Overclocker

Date posted: 12-13-2006

TOKYO — It was an obituary of sorts in Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Crash-test dummies may be headed for museums and the trash heap, now that General Motors and Toyota say they will jointly develop an advanced computer simulator to measure the effects of vehicle collisions on the human body.

In other words, the automakers will no longer need crash test dummies, the full-scale replicas of human beings that have become as much a beloved part of automotive popular culture as a tool for making vehicles safer. In the 1980s, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched a public service announcement series featuring two talking crash dummies named Vince and Larry. In the 1990s, Tyco Toys created The Incredible Crash Dummies action figures. A TV special about them soon followed.

The virtual crash dummies would be a successor to Toyota's THUMS or Total Human Model for Safety, a virtual crash dummy system launched in 2000.

The two automakers expect to roll out a working version of the new simulator by 2010. They will also be working on other collision-avoidance technology and vehicle tracking systems.

What this means to you: Vince and Larry get ready for their gig at the Smithsonian, as GM and Toyota ramp up their virtual successors.

Source: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=118842

mmarshall

I can think of some more dummies in the auto industry I'd like to see go into retirement......but I won't use their names because it may offend some people.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Vince and Larry. They scare me. It's like the male plastic versions of Aunt Patty and Aunt Selma from the Simpsons...