Crash Test Dummies have helped save numerous lives over the years…

Soon after the production of commercial automobiles, the need arose to develop a means of gathering and analyzing information on the effects of automobile accidents on human bodies. Most sources agree that “Sierra Sam” was the first crash test dummy. The idea for studying the effects of a crash on the human body originated in the late 1940s when the U.S. Air Force studied the safety of the aircraft ejection seats. A 200-pound male dummy developed by Sierra Engineering was used to evaluate the ejection seats in tests, but he was not much more than a mannequin and the researchers were not able to gather all the data they wanted. As a result, the Air Force sought human volunteers.

Crash test dummies are full scale replicas of human beings. Read more on the history of crash test dummies……and the crash test dummy “family”…

High-Speed Cameras (such as those manufactured by NAC Image Technology) play an important role in safety testing.

This post was made on Monday, November 5th, 2007