Ford Motor Company has been using animals as stand-ins for humans in crash tests1.

The automaker recently funded a crash test that used the bodies of at least 27 pigs. The experiments, "Side Impact Assessment and Comparison of Appropriate Size and Age Equivalent Porcine Surrogates to Scaled Human Side Impact Response Biofidelity Corridors," took place at Wayne State University, where researchers used the pigs to gauge the effect of side impacts on their bodies2.

The study shows the bodies of the pigs, killed just prior to being tested, suspended by wires attached to the spine. A metal pendulum covered with sensors was then slammed into the pigs to simulate and measure the high impact of an automobile collision2.

The world's automobile manufacturers have largely moved away from using animals in crash testing, as non-animal research methods using crash test dummies or more accurate human cadavers are readily available.

Ford assured the world in 2009 that it "does not directly conduct or fund development of products that involve live animal testing, and is unaware of directing any such testing in the past three decades3."

These tests show otherwise, while Ford refuses to confirm or deny whether it is currently conducting or funding other animal tests3.

Given the differences in anatomy between a a pig and a human, any data obtained from these horrific animal experiments won't be relevant to human car-crash victims4.

It has been decades since any other U.S. carmaker has used animals for crash testing, let alone in horrific situations like this5. Crash test dummies and high-speed computers have taken their place, and there is simply no reason animals should be subject to pain and fear in any aspect of the automotive industry6.

Sign the petition and help us ask Ford Motor Company to keep its promises and formally adopt a policy that prohibits funding, conducting, commissioning, and supporting crash tests using animals.

More on this issue:

1. James McCandless, Newsweek (7 October 2021), "PETA Accuses Ford of Going Back on Animal Testing Ban, Funding Study Using Euthanized Pigs."
2. Jennifer L. Yaek, Christopher J. Andrecovich, John M. Cavanaugh, Stephen W. Rouhana, Stapp Car Crash Journal, (2018 November), "Side Impact Assessment and Comparison of Appropriate Size and Age Equivalent Porcine Surrogates to Scaled Human Side Impact Response Biofidelity Corridors."
3. Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press (8 October 2021), "PETA blasts Ford over funding Wayne State study that used pigs for research."
4. Tom L. Beauchamp and David DeGrazia, Cambridge Q Healthcare Ethics (October 2015), "The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation."
5. Zachary Toliver, PETA (31 October 2019), "PETA Takes On China for Smashing Animals in Bloody Car-Crash Tests."
6. Andrew Sheldon, AAA Northeast (8 March 2022), "The History of Crash Test Dummies."