Consumer Reports Finds Safety Issues with Some Bike Helmets

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rideabike

I didn't see this posted before but if it has been, I apologize:

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=65232

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closetbiker

In an unlikely event that you need one, bike helmets only protect one from superficial injury anyway.

http://www.pcug.org.au/~psvansch/crag/h-i-mech.htm

I-Like-To-Bike

I didn't see this posted before but if it has been, I apologize:

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=65232
More defective helmets in the news:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2006
Release #06-155
Firm's Recall Hotline: (800) 373-4594
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Trek Recalls Anthem C Elite Bicycle Helmets for Failing Impact
Standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in
cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary
recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using
recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Trek Anthem C Elite and Anthem C Elite WSD Model
Bicycle Helmets

Units: About 4,500

Manufacturer: Trek Bicycle, of Waterloo, Wis.

Hazard: Product testing has demonstrated that these helmets do not
comply with CPSC safety standards for impact resistance. Consumers
could
suffer impact head injuries in a fall.

Incidents/Injuries: No incidents or injuries have been reported.

Description: The recalled helmets are identified by the model name
Anthem C Elite and Anthem C Elite WSD. A label inside the helmet
identifies the helmet as "Trek Anthem C." The helmets are available in
men's sizes in black/charcoal, blue/silver and blue/red, and in
women's
sizes in aqua blue/silver and white/silver. This recall includes all
sizes of this helmet.

Sold by: Authorized Trek Dealers nationwide from October 2005 through
May 2006 for about $129.

Manufactured In: China

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the helmets immediately and return
their helmets to an authorized Trek dealer for a full refund

Consumer Contact: For more information, contact Trek Bicycle at (800)
373-4594 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.

To view this recall online, please visit our website at:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06155.html

closetbiker

Also, a paper in the May '05 edition of the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, has found that a widely quoted estimate of reduction in risk of brain injury from helmet use is unreliable because it takes in no account of how brain injury works.

sestivers

closetbiker

Hey, I've worn a helmet for 18 years and my point was made on my first post.

GuitarWizard

So what is your point closetbiker? Can you name one instance in which you are hurt worse by wearing a helmet than not wearing a helmet? I don't really care if you don't want to wear a helmet because you think it does not protect you as much as it claims to. It still offers some protection with no side effects.

I crashed yesterday at around 23 mph wearing my helmet....hit my head once on each side on the pavement (shoulder hit first). Granted, had I NOT been wearing a helmet the outcome would've been much worse, but I still received a mild concussion.

chephy

Can you name one instance in which you are hurt worse by wearing a helmet than not wearing a helmet? This question is often asked in helmet-related threads, and it is a very silly question. After you've had a crash, how can you possibly know whether the use of helmet helped or hurt you? To know that you'd have to have two identical collisions, one with a helmet on and one without a helmet. Better yet have two identical twins (one wearing a helmet, one bare-headed) with identical health records have two identical collisions. Otherwise you just can't tell whether the helmet helped you, hurt you or made no difference in any particular instance.

Carusoswi

"So what is your point closetbiker?"

sestivers, his point probably has something to do with the CU statement that "a well-designed and properly fitting bike helmet can prevent up to 88 percent of bike-related brain injuries."

Written with authority - but where did that number come from?

"Can you name one instance in which you are hurt worse by wearing a helmet than not wearing a helmet?"

So, this is a reason I should wear a helmut?

Caruso

Carusoswi

sestivers

I'm not going to go down the road of who should and shouldn't wear a helmet, there are endless threads about that already. But to make a statement like After you've had a crash, how can you possibly know whether the use of helmet helped or hurt you? doesn't make sense. In every case, the helmet absorbs some energy that your head otherwise would have. Of course it won't keep you immune to death or serious injury in every circumstance.

Closetbiker's comments just seemed off-topic to me. The OP was about defective/uncertified helmets. I felt like closetbiker's statements were saying "so what if they're defective, helmets don't help anyway." Maybe that's not what s/he really meant. I'd say that a defective helmet is probably better than no helmet, but the problem is that the consumer is led to believe that he is more protected than he really is.

MarkS

The OP's url is weird -- in one paragraph talking about pool alarms and then in the next about helmets and then about pool alarms again ... hmm ... what do those tri-atheletes do with their helmets while swimming?

Anyways, the full article (about helmets, not pool alarms) plus more helmet ratings is available directly from Consumer's Reports (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/travel/bike-helmets-606/overview.htm).

It would be interesting to know what the "industry" source of the 88% quote was.

Edit: Interesting to note that of 20 helmets the best any did for absorption was "very good" -- none was rated "excellent". Most were only rated "good".

pricklycommute

MarkS,

I read the summary in your link but don't have a subscription. Of the 20 tested, are there any brands that were better than average?

Thanks.

chipcom

MarkS,

I read the summary in your link but don't have a subscription. Of the 20 tested, are there any brands that were better than average?

Thanks.

Bell Citi rates well...which is why when I do wear a helmet, that is what I wear.

closetbiker

It would be interesting to know what the "industry" source of the 88% quote was.

from, How Not to be Hit by Cars http://www.bicyclesafe.com/index.html

Most of us have heard that "bicycle helmets can prevent up to 85% of head injuries". Many times the phrase is printed without the "up to", stating flatly that bike helmets "prevent 85% of head injuries". Typically, no source is ever cited for this 85% figure. Everyone believes it anyway, so who needs a source, right? But where did this 85% figure come from, and is it credible? The answer is that it came from a flawed 1989 study, and it's probably wildly inaccurate...They also note that not a single case examined in the study involved a collision with a motor vehicle.

Also, a paper in the May, 2005 edition of the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, has found that a widely quoted estimate of reduction in risk of brain injury from helmet use is unreliable. The estimated 88% reduction appeared in a Seattle study by Thompson, Rivara & Thompson was published in 1989 in the New England Journal of Medicine and repeated in subsequent work. The review takes no account of scientific knowledge of types and mechanisms of brain injury.

MarkS

MarkS,

I read the summary in your link but don't have a subscription. Of the 20 tested, are there any brands that were better than average?

Thanks.The rating information is free -- click on the ratings link in the left hand navigation column of the article, or go directly here (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/travel/bike-helmets-606/ratings/latest-ratings.htm).

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