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Crash Test Mommy
Many people owe their lives to auto safety innovations pioneered by Volvo Car Corporation. Now, with the development of a ground-breaking "pregnant crash test dummy", Volvo’s award–winning Safety Center in Gothenburg, Sweden, hopes to design cars that can better protect pregnant women and their unborn babies. Linda is the shape, size and weight of an average pregnant American woman. She has ribs, a pelvis, soft abdominal tissue, uterus, placenta, amniotic fluid and a 36-week-old fetus named Kira. And she lives inside a computer in Sweden. Linda is a “virtual” pregnant crash test dummy, a sophisticated computer model of a woman in the final stages of pregnancy, when risk to the fetus is greatest. Using Volvo’s unique software, her body size and stage of pregnancy can also be reset to test different vehicle safety systems. Since her completion in early 2002, Linda has generated important, previously unobtainable data. Volvo is learning how the safety belt, air bag and steering wheel affect the uterus, placenta and baby in various impacts. Volvo is also able to study how the baby moves in relation to the mother’s body and has been able to test new conceptual designs for safety belts and safety systems.
According to Laura Thackray, CAE and Biomechanical Engineer at the Volvo Safety Center: “While the uterus is elastic and can change shape, we think the placenta may become detached because it’s not as resilient to the forces sustained during an accident. We think this might be the case, but we don’t know. That’s why our model is so important. We have to learn more to be able to protect the fetus in the best possible way. “From the simulation results with Linda, and ergonomics studies performed here at Volvo Cars, I’m certain that there’s potential for further development of today’s safety systems, especially the safety belt, to provide optimized usability and protection for pregnant women and their unborn babies.” Volvo’s aim, using Linda, is to develop future safety systems that help to better protect the unborn. In the meantime, should pregnant women stop using seat belts? “No,” warns Thackray. “The seat belt is still the best line of protection for pregnant women and their unborn babies.” It is advice a surprising number of women would do well to heed. A survey carried out in the U.S. by Volvo Cars discovered that up to 13% of women actually use their seat belts less in late pregnancy, complaining they “chafed,” “might affect the baby” or “were difficult to put on.” Studies conducted by Dr. Harold Weiss of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Injury show that car crashes are in fact the leading cause of hospital visits and fatalities during pregnancy. For unborn children, they are the leading cause of injury mortality, exceeding the frequency of infant crash deaths several-fold. These sobering statistics tell us two important things. One: that pregnant women must buckle up, no matter what. And two: that the research and development work being done by Laura Thackray and the rest of the team at the Volvo Safety Center is critically important work for the safety of unborn children. Volvo’s list of firsts in car safety is an impressive one. Safety glass windshields (1927). Steel cage to protect passengers (1944). Three-point lap/shoulder seat belts (1958). Antilock brakes (1984). Side Impact Air Bags (1995). Whiplash Protection Seating System (2000). Roll Stability Control System (2003). Thanks to the development of Linda, Volvo believes the next major improvement in vehicle safety will benefit pregnant women and their unborn children. For more information on Volvo child safety, go to www.volvocars.us/childsafety Moms-to-be: There’s a right way to wear your seatbelt
The seatbelt should always be worn during pregnancy. But it is crucial that it be worn in the correct way. The diagonal section should wrap over the shoulder then be routed between the breasts and to the side of the belly. The lap section should lie flat over the thighs and as low as possible under the belly. It must never be allowed to ride upward. Remove all slack from the belt and ensure that it fits close to the body without any twists. As a pregnancy progresses, pregnant drivers should adjust their seats and steering wheel such that they can easily maintain control of the vehicle as they drive (which means they must be able to easily operate the foot pedals and steering wheel). Within this context, they should strive to position the seat with as large a distance as possible between their belly and the steering wheel.