ARE CARS LESS SAFE FOR WOMEN THAN MEN?

In some ways, the answer to this question is a clear, “yes.”

Consumer Reports cites the journal Traffic Injury Prevention that found that a seat belt-wearing female
has 73% greater odds than a seat belt-wearing male of being seriously injured in a car crash of the same
type and severity.

One of the reasons for this large disparity is likely that the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) has not required that safety testing be done with crash test dummies that are
more fitting to the average woman’s size. Crash testing has been performed using the average male
body size rather than the average smaller female body size.