Autos.msn.com Saab Auto Crash Testing. image:39888:0::0

General Motors is the parent company of Swedish car manufacturer Saab. GM and Saab finished a multi-year project recently where a Swedish news outlet says they used dead human bodies for automobile crash tests, according to Claes Tingvall, a car safety specialist with the Swedish Road Administration (Vägverket).

He told Expressen, a Swedish newspaper:

For certain things, it’s important to use cadavers. [The tests] involved people who had donated their own bodies.

He said both used bodies for experimental purposes to design better crash test dummies and also to investigate the injuries sustained by human bodies in auto accidents.

Tingvall said ten dead human bodies were used in the joint research project and Saab cars were tested.

GM and Saab were contacted about this story, neither responded about the use of dead human bodies. However Saab spokesperson Christer Nilsson told Expressen about working with GM:

We are with GM through thick and thin. We conduct our own research and try to find other methods to achieve our results, with the help of computers, for example.

In my opinion, they should have used dummies instead of cadavers, which I think is an act of desecration. I doubt anyone would volunteer to donate their bodies for such a cause.

Do you agree with GM/Saab’s use of dead human bodies for auto crash tests?