Toyota and Autoliv HBM Safety Suite: how virtual human models improve crash safety
Toyota is the first automaker evaluating Autoliv’s HBM Safety Suite, which simulates bones and tissues and can represent occupants of different ages and body sizes.
Toyota has become the first automaker to evaluate Autoliv’s new HBM Safety Suite. Unlike a conventional crash-test dummy, it is built around a detailed digital model of the human body. The system can analyze the movement of bones and tissues and predict injury mechanisms in scenarios that are difficult or expensive to reproduce physically. Toyota is currently evaluating the platform’s capabilities — Autoliv has not named any specific vehicle programs or a timetable for production use.
The main advantage of HBM is variability. Autoliv’s SAFER HBM can be adjusted for sex, age, height and body mass. This lets engineers examine how the same seat belts, airbags and vehicle structure protect occupants with different body types, whereas a physical dummy represents only a predefined human profile.
Physical crash tests are not going away. HBM complements them and can help engineers reject weak solutions earlier in development. Since 2026, Euro NCAP has expanded its Crash Protection program with laboratory and virtual methods for assessing the protection of people of different sizes and ages. Current protocols already include HBM qualification, although such models are still being used to research and refine virtual procedures rather than directly determine a vehicle’s passive-safety score. Integration of HBM into the rating system is expected from 2029.
Independent safety ratings still rely heavily on physical vehicle testing. HBM adds another layer by showing loads on specific parts of the body and allowing more configurations to be assessed before another prototype has to be built.
Toyota is also strengthening safety in production vehicles. The updated Roomy, for example, received an expanded Smart Assist package and additional airbags. HBM works one stage earlier, during the development of the vehicle itself.
Autoliv plans to broaden access to the HBM Safety Suite for other automakers during 2026. The next meaningful milestone will not be the number of brands evaluating it, but the first production model whose manufacturer explicitly confirms that a digital human body model was used to tune passive safety.