Correction appended

GW will join forces with Toyota to develop new crash test technology, the University announced today.

The National Crash Analysis Center, an automotive and highway safety research group housed on the Virginia Science and Technology Campus, will build crash test models as a partner with Toyota’s Collaborative Research Center.

Toyota will ask GW researchers to build a computer simulation model to advance the auto company’s THOR dummy model, which assesses chest, neck and leg injuries in head-on crashes.

“This model will allow researchers and engineers to simulate real world crash scenarios and assess occupant injury risks,” Steven Kan, director of the National Crash Analysis Center, said. “As result of this research, for the first time we will be able to use computer simulation to evaluate real world vehicle collisions.”

Toyota launched their research effort last year, spending $50 million to partner with universities to study the future of auto safety. Virginia Tech will partner with GW and Toyota for crash test dummy simulation.

In the National Crash Analysis Center, federal highway and transportation officials team up with professors and researchers in the School of Engineering and Applied Science to study transportation safety.

The Hatchet incorrectly referred to the National Crash Analysis Center as the National Crash Test Analysis Center.