanics, human body modeling, and fleet testing and countermeasures.