Y - 17 trauma override harness Y - 17 trauma override harnesses are walking corpses , animated by robotic harnesses , in the Big MT in 2281 . Background . The harness was designed at Big MT ' s Y - 17 medical facility with autonomous casualty recovery in mind . The suit tracks the vital functions of the user and , once a certain injury threshold is reached , it takes over the motor functions of the user and walks them to the designated home base out of harm ' s way . It is a miracle of research , employing intelligent fibers and artificial muscle , rather than the crude hydraulics that dominated military technology back in 2077 . However , due to the prototypical status of these suits , they suffer from several major issues . First , if a home base is not defined , the suits enter an unpredictable wander state . Second , while it is possible to calibrate the upper injury threshold for the override to kick in , the sensors cannot detect if the user is still alive . Third , the suits record all user movements and can effectively " learn " to replicate their shooting and fighting reflexes , but lack any IFF software . All of these issues combined have led to them breaking out of the Big MT ' s research facilities and wreaking havoc around the crater . With no defined home base and no ability to detect the death of the users , the suits acted as mobile coffins : soldiers and researchers trapped inside had no ability to shut them down and were forced to suffer a slow , agonizing death . Even after two centuries , the suits , still carrying the bones of their original users , continue to function , scouring the Big MT of undesirables . Characteristics . Specifications . The Y - 17 trauma harnesses resemble nothing else than the walking dead , skeletons clad in red rubber suits , heads encased in spherical glass helmets . The suits have oxygen tanks on their backs , which are in turn attached to additional armor plating around the neck and shoulder area , the area which the helmet is hermetically sealed to . Gameplay attributes . The basic harness comes in several different varieties that are calculated to match the Courier ' s level . Their armaments may also vary quite a bit depending on the player character ' s level . Although they have exactly the same medium - to - high amount of hit points as lobotomite s , on balance Trauma Harnesses are much more dangerous opponents , since they have much better armor as well as a wider variety of weapons available . Their armor is equivalent to a suit of combat armor , reinforced mark 2 or Ranger combat armor , and at high levels they can be seen wielding , , , and even plasma caster s . Appearances . Y - 17 trauma override harnesses only appear in the " " " Old World Blues " . Behind the scenes . With the Wild Wasteland trait , the Y - 17 master trauma harness will say " " Hey , who turned out the lights ? ! " " This is a reference to the " Doctor Who " episodes " " and " " when a group of microorganisms called the " " ate a character ( ) during one of the episodes . Said character had been wearing an environmental suit that shares a passing resemblance to a space suit , and his skull had been pressed to the visor on his helmet while the Vashta Nerada inside the suit made it walk around , similarly to the helmet - wearing trauma harnesses . The suit also had a thought based communication system that tended to retain echoes of the user ' s consciousness known as " data ghosts " that deteriorated into repeating single sentences , " Hey , who turned out the lights " being the sentence repeated by the suit after Dave ' s death .