Motorcycle helmets get star ratings

The UK Department of Transport is providing star ratings for motorcycle helmets in a bid to improve safety and offer buyers an idea of their protective qualities.

Most UK bikers don't really know how motorcycle helmets are designed, manufactured and tested. Once there were BSI standards, now there are the UN ECE 22.05 tests, but many riders still make a judgment by asking other bikers for recommendations, or assess the overall construction, comfort and fit, when trying 'lids' on in a shop.

But all that is changing as the UK government-backed SHARP (Safety Helmet Assessment Ratings Programme) comes onstream this year, offering ratings from one to five stars for most popular biking helmets. The idea is to give consumers an idea of the potential protective qualities a helmet might have, with one star at the lower end, and five stars being the top rating.

The initial DoT SHARP results are surprising, as some helmets from top brands like Arai, Shoei and AGV only made three stars, while budget brands like Nitro or Lazer were rated five out of five in the SHARP tests. It all begs the question: What testing methods are they using exactly, and is a cheap helmet as good as an expensive one?

SHARP tests are designed to log the effects of a specific impact of between 6.5 and 8.5 metres per second on specially selected points of the helmet's outer shell - both head-on, and a simulated glancing blow. The impact speed is slightly higher than the existing ECE 22.05 regulations, but SHARP don't do any testing on the chinbar section of the lid, or do a repeated impact on one area - like Arai do in their own factory tests, for example.

Ferry Brouwer, who spent 27 years with Arai Europe, said: "The SHARP ratings are supposed to save 50 lives per year, a good aim, which we agree with, of course. But the new tests do not go far enough. SHARP do not look at the methods of construction, a manufacturer's track record in racing accidents,say, nor do they use repeated or random impacts.

"In the US, the Snell Foundation do random impact point testing for example, and by not telling manufacturers which points will be tested, it prevents makers from strengthening particular areas on the helmet shell. Arai also believe that a penetration test of the shell is crucial, as no two motorcycle accidents are the same and such incidents can happen, sadly."

Watching the Arai testing rig drop helmets onto solid posts, suffer the penetration test, and learning how important it is to keep the helmet's inner EPS layer free from severe temperature changes, human sweat, dirt from gloves, or damage from placing your bike keys inside your lid, was an education.

Did you know that the inner polystyrene lining degrades in its protective qualities by around three to five per year, and sweat may accelerate that decline in the EPS layer's impact dissipation? So the less your head sweats in hot weather, the longer that inner lining will keep doing its job. Fact is, in the real world, the performance of the helmet's air vents in hot weather matters - your head needs to stay cool.

There are plenty of aspects of motorcycle helmet design and manufacture which are still not tested by SHARP, and all bikers would surely benefit from the most rigorous, in-depth and random, lab-based testing regime that can be done at a reasonable cost by the authorities.