SMART DUMMIES PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE DISCUSSED THE HISTORY OF AUTOMOTIVE TEST DUMMIES. Today in Part 2, NPR’s Camila Domonoske tours Humanetics, a major supplier of ATDs.

Video from YouTube via NPR. 

A Humanetics Facility Tour. Camila Domonoske recounts, “On shelves at a Humanetics facility in Huron, Ohio, skulls stare from their eyeless sockets, shiny and silver. Around a corner, a rack is filled with squishy, peach-toned arms, legs, torsos and butts.”

This and following images are by Brittany Greeson from NPR. 

“It’s not important that they look human,” Domonoske observes, “in fact, the latest, top-of-the-line designs actually look less realistic, with smooth, flat faces instead of noses, eye sockets and lips. But it’s absolutely essential that they move like a real body would, and record the forces a body would experience.”

Females Are… Er… Different. Domonoske describes, “The new female dummy design, crucially, is informed by data from female bodies. Previous ‘female’ dummies were modified versions of male dummies, and safety advocates have long argued that the resulting anatomical inaccuracies contribute to higher rates of injuries among women than men in real crashes.” 

Artisans, Not Just Assembly Lines. “Inside the factory,” Domonoske observes, “the process is less like an assembly line, and more like a series of craftspeople working at separate stations, with machinists using hand tools and giant, computer-controlled devices to turn raw aluminum into artificial bones…. The dummy’s spine, which needs a precise amount of flexibility, is made out of rubber instead of metal, squeezed under immense pressure until it forms the right shape. Then, of course, a dummy’s bones need to be encased in the squishiness of flesh.”

Fleshy Bits Get Finessed. Domonoske describes, “Once they come out of their molds, the fleshy bits need a little finessing, and another team wields X-Acto knives, dremels and other tools to smooth surface imperfections.”

Artisan Katie Burlovish, a molded product trimmer, prepares a crash-dummy pelvis.

“ ‘I am trimming a pelvis,’ explains Katie Burlovich, who is hunching over a torso-shaped object and buffing it with a sanding belt. I push her to be a little more direct. ‘Yes, I am working on a butt,’ she acknowledges.” 

Domonoske is evidently the charmingly persistent journalist.

And Then Comes ATD Smarts. Domonoske details, “After a little exfoliation, next all the parts get connected. Then the brand new body is shipped to a building in Farmington, Michigan, near Detroit, to acquire a nervous system.”

Lab Manager Robert Macdonald (left) and Evan Giangrande work to manage and neatly attach cables for a crash test dummy at a Humanetics production facility in Farmington Hills, Mich.

“Their job,” Domonoske describes, “is all about the many sensors that go inside the dummies, tucked inside of all those carefully manufactured body parts, to measure acceleration, force and other data points that capture what would happen to a human body in a crash.”

Domonoske continues, “All those sensors also need to be calibrated, which is done by hitting the dummies with a known force and seeing if those sensors report the right numbers. Heads are dropped from precise heights. Chests are struck with pendulums. Other parts are compressed by what’s essentially a really big squishing machine, far taller than a person, that exacts a precise amount of pressure on a tiny metal sensor.”

Final Prep, Then Take a Ride; Indeed, Many of Them. In use, each crash-test dummy gets clown-makeup-sourced face paint, hand-applied and different left-to-right. The resulting smears on air bags and car interiors give engineers an assessment of head dynamics in the crash.

Above, results of a front-offset impact at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The vehicle’s airbags block the dummies inside from view—except for the hand of the dummy in the back seat, which has been flung out the window. Below, pink and blue smears identify driver head dynamics. Images by Carlos Bernate for NPR.

Dummies are destined to take a multitude of belted crash tests (of course, with occasional refurbishing of bits here and there). 

It’s tough work, but I’m sure glad something’s smart enough to do it. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025