Helmet test and Snell vs DOT/ECE 22

[GHILLIE]

I don't how many of you got a chance to read this test which is now 5 years old, but it was an eye-opener for me. I have attached the link to the test below and I recommend everyone read it, it's worth the time to read and digest even if it is a bit long.

I'm a firm believer in helmets as most here are. I also have believed for along time the gold standard for helmet protective quality was the Snell standard. I wouldn't buy a helmet unless it was Snell approved. The test below changed all that for me.

The test points out many things on protecting the computer in your head. The most interesting is that for a helmet to pass the Snell standard the EPS liner (the shock absorbing material) has to be harder and more dense because the EPS liner needs to protect for two strikes in the exact same spot. With the EPS liner harder, there are more G forces felt by the brain. The DOT standard or preferrably, the European standard, ECE 22 the EPS liner is softer and the brain feels less shock, less injury. I can't do the test justice in this short narrative, so read the test if you haven't.

The test may make you rethink what a good helmet is, it did for me.

Cheers,

Helmet test

 

[moloko]

For some reason, that link just comes up as a blank page for me.

My helmets say SNELL/DOT.

I read somewhere that the difference was Snell did periodic 'surprise' inspections through out production, where DOT got a sample before the production run to test, approved it, and that was it.

 

[GHILLIE]

Hmmmm, seems to be working for me. Maybe others can chime in.

All I can say is read the test and make up your own mind. Later in the test Snell responds and then there is a rebuttal to the Snell response.

I'll check back later and see if others are having a problem with the link.

 

[Busa1166]

Link works for me too this the text was too large to copy an paste for you

 

[Busa1166]

The DOT helmets we had were all plastic-shelled, and none cost more than $100. How did they do? They kicked butt. In what must be considered a head-impact Cinderella story, the DOT-only helmets from Z1R delivered less average G force to the headform through all the impacts than any others in the test.

And they still excelled in the big-hit, 150-joule impact&151a blast 66 percent harder than any actual DOT test for a medium-sized helmet.

The Z1R ZRP-1s continuously amazed us. After all the testing, its outer shell looked essentially unharmed: The slight road rash at the impact sites caused by our stubborn insistence on hitting actual pavement looked no worse than we'd expect if the helmet had fallen off the seat at a rest stop.

When we pulled the ZRP-1s apart, the EPS had cracked and compressed at the impact sites, just as it's supposed to do, and just as it did in every other helmet. But it had come nowhere near bottoming; there was still an inch or more of impact-absorbing foam left. And the plastic shell seemed completely unharmed, from the inside as well as the outside, even where it had taken the terrifying edge hit and the big three-meter bash.

This illustrates just how hard it is to tell from the outside whether a helmet has taken a severe hit. And why you should never, ever buy a used helmet.

This was a most eye opening read, thanks for posting it. Going shopping for a new lid with a much better understanding of what I want a lid to do an how to tell which lid can do it.

 

[GHILLIE]

Glad you enjoyed the article.

I found it pretty scary that a guy wearing a Snell helmet could have a hard impact and either scramble his brains (read permanent brain injury) or kill him. But if he was wearing a helmet with a softer EPS liner, i.e. DOT/ECE 22 type he may very well leave the scene unscathed.

 

[GHILLIE]

The Snell standards are still too high of felt G force to the head as mentioned in the article. The 2010 standards are in the article below from the Snell site, but in summary 275Gs is the 2010 standard. That is 90Gs over what the experts say should be strived for, and higher Gs than either DOT or ECE 22.

2010 Snell test standards

 

[rpracing]

I believe the Snell 2010 standards address this issue.

Snell 2010 Standard - webBikeWorld

 

[GHILLIE]

Cool! Thanks for the updated article. I would agree that the Snell 2010 standards are much improved, that's good to see.

 

[Poppy]

This is an interesting article and highly recommended reading regardless if you are shopping for a helmet or not. Thanks for the thread and for the updates too!