Crash test fatties: dummies getting larger to match expanding waistlines

The models, which are used to assess car safety standards, have remained largely unchanged since the 1950s.

Then, the standard dummy was created to resemble the average 12st 4lb American male.

But to make the crash risks more realistic, the independent body which tests most European cars is also planning to use a dummy weighing just under 16st, which stands at almost 6ft 1in.

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Although the average male weighs about 12st 6lb, only slightly more than the 1950s dummy, 22 per cent of British men are now obese, the second highest rate in Europe.

Women, meanwhile, have increased from an average weight of 9st 10lb in 1951 to 10st 3.5lb today.

In the tests, cars are driven into a stationary barrier.

The re-useable dummies inside, which are packed with complex instrumentation and cost £100,000 each, are assessed to see how much damage they have suffered from the impact.

Adrian Hobbs, secretary general of the crash test organisation Euro NCAP, said that larger models would give useful information on car safety.

Mr Hobbs, who is based in Brussels, said: "Currently our tests use two average-size male dummies in the front, and a one-and-a-halfyearold and a three-year-old in the rear.

"We are going to continue using these but we are considering doing another slightly different crash test, to look at how cars compact when they crash together - and adding different sized dummies.

"One of these could be a 95th percentile male dummy - a dummy with dimensions representing a man in the top 5 per cent size range."

However, it is not just a rise in obesity that is changing the shape of crash test dummies.

At the other end of the scale, there are plans to use routinely for the first time a dummy woman who stands at only 4ft 11in and weighs 7st 10lb - representing the bottom 5 per cent of the size range.

Mr Hobbs added: "With the female dummy, it's not just that women are smaller, it's that they sit closer to the steering wheel and have less mass so they don't stretch the seat belt so much.

"That stretch determines how much force goes through the belt into the body.

"With a larger weight there's a greater chance of hitting the interior of the car.

"People vary in size from being very large to very small.

"You may argue that because people are getting fatter it would be better to have the bigger dummy, the ultimate test.

"Others argue it's more important to have the smaller female.

"I argue it'll be better to test for all three sizes, small, medium and large.

"If we design a test that will accommodate the larger dummy and the smaller one, you'd have a safer car."