Safety Follow-up Dummy 

for car crash investigations 
 

Length and width 
 
can be adjusted 
 

A dummy for investigations of real life crashes has been designed by senior 
motoring editor Sverker Dahl at FLT News Agency in Stockholm, Sweden. The 
Safety Follow-up Dummy, SFD, is unique in its kind and is the result of his 
studies of Crash Safety at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. 

- The dummy constitutes the missing link between the wrecked car and the 
injured or killed occupants. Adjusted exactly to the individual's size and 
positioned in the wrecked vehicle, the dummy increases the possibilities of 
revealing injury causing details in the interior of the car, says Sverker 
Dahl, and he continues: 

- My intention was already from the outset to design a robust dummy which 
is easy to handle but still comply with the highest requirements of 
accuracy. To achieve that, SFD:s arms, legs and spine can be adjusted in 
length, shoulders and hips in breadth and the chest in width. The dummy can 
easily, without tools and with built-in scales, be adjusted to mimic a 
person between 1.5 and 2.05 metres in length. 

- Information retrieval and worldwide search for similar devices show the 
uniqueness of the dummy. The project has been presented as a written 
report, which may be obtained from the Department of Injury Prevention, 
says Anna-Lisa Osvalder, Ph. D., Ass. Prof. and supervisor of Sverker Dahls 
project. 

The Dummy originates from twenty years ago when Sverker Dahl, aside from 
his work at FLT, carried out investigations of fatal accidents in southern 
Sweden for the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Lund. 

- Already then I longed for a tool, preferably a dummy, to correlate the 
personal injuries with the interior of the car. Especially the intruded 
parts of the interior, caused by the deformation or collapse of the car 
structure, was and still is hard to match with the occupants. So it is fair 
to say  that the SFD is a dream come true after many years, says Sverker 
Dahl. 

Skandia Insurance Co Ltd, Sweden, has financially supported the project. 

For further information: 

Sverker Dahl: 
phone: +46 705 91 55 00 
fax: +46 411 473 26 
e-mail:   sverker.dahl@mailbox.swipnet.se 

Anna-Lisa Osvalder: 
phone: +46 31 772 36 43 
fax: +46 31 77 36 60 
e-mail:   alos@ip.chalmers.se