Chinese researchers have been using live pigs as crash test dummies in high-speed crash simulations, outraging animal activists, who have labelled the practice "cruel" and "junk science".
Fifteen young pigs were strapped into car seats for the tests, killing seven of them immediately.
Others suffered multiple injuries including lacerations, bleeding and internal bruising.
PETA spokesman Zachary Toliver described the tests as "barbaric" and said they left the animals "bloody, bruised and mangled".
"Car companies figured out years ago that these kind of experiments are worthless and tell us nothing about a human experience in a car crash."
Pigs were previously used in crash tests in the US before the practice ended in the 1990s after sustained pressure from PETA and other activist groups.
Toliver added: "Despite the existence of sophisticated animal-free models, experimenters continue to fasten abused, frightened animals into car seats and crash them into walls until their bodies are bloody, bruised and mangled."
"Live pigs are pulverised in these tests, leaving them with broken bones and severe internal injuries before they're killed and dissected."
The animals were strapped into seats which were mounted on a sled and slammed into a wall.
The high-speed testing has been branded "barbaric". Photo / International Journal of Crashworthiness
The study detailed how the young pigs were given no food for 24 hours before the experiment, denied water for six hours beforehand, given an anaesthetic to reduce "excitement and stress".
"Of the tested animals, seven died immediately after the impact, and the rest survived six hours after the test,' scientists said.
Pigs were not the only animals used in the experiments, with PETA claiming that China's Research Institute for Traffic Medicine and Daping Hospital also used dogs, dropping heavy weights on to their heads to simulate whiplash, before killing and dissecting them.
PETA has called for China to end the use of animals in its testings, saying: "These days, companies use advanced technology — such as clinical human studies, advanced computer modelling, 3-D medical imaging, and sophisticated manikins — for their car-crash research."
"Other researchers have also used human cadavers and virtual reality (digital crash dummies) for the same purpose. In the 21st century, every car company on the planet should already have adopted these methods."
