Cadavers used in the car industry.

[Whitehouse]

Anyone familiar with this?
Cadavers used for your safety.

Since the 1930s, when researchers at Wayne State University first threw a body down an elevator shaft to see what kind of forces it could sustain, cadavers have been essential to making driving safer. Every part of a car touching on safety — from steering columns and laminated windshields to side-impact air bags — has science from cadaver tests making sure they work.

Note:
There are pictures in that link! However, these pictures are pre-crash pictures and the cadavers are wrapped to look like crash test dummies. So no blood or gore, but I thought I should warn before...

[RickBeall]

I had a friend who worked with the cadavers. It's all done very professionally.

[Mikeg]

Old news to those in the auto industry.

Wayne State, U of M and other universities have received major funding from the automakers over the years to conduct the cadaver tests in conjunction with the development of the initial and succeeding generations of crash test dummies. The purpose of the cadaver tests were to insure that the design of the dummies were a faithful representation of the human body. Cadavers are not used by the automakers in their actual crash testing of new vehicles or in the automaker's sled testing of new safety system components.

Here's an overview of the collaborative efforts of the US Military, Universities, Medical Societies and automakers to improve vehicle occupant safety over the past 55 years

[jbd441]

Old news to those in the auto industry.

Wayne State, U of M and other universities have received major funding from the automakers over the years to conduct the cadaver tests in conjunction with the development of the initial and succeeding generations of crash test dummies. The purpose of the cadaver tests were to insure that the design of the dummies were a faithful representation of the human body. Cadavers are not used by the automakers in their actual crash testing of new vehicles or in the automaker's sled testing of new safety system components.

Here's an overview of the collaborative efforts of the US Military, Universities, Medical Societies and automakers to improve vehicle occupant safety over the past 55 years

Gee, I'm "on my last leg", where do I sign up? Researchers must have used homeless or unclaimed bodies as I can't imagine anyone in their right mind donating family members to be used for research for making cars safer.

[belleislerunner]

It's actually really easy to donate your dead body to a college for research purposes. They'll even bury you in a cemetery once complete. WSU's is in Novi.
Their day starts when yours ends =)

WSU - http://www.med.wayne.edu/anatomy/beq...s/QuesAns.html

Michigan- http://www.med.umich.edu/anatomy/donors/

[Meddle]

I can't imagine anyone in their right mind donating family members to be used for research for making cars safer.

Why not? Better than planting them or sliding them into the oven.

Another alternative is the Body Farms where you're left out in the elements for the bugs and critters to gnaw on. Every few days a criminal forensics researcher visits and takes notes on the progress. Homicide investigators check in too to observe decomposition. This all helps when they get on a real crime scene and are trying to determine cause and time of death.

[Fury13]

"...researchers at Wayne State University first threw a body down an elevator shaft to see what kind of forces it could sustain..."

I'd like to try doing this sometime. Where do I sign up?

[RickBeall]

The military does this too. Put the corpse in boots and blow the body up to see if the boot protected the foot.

When you donate your body to science ... sometimes the science is a little messy.

[gdogslim]

Can I deny the State to do this on my drivers license?

[kryptonite]

I would definitely want to donate my body to science. But they might donate it back. Embarrassing.

[FlyingJ]

My father was a Big 3 engineer outta WSU who was involved in this. My sister was outraged when they switched to orangutans[[i think that was about consciously bracing?) but my dad said "What-are you gonna volunteer?" THey also used whale oil in car trannies up to the 70's....

[barnesfoto]

[/QUOTE] "I can't imagine anyone in their right mind donating family members to be used for research for making cars safer."[QUOTE]

It would be unethical if the family members were still alive, but the use of cadavers in science has made our lives better in countless ways.

I support recycling, I support research, I support medical science. I've got a full body/organ donation sticker on my driver's license.

They can do whatever they like with my withered husk when I'm gone.

[RO_Resident]

There is a chapter in "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach that describes a cadaver test at Wayne State. She describes how the cadaver was treated, the ethics of using bodies, and the pros and cons of using whole bodies versus just parts for testing.

I worked at UMTRI for most of the '90s--never for the departments that ran or used the sled lab. I don't think they did any cadaver testing in the period I was there. They mostly did dummy testing for car seats, wheelchair tie-downs, and the development of a pregnant dummy.

[RickBeall]

Somehow, it makes you think twice about donating your body to science when you think it might get blown up. It's almost like dying twice.

[Jimaz]

I once worked for a company that did Finite Element Analysis and a client brought in a human femur for us to digitize. That was kind of, er, unexpected.

[Meddle]

It's almost like dying twice.

You only die once. After that, who cares what they do with the rotting meat?

[RickBeall]

I don't know, it's just the thought that as you lay there dying, you contemplation of your corpse being slammed into things or being exploded into pieces is not ... peaceful.

Or driving around and looking at the back of your driver's license and thinking about how your body is going to be put into a sock and slammed into things ... distracts from the sunshine of the day.

[ExcuseMySarcasm]

There is a chapter in "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach that describes a cadaver test at Wayne State. She describes how the cadaver was treated, the ethics of using bodies, and the pros and cons of using whole bodies versus just parts for testing.

I am glad you brought up that book. It was an excellent look into the reasons behind using cadaver testing.

[fryar]

You could learn a lot from a cadaver. Buckle your safety belt.

[Stosh]

Anyone familiar with this?
Cadavers used for your safety.



Note:
There are pictures in that link! However, these pictures are pre-crash pictures and the cadavers are wrapped to look like crash test dummies. So no blood or gore, but I thought I should warn before...

I guess if you donate your body to science, you can't specify which science it goes toward.

The cadaver shown is quite in good shape, relatively speaking. Quite fit. I wonder what caused the death?

[Jimaz]

I guess if you donate your body to science, you can't specify which science it goes toward.

I've been studying this recently and the Declaration of Anatomical Gift form here only says you can select any one of the following or choose both A and C:

1. Any needed organs or body parts for the purposes of transplantation, therapy, medical research or education.
2. Only the following listed organs or body parts for the purposes of transplantation, therapy, medical research or education: ____________, ___________, ___________.
3. My entire body for anatomical study.

I suppose this might fall under medical research.

This is for Michigan. I am not an attorney.

[txlady]

Once I'm gone I don't care what happens to the leftovers. I'm already an organ donar, I think being studied at a body farm or in a car crash would be even more useful.