Hybrid II crash test dummy, 1970s (left)
date: label: date made
content: 1973-1977
name: label: maker
content: Sierra Engineering Company
notes: label: Description
content: Crash test dummies for cars were introduced in the 1950s at universities, where scientists and scholars tested theories of motorist restraint and protection, “packaging the passenger” with seat belts and other safety devices. By the late 1960s, independent firms supplied crash test dummies to automobile manufacturers, who had to prove that they were in compliance with new federal seat belt regulations and standards. Dummies were fitted with internal sensing devices that measured and recorded impact. General Motors was not satisfied with dummies placed on the market, and in 1972 GM designed the Hybrid II, so named because it combined the best features of Alderson VIP and Sierra dummies, with some original GM component designs. Unlike previous dummies, Hybrid II provided consistent results under similar conditions. Hybrid II also had a human-like slouch, a rubber neck instead of ball-and-socket, and well defined knee-leg action. GM shared its design with competitors and dummy manufacturers. In 1973, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration certified Hybrid II as the only dummy approved for seat belt compliance testing.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Sierra Madre
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: Road Transportation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Denton ATD
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2008.0152.01
label: catalog number
content: 2008.0152.01
label: accession number
content: 2008.0152
objectType: label: Object Name
content: crash test dummy, automotive
label: Object Name
content: crash test dummy (anthropomorphic test device)
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: vinyl (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: aluminum (frame - head material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (frame - torso material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 in x 23 in x 37 in; 91.44 cm x 58.42 cm x 93.98 cm