Before you even plop that bicycle helmet on your head, it's been through the ringer. Or at least a helmet of its very same weight, material and design has been through the ringer with a stringent series of tests. These tests ensure every American bicycle helmet meets standards set forth by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Since 1999, meeting those standards has been the law.
Revolution
The bicycle helmet world changed dramatically in February 1999 when, for the first time, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a single, mandatory safety standard for all bicycle helmets to meet. Before that time, helmets met standards in a willy-nilly fashion, with manufacturers complying with standards, or not, voluntarily. Different development groups had set the standards, all with their own slightly different versions of what the standards should be.
The Ringer
Although helmet standards varied prior to 1999, the development groups used the same type of lab tests on the helmets, BHSI reports, and those same tests determine the CPSC standard in use today. The helmet must go through a battery of tests without breaking, cracking, crumbling or registering too high a pull of gravity, or g, upon impact. The test involves attaching a helmet to a headform, turning it upside down, and then dropping the helmet from varying heights on different anvils. Helmets also must pass a series of tests on strap and buckle strength as well as a "rolloff" test to determine if the helmet will stay on your head during a crash.
Snell Foundation
Although the CPSC standards are now law, they were not necessarily the strictest on the market, BHSI reports. That credit goes to the Snell Foundation, a helmet safety organization formed after an inadequate helmet led to the death of race car driver Pete Snell. Snell standards were in their heyday from about 1990 to 1995 until well-known helmet manufacturer Bell helped kill them off by switching to different standards.
Other Standards
Bell switched from meeting Snell standards having their helmets certified by the Safety Equipment Institute and met standards set by the American Society for Testing and Material, the most popular standard until CPSC pushed it out. Other countries have their own sets of standards. Some of these standards, like those in Canada and Australia, are pretty stringent, BHSI notes. Others, like those throughout Europe, often don't produce helmets that could pass tests required to meet American standards.
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