The Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint (THOR) is an advanced anthropomorphic test device (ATD) designed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The current design of the THOR incorporates advanced sensors and instrumentation that output over 100 channels of data that allow for injury risk assessment. In congruence with the development of the dummy, a finite element (FE) computational model of the THOR 50th percentile male (Figure 1) has been developed and integrated through the collaboration between University of Virginia (UVA) and NHTSA under contract #DTNH2215D00004/DTNH2217F00090.
Figure 1. Version 2.7 of the NHTSA THOR FE model in seated position
This site hosts the publicly-released versions of the NHTSA THOR FE model and associated manual and export scripts.
| Release Date | Version (download) |
| December 2019 | 2.7 |
| January 2023 | 2.8 |
| January 2024 | 2.9 |
The Model is intended to represent the THOR 50th Percentile Male ATD hardware as described by the NHTSA. The Model has been developed and evaluated using a single precision solver of LS-DYNA version MPP R10.1.0 (64-bit).
The Model is distributed free of charge, and with non-exclusive and non-transferable license to use the Model for internal business purposes.
We endeavor to make the Model as complete, accurate, reliable, and easy to use as possible. UVA has conducted extensive validation and stability simulations (refer to manual), but these test cases do not cover every type of loading that is possible. Even though the Model is continuously updated and improved, each user is solely responsible for its own results. UVA assumes no responsibility whatsoever for the validity, accuracy, or applicability of the Model or any results obtained with the Model.
Feedback about the model performance is welcome, and should be directed to Matthew Panzer at UVA (PANZER@VIRGINIA.EDU) and/or Dan Parent at NHTSA (DAN.PARENT@DOT.GOV).
Video 2: Simulated driver and passenger response in a 90kph passenger-side oblique impact