POC Partners with Autoliv to Develop Airbag Technology for Helmets
POC announced today that it has partnered with automotive safety supplier Autoliv to develop airbag systems that can be incorporated into bike helmets.
The budding technology is currently aimed at commuters and e-bikers, but it's likely that once refined, the system could be applied to POC's mountain bike helmets, too. According to Autoliv, which primarily makes car airbags and seatbelts, more than half of seriously injured road users are cyclists, and serious injuries in crashes involving cyclists rose 24% from 2010 to 2019. With cycling still on the rise worldwide thanks to environmental and health initiatives, the two Swedish companies thought it timely to study how helmet safety could be improved.
A prototype model has been tested using crash dummies to mimic different ground impacts a cyclist's head might experience. A full study is upcoming, but in the "pre-study tests," researchers evaluated airbag designs, pressure, integration methods, and triggering systems:
 | The resulting concept was an airbag consisting of three fabric channels hidden in the helmet during normal use. In a crash the channels were expanded covering the sides and top of the head and pressurised to approximately 60 kPa. When deployed the airbag acts as the initial energy absorber while the underlying helmet may still contribute in the usual way. The combination of both absorbing technologies enables a reduction of the head acceleration and significantly reduced head injury risk in impact tests. Targets such as having a low mass, good coverage, and not being visible during normal use were fulfilled with this airbag design. |
The researchers noted that the design was constrained by the helmet itself having to still perform as well as conventional helmets when the airbag is not deployed.
After the successful initial tests, POC and Autoliv plan to continue the research, now with a focus on creating an airbag with as much coverage as possible and with coverage in the most essential spots. Although there's still extensive testing to be done, POC aims to bring an airbag helmet to market before too long.
More information is available online, where users can download Autoliv's full report of the pre-study testing. (Users are asked to enter personal information to gain access. I took the hit so you don't have to.)
With increasing awareness of head injuries throughout the bike industry, we look forward to seeing more technological developments to help mitigate those risks in the future.
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If you saw my helmet, you'd notice there are some minor dents, crunched plastic, and plenty of scuffs... But I wouldn't say it fits inappropriately or feels dangerous on my head. It's a $180 helmet, I'll replace it when I feel it's unsafe.
People can choose to ignore this if they want to save money on helmets. Or buy a helmet rated for multiple impacts.
I hit my head, going 10.5 mph, and before insurance had $40,000 in medical bills. ($3500 after insurance). I also lost the ability to form short term memories for 6 hrs. Head injuries are no joke.
You only get one brain, I will buy a new top rated helmet every time I hit my head.
(link to independent helmet crash test ratings site)
www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycle-helmet-ratings.html
The Styrofoam is compressed with any impact and will not expand again. So next hit you either have reduced or no impact protection. You are taking your life and head in your own hands.
This seems to come up often. Can @PB do some kind of Bro Science test on this? Or maybe a discussion? Which helmets can take multiple hits and which cant?
I dont think the Koroyd helmets by Smith are multiple impact either. The plastic crushes and does not expand again.
It will come with a monthly cash subscription of 20$ for the air bag to actually work.
Just like that motorcycle air bag west.
I'm kidding by the way, but it's still possible.
cache.tradeinn.com/images/pdf/especificaciones/eng_poc_specs_helmets_14-15.pdf
And they are labeled specifically multi impact.
All this said, most of my concussions I was not wearing a helmet (nor in an activity where wearing a helmet is recommended). Can be interpreted different ways, but one of them is that apparently the helmets must have saved me from a good few cycling related concussions
The tech in the hövding is impressive, but I'm a little concerned about the way they market it as a replacement for wearing helmets.
At the enthusiast level, no way.
My wife’s exploded when she rode off of a small curb. When they deploy it is, no exaggeration, as loud as a gunshot and directly next to your ear. It feels like you’ve been hit with a concussion grenade. The explosion, ironically, caused my wife to crash.
The same thing happened to me when I rode onto a gravelly section of road from pavement. My bike drifted a tiny bit, and bang! Explosion on my head and I fell over.
I said screw this after my experience and went back to my city helmet. My wife sent hers in and got a free replacement… which then also exploded unexpectedly a few months later. We are now both back in our city helmets.
So consider me extremely skeptical that they could get that type of technology right for mountain biking, where the ride quality is just a little bit rougher and more unpredictable than riding on flat pavement in a city.
Maybe if what they are developing is more like the airbag mech for motorcycles, where you have a wired attachment to the bike that triggers the airbag in case of separation, but if it’s anything like Hövding, which claims they’ve “trained” their sensors to recognize a crash based on data and machine learning… No ****ing way that thing is going on my head.
Side note, the only upside to the Hövding deploying is that you briefly get to look like a 17th-century French lord :
neumeister.se/wp-content/upload/hovding_models.jpg
It's interesting to imagine this tech. married up with one of the sub 700g full face enduro lids. If a full on downhill lid is 1100g, that gives 400g to play with and I'd imagine the combo of DH certified enduro full face + airbag would offer a lot more concussion protection than a traditional full face, if they can get the airflow to work too.
It's harder to picture this working in a highly ventilated lightweight road helmet or even an MTB half shell.