She DRIVES Act

The She DRIVES Act would compel the Secretary of Transportation to update federal motor vehicle safety standards and the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) testing procedures to incorporate more advanced crash-test dummies and related injury criteria. Specifically, it requires adding 50th percentile male and 5th percentile female frontal testing dummies (THOR 50M and THOR 05F) and Worldwide Harmonized Side Impact Dummies for side crashes. The bill sets explicit rulemaking timelines to adopt these new devices, revise injury criteria, and expand crashworthiness testing to cover front seating positions for adult female occupants in addition to adult male occupants. It also establishes a plan (a “Testing Devices Roadmap”) to evaluate other devices used internationally and consider adopting more advanced testing technologies, potentially aligning U.S. testing with European standards. In short, the Act aims to produce more comprehensive, gender-inclusive safety testing and ensure the NCAP program reflects these updates, with scheduled reports to Congress on progress.