Spanish researchers admit using human bodies as crash test dummies



Scientists said cadavers are cheaper than spending £120,000 on a dummy

Not only are they cheaper they also yield better results



Cash-strapped Spanish researchers have admitted to using dead human bodies as crash test dummies

Cash-strapped Spanish researchers have admitted using human bodies as crash test dummies.

The scientists said not only are they cheaper than finding £120,000 for a crash test dummy - they also yield better results.

The researchers at the Technology Park in Alcaniz in northern Spain admitted using cadavers in car-crash simulations and added they were one of six places in the world where human body crash test simulations were carried out.

In most cases they said bodies were made available for car safety tests after they had been finished with by medical universities.

However, the history of using human remains in crash testing spans at least half a century.



Before the 1950s, car makers assumed no-one could survive a serious crash.



But when Detroit's Wayne State University decided to test how much a body could tolerate in a smash, researchers raided the medical school to find suitable subjects.

In one early study, embalmed corpses were flung down an elevator shaft.

The experiment led researchers to conclude that the human head can take a surprising amount of force - about a ton and a half for a fraction of a second without injury, according to the documentary which aired on BBC Science TV show Horizon in 1998.



Wayne State researcher Albert King wrote in 1995 in the Journal of Trauma that cadaver research saved 8,500 lives annually.



Scientists said not only are they cheaper than finding £120,000 for a crash test dummy, cadavers also yield better results

In 1997, GM's Hybrid III crash test dummies officially became the industry standard for testing to comply with government frontal impact regulations and air bag safety.

All crash test dummies are faithful to the human form they simulate in overall weight, size and proportion.

