New crash-test rules will finally include women's bodies in vehicle safety.
S. 161 — She DRIVES Act · Filed by Deb Fischer (R-NE) · 13 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 21, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill requires the Department of Transportation to update vehicle crash-testing standards to include dummies representing both average adult males and smaller adult females, and to adopt these new testing devices in both federal safety rules and the public New Car Assessment Program within specified timelines (60–30 months depending on test type). The bill aims to ensure that vehicle safety is evaluated for occupants of different body sizes, potentially revealing design gaps that current male-only testing may miss.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to mandate the adoption of sex-differentiated crash-test dummies in federal motor vehicle safety standards and public safety ratings. It is a regulatory requirement, not a tax provision, subsidy, or commemorative measure.
What the text implies
- Manufacturers may face increased compliance costs to redesign vehicles or adjust safety systems to meet new test criteria for smaller occupants, potentially raising vehicle prices or delaying new model launches.
- The bill's requirement to adopt female-representative dummies may reveal that current vehicles provide inadequate protection for women and smaller occupants, creating liability exposure or reputational risk for automakers.
- By mandating alignment with international testing standards (e.g., European New Car Assessment Programme), the bill may harmonize U.S. and global safety rules, reducing fragmentation but also limiting domestic regulatory flexibility.
- The reporting requirement (Section 5) creates an ongoing obligation to track and justify why newer testing devices are not adopted, potentially locking NHTSA into a cycle of continuous updates and limiting discretion.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens—especially women and smaller-statured occupants—gain more accurate safety information and incentives for manufacturers to design vehicles that protect a broader range of body types. The bill imposes no new costs on the public and strengthens transparency by requiring testing that reflects real-world occupant diversity.
Who stands to gain
- Testing equipment manufacturers (suppliers of THOR and Worldwide Harmonized Side Impact Dummy device
- Automotive safety research firms and consultants
- Vehicle manufacturers with existing female-inclusive safety designs (competitive advantage)
Named in the bill
Department of Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), THOR (Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint), Worldwide Harmonized Side Impact Dummy, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Title 49 USC (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards), Part 571 and 572 CFR (Testing device regulations)
Where it stands
13 cosponsors: 7 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
- Jan 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jan 21, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
- Feb 5, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
9 lobbying clients named this bill on 15 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $12,636,931 in lobbying spend. A filing names 8 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 89% of bills with at least one filing.
Deb Fischer, the sponsor, reported $352,755 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Toyota Motor North America Inc (tma) — $3,483,687 on 2 filings
- General Motors Company — $3,150,000 on 1 filing
- Alliance for Automotive Innovation — $2,756,244 on 2 filings
- American Honda Motor Co., Inc. — $1,477,000 on 1 filing
- Nissan North America, Inc. — $930,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (8,926 characters) on Jul 25, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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