legends · 4 min read ·
Test Run 14
A crash-test dummy turns its head after impact and speaks the name of the technician who gave it a name.
**Dunmore Vehicle Safety Lab · Frontal Impact Test Log**
**Test ID:** FI-26-014 · **Vehicle:** Model B, production configuration · **Dummy:** ATD-5 "Mara"
**Engineer:** Owen Tully · **Date:** 14 October · **Speed at impact:** 56 km/h
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**Pre-test notes**
Dummy calibration complete. Dummy identifier set to the name assigned at the lab's annual intake: "Mara." Mara was named by the lab's junior technician, Priya Kell, who wanted something friendlier than ATD-5.
Vehicle inspected. Seatbelt tension nominal. Airbags armed. Cabin camera operational.
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**Sensor readout (Channel 1, head acceleration)**
Peak: 81 g at 0.0072 s. Within specification.
**Sensor readout (Channel 2, chest deflection)**
Peak: 38 mm. Within specification.
**Sensor readout (Channel 3, neck load)**
Peak: 2.9 kN. Within specification.
*Note: Channel 3 shows a second peak at 0.0109 s, 1.1 kN. No corresponding force in the vehicle's structural data. Engineer's note: check cable routing. Recalibrate.*
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**Post-test inspection**
Vehicle has suffered significant frontal damage, as expected. Airbags deployed. Dummy retained in seat, restrained, with head forward.
Cabin camera footage shows the dummy's head turning to face the rear window at 0.0144 s, after the vehicle had come to rest. The dummy's neck sensors recorded a further 0.6 kN. The dummy's head is not facing the rear window now. It's facing the driver's door.
*Engineer's note: the dummy was in a restrained position at rest. It should not have been able to move after impact. The seatbelt is still locked. The buckle has not been released.*
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**Test log (Owen Tully, 15 October)**
Recalibration of Channel 3 completed. Cable routing checked. No fault found. Second peak still present at 0.0109 s.
Priya Kell has asked to see the footage. She says that when she looked at it at home last night, the dummy seemed to be talking to someone sitting in the back seat, and that the back seat is listed in the vehicle's specification as having no occupants.
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**Safety board memo (internal, 17 October)**
Re: FI-26-014, dummy Mara.
The safety board has reviewed the footage. The head movement after impact is consistent with a restrained occupant responding to an external stimulus. The stimulus is not visible in the frame.
The board has asked that the test be repeated with the rear seat removed. The board has also asked that the dummy's name be changed back to ATD-5, which the lab does not normally do for dummies that have been in a crash.
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**Test run FI-26-014R (repeat, 21 October)**
Rear seat removed. Vehicle prepared. Dummy restrained in driver's position, head forward.
Speed at impact: 56 km/h. Vehicle impacted barrier. Airbags deployed. Vehicle at rest.
Cabin camera footage: dummy's head turns to face the empty rear seat at 0.0141 s. The neck sensors record a load. The dummy's mouth moves, in a motion the lab's software classifies as *speech, unmodelled*.
Dummy's head returns to forward position at 0.0161 s.
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**Priya Kell, personal note (filed with the test log)**
I'm putting this here because nobody else will. I've been looking at the frames from the cabin camera for a week. In the repeat test, after the impact, the dummy says something. It's too small to make out properly, but I've slowed it down, and it's two words, and the second word is my name.
I went through the pre-test notes. I'm the one who named her. I didn't tell anyone why I chose that name. It was my grandmother's name, and I'd never said it at work.
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**Safety board memo (internal, 28 October)**
Re: dummy Mara.
Dummy Mara has been retired from testing. Her head unit has been removed for analysis. Her name has been changed back to ATD-5 on all records, except for the lab's intake log, where it remains *Mara*, in the handwriting of Priya Kell.
Please do not schedule further tests for Model B until the second peak in Channel 3 is explained. Please do not leave the cabin camera running overnight in the test hall.
*Engineer's note (O. Tully, filed 29 October): the head unit is on the bench. It is facing the door. The neck sensors are still recording. The load is steady, at about the weight of a small person leaning forward on a seat to look for something.*