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S. 161 · Where this bill is now

In committee

Introduced in the Senate, Jan 21, 2025

What this bill does

In plain words · AI-written from the official summary

Updates crash test standards to include women

Car safety testing has traditionally used crash test dummies based on average adult male bodies. This bill directs the Department of Transportation to revise safety standards so that cars are also tested with female crash test dummies in frontal and side impact crashes. The agency would need to update injury criteria—the measurements used to see how much harm a crash causes—to reflect real-world injury data and establish testing procedures that apply to all front seating positions.

How it affects you

If you're a woman or female passenger, this could mean cars are better designed to protect you in a crash. Currently, safety features are optimized mainly for male body types, so this change aims to close that gap. The testing updates would apply to new cars going forward.

Read the official summary (Reported to Senate, Jul 31, 2025)

She Develops Regulations In Vehicle Equality and Safety Act or the She DRIVES Act

This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to revise motor vehicle safety standards to require the use of certain anthropomorphic test devices (i.e., crash test dummies) and testing on female crash test dummies.

Specifically, DOT must issue final rules to revise the current testing regulations to include specific adult male and adult female frontal impact and side impact crash test dummies.

The final rules must establish or update the testing injury criteria based on real-world injuries and the greatest potential to increase safety. The injury criteria must include head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, upper leg, and lower leg criteria for the crash test dummies.

The final rules must also establish crashworthiness frontal and side impact tests for adult female occupants in all front seating positions that are currently tested for adult male occupants (as of the date of the bill's enactment).

Further, DOT must promulgate a final decision notice to update the testing procedures for the New Car Assessment Program of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require the use of these crash test dummies for frontal and side impact crashworthiness testing.

Finally, DOT must submit reports to Congress that, among other things, identify timelines for DOT to incorporate additional types of crash test dummies into the regulations and identify testing devices used in other countries for similar crashworthiness standards.

Written by AI (Claude) using only the official summary by the Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress’s nonpartisan research staff. It can miss nuance, so check the official summary and the bill text for details.

119th Congress
1st Session
S. 161

A BILL

She DRIVES Act

In the SenateNo vote yet

Sponsor: Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) · Introduced Jan 21, 2025 · Transportation and Public Works · 2 versions of the text

Sources: Congress.gov actions and votes · bill text from GovInfo · latest official action Jul 31, 2025: “Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 141.”

Sections

The wording of this bill hasn’t changed across its 2 official versions.

Sections · 4