The Virginia Tech Helmet lab recently released new ratings that rank how well hundreds of bike and football helmets protect against concussions.
Engineering researchers at Virginia Tech first began testing helmets in 2011 to rate which helmets are the best performers.
They recently decided to re-scale their rating system because helmet manufacturing technology has improved in recent years, said Barry Miller, director of outreach and business development for the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab. “The five-star category was just overpopulated. And so we no longer differentiated the best from the worst from even that category. So it was time to re-scale.”
By pushing the threshold helmets need to earn five stars, the number of bike helmets with a top rating was reduced from 167 to 38. Youth football helmets with five stars went from 26 to 6.
The helmets were scored on their performance in reducing the chances of sustaining a concussion and protecting people from death and injury. The price of purchasing the helmets was not part of their analysis. In their ratings, higher priced helmets generally tended to score higher in safety measures, but there are some exceptions.
In youth football, all the five-star helmets cost more than $300. A few of the varsity football helmets that received the highest rating cost nearly $1000. However, with bicycling, several helmets that cost under a hundred dollars received a five-star rating, and a few higher priced bike helmets earned lower ratings.
“We simply figure out how do you hit your head when you fall off your bike or play football,” Miller said. “And we come back to the world accident scenarios. And then with that test protocol we evaluate the helmets against those real-world test conditions.”
The helmet lab also has ratings for equestrian, hockey, soccer, whitewater and snow sports helmets. Later this fall they will release a study on safety helmets for construction workers.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
