Future ready Steelbird helmets meet new European ECE 22.06 norms

It is also worthwhile to mention that the new European Safety Standards-ECE 22.06 will be a mandate in India and the world with effect from January 2024.

Steelbird will become amongst the first brands to embrace the initiative by launching these helmets with the new safety standards way before they get implemented in India. To give a background, ECE 22.05 was replaced with ECE 22.06 in June 2020; the .05 or .06 pertains to specific revisions and amendments to the No. 22 regulation.

The standard requires a helmet to pass a series of tests, called HIC (Head Injury Criterion). A dummy’s head wore the helmet that has accelerometers inside to analyse the maximum acceleration to calculate the damage suffered by the head in the event of an accident. The test involves shock absorption, retention systems and unseating of the helmet. A similar situation for the visor must ensure protection and quality of vision. The manufacturer carries out the tests and then submits the reports for checks to an external certified laboratory.

The changes will affect the impact test and how the impact occurs. Currently, the weight that impacts the helmet occurs with a pre-set speed and affects the front, top, back, side and chin guard. With the new standard, other points of impact will be added, not only on the centerlines but also an extra point per sample, different from each other.

Helmet accessories such as integrated sun visors will have standards that they will need to meet to pass testing. The testing procedures themselves have been overhauled with the latest science being applied to the process.

The impact tests will see harder and faster impacts being created as well as low-speed impacts too. There will also be a new angle rotation introduced to the impact test. The EPS is also in multiple densities hence providing much more protection in lesser weight.

The new regulations will come into effect from January 2024, which gives manufacturers time to produce helmets to meet the new standards. After January 2024, riders can still legally wear their ECE 22.05 helmet, but any new helmet supplied by a manufacturer to a distributor or retailer will have to be certified as ECE 22.06.