Swedish engineer Dr Astrid Linder has been voted as the winner of the 2023 Woman of Worth (WOW) award by the Women's World Car Of The Year (WWCOTY). The jury had 15 nominees to choose from and the results were ultimately in favour of Linder for her work towards reducing gender bias in crash tests.
- Linder developed the world's first 'average female' crash test dummy
- This is the only automotive award selected by female auto journalists
2023 winner Astrid Linder
Apart from receiving multiple global awards and recognition for her work in crash safety, Linder was one of the lead coordinators on the EU-funded project, ADSEAT. The research helped develop a seat that reduces neck injuries for occupants.
The study revealed that female passengers were more prone to suffering whiplash-related injuries. Since then, Linder worked with a team of engineers to develop a new virtual dummy model, called EvaRID, which sets a new standard for female dummies. For reference, the earlier standard female dummy was 4′8″ and weighed just 48kg, while the modern dummies are 5’3” and weigh 62kg. With Linder's work, vehicles will now get safer for female passengers.
Executive President of WWCOTY Marta García said, “I’m delighted that Astrid Linder has won the WOW Award. She stood out in the voting and it’s an honour to have her win this award; the only award in the world voted entirely by women motoring journalists.”
Other notable names included Hannah Schmitz (Red Bull Racing principal strategy engineer), Michèle Mouton (former French rally driver), Susie Wolff (MD F1 Academy), Stefanie Wurst (Head of the MINI brand) and many more.
Women's World Car Of The Year
The WWCOTY is the only automotive award group that is compromised exclusively of female automotive journalists. The jury consisted of 65 members from over 47 countries and even included Autocar India’s very own Renuka Kirpalani (Executive Editor – Video).
Earlier this year, the WWCOTY was awarded to the Kia Niro. The Citroen C5X also won the ‘Best Large Car’ award, while the Nissan X-Trail was crowned the ‘Best Large SUV’. Click here to read about all the winners.
Hormazd Sorabjee
Anurag Chaturvedi
