Guest article: Why Helmet Standards Matter

Standards are essential to ensure the quality and performance of any type of helmet.

Without a standard, it is up to each manufacturer to decide how much protection to build into a helmet. Their decisions can be very different, affected by their perception of expected risks and the anticipated level of impact they believe they need to protect against. Manufacturers also have concerns about manufacturing costs and consumer acceptance, so they may be under pressure to cut corners. Standards can help prevent this.

A standard protects the helmet user from low-performance products by specifying things a consumer cannot test, including impact performance and strap strength. It also allows distributors to require that the manufacturers deliver high performance gear for them to sell. It permits the consumer to sue the manufacturer for damages if a sub-standard helmet results in an injury. And it protects the manufacturer against unreasonable consumer requirements--if the helmet meets the standard, it is assumed to perform adequately, even though no helmet can prevent injury in every severe case.

A manufacturer has little incentive to exceed the required performance standard. They are afraid to advertise that their helmet is safer than others because in many markets they will be sued by disappointed consumers if the wearer is injured. That argues strongly for adopting the most stringent standard possible. But there is not always agreement on what a "more stringent" standard should require: handle harder impacts? provide the softest possible landing? cover more of the head? prevent milder concussions instead of just catastrophic injury? Standards-makers wrestle with the tradeoffs inherent in these questions every day, always calling for more research to make their decision-making better and well informed.

Randy Swart,
Director Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

Editor’s note: Swart runs the 18-year-old Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute. Swart became involved in helmet safety in the mid-1970s, when the Washington Area Bicyclist Association began testing helmets. At the time, there were no standards. According to Swart, “There was an awful lot of junk in the market. You couldn’t tell if a given helmet was protective or not.” In fact, he said, initial tests showed that some of the helmets then for sale offered “almost zero protection.”

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