From the July 2016 issue
Accelerate, smash, repeat. For decades, crash tests were the only way to predict how well a car might protect the people inside. But what happens when safety engineers stretch their bell curves beyond government stand­ards to grasp those last tenths of a percent of improvement" When dummies are too dumb, human-body modeling takes over.

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In addition to motion-capture sensors (the white dots), test subjects are also wired with electrodes that record muscle contractions.
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The camera array even includes a pair aimed through the sunroof.
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Another camera points through a plastic window in the gutted door. This helps form a complete three-dimensional picture of passenger movement.
?You see the crash-test dummy leaning out of the window after a crash. That situation has nothing in common with reality,? says Dr. Andreas Rieser, who leads a team of mechanical and material engineers at Virtual Vehicle, a research-and-development center in Graz, Austria.
Rieser advises the major German automakers and suppliers, among others, on a people-first approach to designing safety equipment. His partners include BMW, Daimler, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volkswagen, as well as big suppliers such as Bosch, Continental, and Magna. Virtual Vehicle?s interest focuses on the seconds before a collision, how people react when they realize an impact is imminent?tensing up, bracing themselves, and shifting in the seat.
The organization has studied body movements o...