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Age has a Minimal Effect on the Impact Performance of Field-Used Bicycle Helmets

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Abstract

Helmet manufacturers recommend replacing a bicycle helmet after an impact or after anywhere from 2 to 10 years of use. The goal of this study was to quantify the effect of helmet age on peak headform acceleration during impact attenuation testing of field-used bicycle helmets. Helmets were acquired by donation from consumers and retail stores, and were included in the study if they were free of impact-related damage, had a legible manufacture date label, and were certified to at least one helmet standard. Helmets (n = 770) spanning 0–26 years old were drop tested to measure peak linear headform acceleration during impacts to the right and left front regions of the helmets at two impact speeds (3.0 and 6.2 m/s). General linear mixed models were used to assess the effect of age and three covariates (helmet style, size and certification impact speed) on peak acceleration. Overall, age was related to either no difference or a statistically significant but small increase (≤0.76 g/year of helmet age) in peak headform acceleration. Extrapolated across 20 years, age-related differences were less than both style- (traditional vs. BMX) and size-related differences. The age-related differences were also less than the variability observed between different helmets after accounting for style, size and certification effects. These findings mean that bicycle helmets (up to 26-year-old traditional helmets and 13-year-old BMX helmets) do not lose their ability to attenuate impacts with age; however, other helmet features that may change with age were not evaluated in this study.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Justin Lam, Jeff Nickel and Mircea Oala-Florescu for their help in conducting the tests. We also thank the organizations, companies, and individuals who donated their helmets.

Conflict of interest

Authors ALD, CAG, DDC and GPS are forensic consultants who occasionally work on cases related to bicycle helmet effectiveness. No external funding was received for this study: all funding and support was provided by MEA Forensic Engineers & Scientists (employer of ALD, DDC, GPS) and Collision Analysis (employer of CAG). DDC and GPS are shareholders of MEA Forensic and CAG owns Collision Analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MEA Forensic Engineers & Scientists, 11-11151 Horseshoe Way, Richmond, BC, V7A 4S5, Canada

    Alyssa L. DeMarco, Dennis D. Chimich & Gunter P. Siegmund

  2. Collision Analysis, 43 Skyline Cres NE, Calgary, AB, T2K 5X2, Canada

    Craig A. Good

  3. Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Craig A. Good

  4. Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2M8, Canada

    Jeff A. Bakal

  5. School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, 6081 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, Canada

    Gunter P. Siegmund

Authors
  1. Alyssa L. DeMarco
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  2. Craig A. Good
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  3. Dennis D. Chimich
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  4. Jeff A. Bakal
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  5. Gunter P. Siegmund
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gunter P. Siegmund.

Additional information

Associate Editor Karol Miller oversaw the review of this article.

Appendices

Appendix A: Manufacturer’s Helmet Replacement Recommendations

See Table A1.

Table A1 Age related helmet replacement recommendations of various helmet manufacturers per information provided to helmet consumers when purchasing a helmet.
Full size table

Appendix B: Summary of Helmet Data

See Tables B1, B2, and B3.

Table B1 Number and (percentage) of helmets for each combination of helmet style, headform size and certification group.
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Table B2 Mean and standard deviation (SD) of helmet acceleration in g by headform size and helmet style for the helmets tested (n) at 3.0 m/s.
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Table B3 Mean and standard deviation (SD) of helmet acceleration in g by headform size and helmet style for the helmets tested (n) at 6.2 m/s.
Full size table

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DeMarco, A.L., Good, C.A., Chimich, D.D. et al. Age has a Minimal Effect on the Impact Performance of Field-Used Bicycle Helmets. Ann Biomed Eng 45, 1974–1984 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-017-1842-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-017-1842-4

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