S. 161 — She DRIVES Act

This section defines, for purposes of the Act, (1) "crashworthiness" as the protection a passenger motor vehicle provides its passengers against personal injury or death from a motor vehicle accident (per 49 U.S.C. §32301); (2) "Secretary" as the Secretary of Transportation; and (3) "testing device" as a device (i.e., anthropomorphic test dummy) used for compliance testing of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment with respect to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, as described in 49 C.F.R. part 572 (or successor regulations).

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation, not later than 15 days after enactment, to revise 49 CFR parts 571 (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) and 572 (anthropomorphic test devices) to incorporate (1) the 50th percentile adult male THOR frontal impact dummy (THOR-50M) and (2) the 5th percentile adult female THOR frontal impact dummy (THOR-05F). It further requires the Secretary to issue a final rule within 180 days mandating THOR-50M use in frontal crashworthiness tests and, for THOR-05F, a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) within 60 days and final rule within 120 days; both final rules must establish or update injury criteria (head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, upper leg, lower leg) based on real-world data and extend frontal impact tests to adult females in all front seating positions currently tested for males. Concurrently with the THOR-50M final rule (or immediately after if it would cause delay), the section requires a final decision notice updating the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to incorporate both THOR dummies. (As background, FMVSS set minimum crash safety performance requirements for vehicles, using anthropomorphic dummies to simulate human occupants; current frontal tests primarily use larger-male dummies, potentially underprotecting smaller occupants.) This section separately directs the Secretary, not later than 18 months after enactment, to revise parts 571 and 572 to incorporate (1) the 50th percentile adult male Worldwide Harmonized Side Impact Dummy (WorldSID-50M) and (2) the 5th percentile adult female WorldSID (WorldSID-05F). It requires an NPRM within two years and final rule within 30 months mandating both dummies' use in side crashworthiness tests, with injury criteria (head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, upper leg) established or updated based on real-world data and tests extended to adult females in all front seating positions currently tested for males. Concurrently with the final rule (or immediately after if it would cause delay), the section requires an NCAP final decision notice incorporating both WorldSID dummies. (Thus, these changes aim to better protect smaller-stature occupants, who experience higher injury rates in crashes, by mandating more representative test dummies across FMVSS and NHTSA's voluntary NCAP ratings program.)

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation to submit to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (1) an initial report, not later than one year after enactment, identifying timelines to incorporate into Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS, 49 CFR part 571) and anthropomorphic test device regulations (49 CFR part 572) any crash test dummies the Secretary is researching as of enactment (other than those specified in sections 3(a)(1)(A)-(B) and 3(b)(1)(A)-(B)); identifying more advanced crash test dummies used for similar crashworthiness standards in other countries; and describing a process to update U.S. testing devices (including adopting advanced foreign devices such as those in the European New Car Assessment Programme), or explaining why no updates are needed for each device in part 572; and (2) a follow-up report, not later than five years after the initial report, describing whether the timelines were met and identifying any new advanced foreign crash test dummies.