‘Women’s Edition’ vehicles would save lives

Ford’s new YouTube video for the Explorer: Men’s Only Edition (youtube.com/watch?v=XrjKDG8gGHI) is made for the age of clickbait. What at first seems like a tone-deaf misstep is actually a tribute to women’s contributions to the auto industry for Women’s History Month.

The big idea is that we’d all be worse off without women’s inventions like GPS, rearview mirrors, and windshield wipers. As a female auto safety expert, I applaud Ford’s step in the right direction.

But why not be bolder? Make cars that protect women in crashes as well as they do men.

Crashes riskier for women

Ford’s executives must know that their mothers, daughters, and wives are nearly twice more likely than men to die or be severely injured in a frontal crash.

Even in vehicles with the latest air bag technologies, women still have a 20% higher risk of dying in nearside impacts.

Why? Most vehicles on the market are already “men’s editions.” That is, male-dominated engineering teams don’t account for the structural, muscular, and vascular differences in women’s bodies.

Dummies not inclusive

Furthermore, as I have written previous, the dummies used in car safety testing are primarily modeled after an average male from the 1970’s, weighing a 172 pounds and standing 5’9”. But,last fall the safety community got access to a new, female dummy. A group of female-led engineers in Sweden unveiled Eva, the world’s first dummy modeled on the average woman.

But don’t expect Eva to get wide use in the U.S. anytime soon. Change at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration – the body that sets U.S. testing standards – is quite slow. It’s more likely that the men in your family will stop and ask for directions first.

Women can improve their odds

One way women can boost their chances of surviving crashes is by buying safer vehicles.

Women tend to drive smaller and lighter cars than men. These vehicles better fit the average female body, reduce blind spots, and are easier to squeeze into a tight parking spot. They’re also less safe in a crash.

However, you wouldn’t know that by consulting NHTSA’s 5-star Safety Rating or the IIHS’s Top Safety Picks. Both systems rely only on controlled crash tests with that male dummy, not real data from our chaotic roads.

Plus, both systems warn in fine print that you can only compare vehicles within the same weight class. There’s no comparing a sedan that’s 5-star-rated or a Top Safety Pick to a similarly rated truck or SUV.

Only the Auto Grades rating system allows you to do that. It’s based on real data from a huge database of fatal crashes on U.S. roads. And you can personalize your search by gender and age to find the safest car for you. A car that may protect a 25-year-old woman in a crash might not provide sufficient protection for her mother or grandmother.

I look forward to the day when Ford and other automakers finally produce “women’s edition” vehicles that keep us all safe. For now, Ford’s Women’s History Month campaign was a positive step …

What would be better is giving more women a future.

Ahwatukee resident and Chandler business co-owner Norma Faris Hubele, PhD, is professor emerita of Arizona State University and creator of TheAutoProfessor.com, a website that helps families make safer car choices using Auto Grades. Her book, “Backseat Driver, The Role of Data in Great Car Safety Debates” was published in August by Routledge.