Anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), commonly referred to as dummies, are mechanical surrogates of the human that are used by the automotive industry to evaluate the occupant protection potential of various types of restraint systems in simulated collisions of new vehicle designs. Dummies are classified according to size, age, sex and impact direction. There are adult male and female dummies of different sizes, and child dummies that represent different ages. These dummies are used to assess occupant protection in frontal, side, rear and rollover collision simulations. The midsize adult male dummy is the most utilized size in automotive restraint testing. It approximates the median height and weight of the 50th percentile adult male population. The heights and weights of the small female and large male adult dummies are approximately those of the 5th percentile female and the 95th percentile male, respectively. The adult dummies are referred to as small female, midsize male and large male to avoid debates about whether the dimensions are consistent with the latest published percentile classifications. Child dummies have the median heights and weights of children of the specific age groups that they represent without regard to sex. They are referred to by age.

Current ATDs are designed to be biofidelic;​ that is, they mimic pertinent human physical characteristics such as size, shape, mass, stiffness, and energy absorption and dissipation, so that their mechanical responses simulate corresponding human responses of trajectory, velocity, acceleration, deformation, and articulation when the dummies are exposed to prescribed simulated collision conditions. They are instrumented with transducers that measure accelerations, deformations, and loads of various body parts. Analyses of these measurements are used to assess the efficacy of restraint system designs. Limits placed on these dummy measurements are called Injury Assessment Reference Values (IARVs). The restraint system design goal is for the dummy’s responses to be at or below their corresponding IARVs for all the test conditions being evaluated.

This chapter will discuss (1) the pertinent characteristics of various dummies that have been used by the auto industry over the last 50 plus years, (2) the IARVs for the various measurements made with these dummies, and (3) the Injury Risk Curves that served as the bases for many of the IARVs.