Equitable Design: Design for Every Body

Despite massive advances in simulation, the paradigm of safety is measured by a single body size. Why? 

The pursuit of equitable safety in vehicle design and urban environments presents significant challenges across various dimensions, including gender, body size, and age. Safety design in vehicles and workplaces has historically been biased towards average male dimensions, leading to significant disparities in safety outcomes. For example, studies have shown that women are 73% more likely to be seriously injured in car crashes compared to men, primarily due to safety features designed based on male anthropometry. To help mitigate this disparity, new Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) such as the THOR-5F have been introduced, but have yet to be implemented in regulation.

To further understand today’s world of vehicle crash testing, we need to recognize that ATDs are designed to mimic human beings as their test surrogates. For adult testing, they are designed to represent human body sizes using percentiles, primarily the 5th, 50th, and 95th. While this system covers a range of body types, it has limitations. It may overlook vulnerable groups such as the elderly, obese, or those with disabilities, who may respond differently to crashes. Additionally, this method might miss important variations and outliers that could impact overall vehicle safety. 

Child safety testing faces its own challenges, exposing gaps in age physiology of up to 4-years between dummy sizes. These gaps could result in less optimized safety features for children who fall between the tested age ranges, highlighting the need for more comprehensive and nuanced testing protocols for child occupants in vehicles. 

However, the real issue lies in the discrepancy between regulatory tests and voluntary 5-star safety tests. While regulatory tests establish minimal safety thresholds for a broader range of occupants, the highest safety standards are still measured against an average male driver. The female "dummy" used is not anthropologically representative nor technologically capable of measuring data where women are vulnerable to injury. However, progress is on the horizon, with Euro NCAP planning to introduce a more advanced Female ATD in 2029. 

The female "dummy" used is not anthropologically representative nor technologically capable of measuring data where women are vulnerable to injury. However, progress is on the horizon, with Euro NCAP planning to introduce a more advanced Female ATD in 2029. 

This disparity extends beyond vehicles. The world of design often favors average male dimensions, leading to potential discomfort and injury for women and those with non-average proportions. This bias extends to various fields, including industrial ergonomics and personal protective equipment. 

Caroline Criado Perez's acclaimed book "Invisible Women" highlights numerous examples of this male-centric design, from vehicle safety to medical research and urban planning. She cites vehicle safety as a key example of structural inequity, whose history is rooted in an era when women didn’t drive, and regulation perpetuates the inequity. She cites how women are prevented from driving buses because they are not designed with pedals that can be used by people under a certain “average male height. Industrial vehicles are not regulated to accommodate female operators. 

However, solutions exist to address diverse body types in industrial design. The iSize database, which contains 3D scans of hundreds of thousands of people from Germany, France, Italy, China, and the USA have been analyzed and used by designers to achieve optimal fit for various products.  

Industrial Designers rely on the iSize database to shape and customize the avatars utilized in Ergonomics software, specifically RAMSIS. This software creates detailed virtual space for designers to ensure that pilots, drivers, captains, surgeons, mission controllers and operators of critical environments have full functionality, visibility and comfort no matter their size. 

Great design should accommodate every individual, not just the average. Companies excelling in product design hold themselves accountable to this standard, and safety regulations should follow suit. 

The integration of physical testing using ATDs and virtual simulations (vATDs) has revolutionized safety design processes. This approach allows for faster and more cost-effective evaluations of design iterations, testing of a broader range of body types and sizes, and more comprehensive insights into human-product interactions. 

Virtual anthropomorphic test devices (vATDs) complement physical ATDs by simulating diverse human anatomies and behaviors. This approach not only accelerates product development but also enhances safety and performance assessments across a broader spectrum of users. 

Virtual anthropomorphic test devices (vATDs) complement physical ATDs by simulating diverse human anatomies and behaviors. This approach not only accelerates product development but also enhances safety and performance assessments across a broader spectrum of users. 

Human Body Models represent a significant advancement in understanding biomechanics and injury prediction across diverse populations. These sophisticated models integrate data from anatomical variations and physiological responses, facilitate predictive simulations for products ranging from automotive interiors to medical devices, and allow designers to account for variations in age, gender, and body size more effectively.  

HBMs enable strain-based injury prediction, simulation of pre-crash and low-g events, and are more adaptable to new vehicle designs. They provide cost and time efficiencies in the development process and are increasingly recognized by regulatory bodies. With their improved biofidelity and potential for integration with AI and machine learning, HBMs are poised to revolutionize vehicle safety design and occupant protection strategies, complementing and potentially surpassing traditional crash test dummy methods in many aspects of safety assessment. 

And with advancing technology, new specialized HBMs like HBM Connect™ are essential for refining and optimizing future safety systems and meeting NCAP protocols. Future advancements in HBM technology promise even greater precision, ensuring that designs are not only safe and functional but also inclusive, catering to the needs of all users.