Accent

Make
Hyundai
Segment
Sedan

Over the last 50 years the average American male has added 21 pounds to his gut. The average woman? Try 20 pounds. The obesity epidemic not only has health consequences, but also vehicular safety ones. ABC's Good Morning America has just run an interesting segment we'd like to share with you that goes behind the scenes of a company that's developing the next generation car crash test dummies. Or rather, obese dummies.

A few years ago, we ran a story about this company, Humanetics, and how it's developing test dummies that weigh 273 pounds and have a body mass index of 35, which is considered obese by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

The video also brings up the subject of "submarining," essentially when you slide under the buckled seat belt in a severe impact. One of the goals of the obese dummy, as well as the elderly dummy, is to come up with a way to prevent that from happening. The idea of an obese dummy may sound kind of funny at first, but the fact is that when a popular becomes heavier, there's a ripple effect, and in this case it's not a good one. If you feel like watching the whole news segment, you can also learn about adult hearing loss. Hey, we care about your health.