DOT, Snell, Mattel?

ONE Inch? If any of you are fans of racing, just look at the technology or the race cars. They have gone thru the aluminum and steel roll cages to now just a thin layer of carbon fiber. The speeds have sky rocketed and crashes have become more violent. But when some one dies it is a major thing now days when back in the day it was very common. They take the same tech as the guys building these 250 mph cars and putting it into the shells of a helmet. If you believe that the plastic shell of a $30 helmet is capable of protecting as well as a $600 Carbon Kevlar shell, maybe you need to go into car design. I am sure that if they could just inject a plastic tub out for an race car that would take the crash test as good as the Carbon fiber tub they would not be spending millions on them. The fact is, thru testing, they can layer the fibers in ways that it will deflect the impact thru the shell instead of a direct blunt force in one area. This allows the more productive venting in the interior along with a layered impact liner instead of an injected styro liner that will just pass the test which is cheaper to produce.
The fact is, if a company knows that people will actually pay the price for a helmet that has been designed and tested to be a better helmet, they will spend the money to make sure it is a better helmet. A company that just wants to produce helmets and sell them as cheap as they can will look into processes to make them cheaper and faster that all it has to do is pass testing. As long as people say "Well this helmet passed the test! Why should I pay so much for that one?" they will keep producing helmets as fast and cheap as they can. But hey, It's your head!

i-scream-stop said:

ONE Inch? ......They take the same tech as the guys building these 250 mph cars and putting it into the shells of a helmet. If you believe that the plastic shell of a $30 helmet is capable of protecting as well as a $600 Carbon Kevlar shell,......they can layer the fibers in ways that it will deflect the impact thru the shell instead of a direct blunt force in one area. This allows the more productive venting in the interior along with a layered impact liner instead of an injected styro liner that will just pass the test which is cheaper to produce.

Click to expand...

OK, so once you've designed the Kevlar shell with proper interior bracing to achieve the desired "crumple zone" performance under the critical loading criteria, whatever that may be, you might want to consider that the warped spheroid is sticking out in the wind, like a sore thumb, for most riders. The drag load on that spheroid is only proportional to the square of the local velocity and the spheroid cross-sectional area. Accordingly, bigger isn't that great and forces the design to include functional aerodynamic shaping to be viable. In addition, the sound pressure level due to turbulent flow on that Kevlar shell will likely prompt you to install some noise reducing liner material to isolate the riders ears or damping material will have to be added to Kevlar shell to limit it's radiation efficiency. Light, strong and hollow is a great recipe for building bells, as in church or Liberty.

Find out how these certifications (Snell, DOT, BSI, European) are awarded. You might be surprised.

Some are awarded after the the initial helmets are tested. What keeps the helmet manufacturer honest in that case?

Some are awarded on batches of helmets tested. If a sample fails, the who batch gets written off. Sounds logical.

A couple of interesting articles

On Snell and other standards- a comprehensive look at Snell, DOT, and ECE standards from the folks at WebBikeWorld.com.
Admittedly older news, but informative none the less.


Snell 2010 Standard:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-helmets/snell-2010-standard.htm

Part 1: How to Make a Motorcycle Helmet- Nolan Factory Tour

http://www.webbikeworld.com/eicma-2010/nolan-helmets/

Part 2: DOT vs ECE Helmet Safety Standards

http://www.webbikeworld.com/eicma-2010/nolan-helmets/dot-vs-ece-helmet-safety-standards.htm

excerpt from Part 2 DOT vs ECE:

" Introduction

A huge amount of information -- or should I say misinformation -- exists regarding the differences between worldwide motorcycle helmet safety standards.

Unfortunately, even with all that information, there isn't a consensus among motorcycle riders on which standard provides the most protective, or "safest" helmet. Even the experts don't agree (and apparently don't really know) which test and what type of forces will optimize protection for the rider's head.

Another facet of this controversy is that many of the tests have apparently been developed without solid scientific evidence or backing for their efficacy, which has resulted in differences among the standards, such as the maximum G force over time that are called out. This is the source of some of the confusion; surely the criteriae and testing procedures among the standards would be similar if the data and evidence was available (and everyone agreed)?

Thus, the subject of motorcycle helmet safety standards is highly complex, so it's no wonder the general riding public is confused."

Never underestimate the potential of one inch of protection. Our army Kevlar helmets are about 1/4" thick
and stop bullets up to 7.62mm. The right materials and engendering can do wonders. I was the ALSE officer who did the inspections on the HGU-56 flight helmet when my good friend Caz was wearing when he went down in an OH-58D over srebrenicia Bosnia on January 20th 1998. His helmet is in the USAARAL center on display now, it represents what a helmet can do in a non-survivable crash. He survived he is an airlines CPT for delta now and rides ducaties at his home in Germany. I wear a schuberth, ever time I ride I highly recommend this helmet.

A key aspect of helmet design is to slow the rate of deceleration of your brain. Much serious damage is done when your brain slams into your skull at say 70 MPH. Anything that can be done to lessen that impact increases you chances of you living and doing so in control of your faculties. A helmet is similar to the Safer Barriers being used in Nascar. Spreading the deceleration over a greater amount of time is what it is all about.

Ever wonder what is done to a Schuberth C3 helmet to have it go from an ECE certification to a DOT certification?

Well according to Schuberth and an e-mail from them, an extra layer of material which I assume to be shell material. According to them it also increases the weight a tad for the same sized helmet.

I wear an ECE certified C2. I have more confidence in Euro safety standards than those out of the US. Just look at automotive crash testing for example.