Page 11 - Bloomberg Businessweek-October 29, 2018

Bloomberg Businessweek October 29, 2018

headquarters are two other dummies that represent the the previous year. Then, shortly before Donald Trump took
past and potential future of the business. One is a modern office in January 2017, NHTSA restarted the process, pushing
Hybrid III, priced at $250,000 to $500,000, the other a male back changes for at least a year.
THOR—a “test device for human occupant restraint”—that Auto companies and the insurance institute have also
sells for $500,000 to $1 million, depending on the number urged NHTSA to exercise caution. Manufacturers told the
and sophistication of the sensors installed. agency that the use of new tests and THOR dummies could
If the elderly dummy is Humanetics’ Corvette, the THOR pose a “significant cost burden” that “would increase the
is its Tesla. It can be fitted with sensors that offer as many as price of new vehicles.” The insurance institute told the
150 “channels,” or repositories of data, up to four times as agency it isn’t clear yet that the new dummies, though
many as in the other dummy. These sensors supply minute technologically better, would enhance information about
details on such things as the distance a single rib travels on crash worthiness.
impact and how a glancing blow to the side of the head might Still, there are potential opportunities for Humanetics,
contribute to a concussion. including driverless vehicles. Prospective car designs envi-
The THOR is also Humanetics’ most biofidelic dummy, sion passengers facing backward, sitting around tables, and
meaning it more accurately imitates human responses. For reclining. There are no crash-test specifications and no spe-
instance, the spine and neck are more flexible than those cific rules that apply to these configurations. Manufacturers
in older models. Jim Davis, vice president for engineering, have just begun to grapple with what an autonomous car’s
shows why this could matter in a head-on collision. The older test dummy might look like.
dummy “is very rigid and tends to move forward,” he says, All of this should be good for Humanetics, despite
“whereas a human being tends to turn toward the A pillar,” O’Connor’s recent frustrations. At the same time, other

“I could definitely see a need for an elderly dummy in the future”

the stanchion between the companies that make sensors 65
windshield and the driver’s and related gear have been
side window. “And look at jumping into dummy-
the complexity of the shoul- making. The capital invest-
der joints,” he says. “It’s ment required to enter the
important that it can capture business can be substantial,
this motion,” he says, lean- but NHTSA shares specifica-
ing one way and rolling his tions widely so regulators,
shoulders forward. auto companies, dummy
Humanetics has spent makers, and suppliers are
$10 million creating THOR. all in sync.
The company has devel- Humanetics expects to sell
oped a distinct female ver- about 50 THORs this year,
sion, partly because of a fueled mostly by European
2011 University of Virginia regulators pushing ahead
study showing that women with new crash-test pro-
were 47 percent more likely grams. Meanwhile, the U.S.
than men to suffer severe fatality rate, which dipped to
injuries in a crash. NHTSA a record low of 1.08 per mil-
has bought three female lion miles traveled in 2014
THORs, and auto makers (32,744 deaths), was 1.16 last
have ordered five more, but year (37,133). “The administra-
it’s not yet clear how widely tion has been dragging their
they’ll be used. After NHTSA feet on this,” O’Connor says.
said in December 2015 that “Europe and other countries
it wanted to revamp its car have really been more proac-
safety ratings for the 2019 tive than the United States.
model year, sales of male There’s a significant opportu-
THORs jumped. Humanetics A face mold at the plant in Huron, Ohio nity to save more lives.” And
sold 58 in 2016, up from 19 sell more dummies. <BW>