GM used dead bodies for crash tests?
9 May, 2008
20 Comments 
Even though the thought of human cadavers strapped inside a moving car heading straight for a wall sounds a little wrong, it’s not, it’s part of important crash testing conducted in the last year by General Motors, owners of Swedish car manufacturer Saab.
News of the unusual crash tests came to light yesterday when an employee of the Swedish Road Administration (Vägverket), told a Swedish newspaper that GM had just finished a multi-year research project in which dead human bodies were used.
“For certain things, it’s important to use cadavers. [The tests] involved people who had donated their own bodies,” Claes Tingvall told the paper.
The reason behind the use of cadavers was to further understand the injuries sustained by human bodies in car accidents. The report indicates that a total of ten cadavers were used in the project, which was most likey conducted by Saab automobiles.
“It’s a part of the [GM] family where everyone partakes in the research results,” he told the newspaper.
So far neither GM or Saab acknowledged any tests involved dead human bodies.
“We are with GM through thick and thin. We conduct our own research and try to find other methods to achieve our results, with the help of computers, for example,” said Saab spokesperson Christer Nilsson to Expressen.
Is it wrong to use donated human bodies for crash tests?
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May 9th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Interesting….
Would like to know how they get the stiff into the seated driving position.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I suppose if they had voluntarily left their bodies for research before they died then it’s ok. This is pretty tame though, at uni we have actual various body parts, organs, heads, etc sitting in glass jars in the Human Bio department, and real dead bodies which the human anatomy students practice on. So I suppose using dead bodies to further determine the impacts of car crashes on humans is as good a reason as any. Having said that though, there’s no way I’m leaving my body for science…
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
This is how safety testing started, decades ago. Mercedes-Benz were a pioneer in this sort of testing, were they not?
It’s totally valid, as far as I’m concerned. Yukkie, but valid.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Anti Spam word SAAB – Ha Ha!
As long as te bodies were donated and they are not grave robbing then it should be fine. If tismeans safer cars in tefuture which will reduce injuries the it is for the greater good.
It is stick a bit “Icky” though.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
As far as I know this was all heresay. I have read GM have denied the claims, and if so, isnt the title of this article misleading?
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
^ I need to change the batteries in my keyboard – my spelling is terrible.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
If it’s done ethically and with the appropriate permission from the previous owner of the body i don’t have a problem with this……but…..people working with cadavers must remember that not all of us believe there is nothing more after death and for those people and relatives that have been generous enough to donate these bodies we must treat them with the respect that these dead people deserve!!!! because these experiments help humanity advance forward in knowledge and technologies that will eventually save future lives.
Having said all that i must admit that i don’t think i could be generous enough to donate my body or that of a loved one for similar experiments….so i am not judging people that don’t!!!!
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Ewwwww.
Probably a very good idea though.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
New marketing campaign: SAAB, for when you wouldn’t be seen dead in anything else.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I have a better idea.
Why not use live people in the tests – the best ones to use would be the hoons whose cars are impounded after the second offense.
The first offenders could be required to watch the process, so they know what lies ahead for them.
Maybe that would act as a deterrent.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Hope the heads in the jars have their eyes closed.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I am an organ donor but agree with u Carl I don’t like the idea of any one I know having their head kept in a jar.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Mmmm Cremation is sounding better all the time…..
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Saab deadbody manager says “So sir would you like to have your dead body tested in a 9-3 or 9-5 when you go?”
Bloke replies “Could i be tested in the new 9-4X?”
Saab deadbody manager replies “Sorry its already fairly booked out, im sorry”
Bloke replies “OK just test me in a 9-3 when i go, because ive always wanted to buy a 9-3, but only in SportCombi, is that Ok?”
Saab deadbody manager replies “Yeah Ok, thats fine!”
Geeeeeeeeez…..that thought is totally wrong, but it may work for SAAB, i dont know how! But please GM (like holden, cadillac etc.)dont follow in SAABS footsteps, what ever you do, with this weird and wrong thing!
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I don’t see anything wrong with it morally as the bodies were donated……but……I don’t think a dead body would react the same way as a live body would in an impact. As stiff as a stiff may be im sure us live stiffs would become more rigid during an impact once our muscles tense up, but then again i may be wrong as there are much smarter people than I conducting these simulations.
Vote:May 9th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I don’t personally have a problem with this as long as permission is given. How does a dead person do that.
Vote:May 10th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Stevo – Primo advertising campaign – loved it! :-)
Re the stiffs – the term is misleading – for a time after death the body remains quite pliable as it slowly ’stiffens’ but it reaches a maximum ’stiffness’ point then it starts going limp again as it starts the decomposition process.
The only reason a body is so stiff in a coffin at a funeral is because they have had it stored near freezing the whole time.
With a ‘defrosted’ body, there is little reason why the data recovered would not apply with live people.
And given some of the attitudes expressed in the car advise blogs in general, you would be sure some of these bloggers have something very stiff indeed jammed firmly thru an orifice. So these crash tests may be particularly applicable to these same people.
Vote:May 14th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Crash test dummy $150,000. Donated cadaver $0
Vote:Hmmm…
May 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Please feel free to use as many live Toyota drivers you wish!hehehe May give them some excitement……
Vote:May 14th, 2008 at 11:48 am
“Golfschwein Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
This is how safety testing started, decades ago. Mercedes-Benz were a pioneer in this sort of testing, were they not?
It’s totally valid, as far as I’m concerned. Yukkie, but valid.”
Mmmmm. Sure was no shortage of bodies then! Poland? 1939 – 45?
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