CPSC Bicycle Helmet Safety Standards Could Benefit from MIPS Requirement

Even though all bike helmets must pass muster with the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), bicycle helmet safety standards appear to have fallen behind available technology.

Researchers from Virginia Tech and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety saw an opportunity to test bicycle helmets to determine what design offered the most protection from a concussion.

They tested 30 helmets at the most common speed bicyclists are going when in an accident.

The group created a rating system, with a five-star helmet deemed the best. Of the 30 helmets tested, only four of them earned the five-star rating, and all of them included MIPS technology.

What is MIPS?

MIPS is Multi-Directional Impact Protection System developed by a company in Sweden.

According to MIPS, a crash can create a contact force of 750 kilos to the head in a couple milliseconds. An MIPS-equipped helmet has an extra layer of protection that redirects the rotational movement that would normally be transferred to the brain with an old-fashioned helmet. The MIPS layer allows the head to slide 10 to 15 millimeters independently of the helmet, a maneuver that tests show help reduce rotational forces on the brain that can cause traumatic brain injury.

The CPSC only tests helmets with a force of 300 g and does not test the rim, which studies show is a source of impact in many crashes.

The Virginia Tech team tested the helmets at six impact locations, two of which were at the rim. The helmets also were tested at a slant to better reflect the way the bicyclist’s head is apt to hit the pavement upon a crash with a motor vehicle.

CPSC Bicycle Helmet Safety Standards Miss Advantages of MIPS

Just because a helmet has passed the CPSC’s bicycle helmet safety standards doesn’t mean it’s the safest one on the market. Many bicycle helmets still use technology from the 1960s by incorporating only expanded polystyrene (EPS) that doesn’t offer the extra protection from rotational impact that the MIPS systems do.

The MIPS system is offered in many different brands of helmets at many different price points.

Another factor that the Virginia Tech researchers found affected helmet effectiveness was the style. Bicycle helmets designed for road use have an elongated shape with more vents. The road helmets appeared to protect better than those with a round shape, fewer vents and a thicker outer layer, which are designed for city street riding.

Most people think an accident will never happen to them, but in 2016 alone, there were 840 fatal bicycle/motor vehicle traffic accidents in the U.S., up from 829 in 2015. Seventy-one percent of the fatal crashes occurred in urban areas. These victims aren’t usually kids who are unfamiliar with traffic laws; the average age of the deceased bicyclist increased from age 40 to 46 between the years 2007 and 2016. More than half of the victims were not wearing a helmet.

According to the Virginia Helmet Tech Lab and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, some helmets are safer than others.  These are the helmets that earned five-star ratings:

• Bontrager Ballista MIPS
• Garneau Raid MIPS
• Bell Stratus MIPS
• Specialized Chamonix MIPS

The MIPS low-friction layer is visible because it is located between the comfort padding and the head. It is usually yellow, and marked with an MIPS logo.

Join a Free Bicycle Helmet Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you purchased a bicycle helmet within the last couple of years that does not measure up to the current technology available, you may qualify to join this bike helmet safety class action lawsuit investigation.

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