Helmet Defects - Welcome

The use of the safety helmet is the single critical factor in the prevention of reduction of head injury. Many riders choose to wear a saftey helmet that they believe will reduce the risk of injury to their head and face during an accident. Unfortunately, defective helmets can contribute or even cause serious injury or death.

There is a wide variety of defects of design and manufacturing in motorcycle and bicycle helmets. While there is effective regulation of motorcycle helmets by DOT and bicycle helmets by CPSC, there are many protection failures due to design and manufacturing defects of "certified" helmets. Typical problems are frequent ejection of bicycle helmets due to "positional instability" and diffuse brain injury of motorcycle riders wearing "high performance" helmets qualified to racing standards. 50 years experience in head protection research has included many problems of defective and dangerous helmet designs.