POC helmet being “shot” at a Volvo car.
Volvo/POC
Bicycle helmets are not designed to protect against motor-vehicle impacts, a fact made clear in new research from Volvo and POC helmets: the Swedish brands say they have conducted a “series of world-first crash tests of bike helmets against cars.”
That bicycle helmets are not currently tested against such impacts will be a revelation to many cyclists and motorists, many of whom erroneously assume that bicycle helmets offer greater protection than they are actually designed to provide.
“Current bike helmet testing procedures are fairly rudimentary,” state Volvo and POC. They involve “helmets being dropped from different heights on either a flat or an angled surface, and do not take into account vehicle to bike accidents.” The tests mimic low-speed falls on to curbs rather than any impacts from motor vehicles.
The Volvo-POC research project consists of new crash tests at the Volvo Cars safety research facilities in Gothenburg, Sweden. POC bike helmets were fitted to dummy heads mounted on a testing rig, from where they were launched towards different areas of the hood of a static Volvo car, at different speeds and angles for various measurements.
A Volvo-POC statement said:
The learnings from the research project will help POC make its helmets safer and more protective in the event of a car-bike accident, while the tests will also provide valuable insights and learnings for Volvo Cars into these types of accidents for future development.”
Malin Ekholm, head of the Volvo Cars Safety Center, added: “Our aim is not only to meet legal requirements or pass rating tests. Instead we go beyond ratings, using real traffic situations to develop technology that further improves safety.”
Oscar Huss, head of product development at POC, pointed out the gaps in current bicycle helmet testing protocols:
Certification standards are essential, but they should never limit our willingness to look beyond their parameters to find better and more innovative ways to reduce the consequences of accidents.”
In a collaboration in 2015, Volvo Cars and POC worked on a project to warn motorists of the presence of cyclists ahead. This involved the use of connected smartphone apps, and was not developed commercially.
