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It has led a hard, long life. And now one of General Motors’ 50H-1 Hybrid III Anthropomorphic Test Devices is retiring to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., along with original costumes used in a series of crash test dummy PSAs in the late 1980s.
“GM’s leading role in the development of crash test devices over the decades makes it fitting that one of our crash veterans become part of the Smithsonian’s collections,” said Mike Robinson, GM VP of safety policy. “With all that we have learned from him over the years, it almost seems unfair to call 50H-1 a dummy.”
Dummy or not, the 50H-1 ATD is the most widely used model for crash testing in the United States, according to Jack Jensen, GM Technical Fellow and engineering group manager at the Milford Proving Ground’s ATD laboratory. The 50H-1 name indicates that the dummy’s proportions represent a typically male adult in the 50th percentile for height and weight.
The dummies can be fitted with various appendages and sensors, and were especially productive as the duo of Vince and Larry, two live ATDs who partook in seatbelt public service announcement campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s. As part of a Smithsonian automotive safety exhibit, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is donating costumes and props used during the old Vince and Larry days, while GM is also supplying test instruments and an energy-absorbing steering column from a 1967 Chevrolet.
Today, 84 percent of Americans use their seat belts while in a moving vehicle, according to NHTSA Administrator David Strickland.
We no longer see or hear from Vince and Larry on the tube or radio, but you can channel your inner ’80s child by watching this YouTube clip.
Sources: General Motors, NHTSA
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