Hardlines, Children's products

march 2018 - Relevant for: Hardlines, Children's products INDUSTRY

On 9 March 2018, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a Federal Register¹ stating that the Commission has received a petition from Hövding Sweden AB (Hövding) requesting CPSC to exempt inflatable head protective devices for bicycle riders, which include Hövding’s product, from the testing requirements of the Federal bicycle helmets safety standard (16 CFR 1203), if such product complies with, and gets certification on another standard that Hövding states is appropriate.

CPSC is seeking comments for a 60 days period concerning this petition, including the following consideration to justify Hövding’s petition.

• Does an inflatable helmet provide equivalent or greater protection against skull fractures compared to a typical hard shell bicycle helmet? Please provide any underlying data or studies relevant to this issue.
• Does an inflatable helmet provide equivalent or greater protection against concussion compared to a typical hard shell bicycle helmet? Please provide any underlying data or studies relevant to this issue including identifying the source of any injury thresholds relied upon.
• Are there any crash scenarios where the deployment of an inflatable helmet will be too slow to protect the user?
• What modifications to the test method in 16 CFR 1203 would be needed to evaluate inflatable helmets for the positional stability, retention system strength, and impact attenuation requirements?
• What existing standards or other performance requirements could be used to evaluate the reliability and integrity of the deployment systems in inflatable helmets, such as sensors and batteries?
• What existing standards or other performance requirements could be used to evaluate the fit of inflatable helmets?

All comments should be submitted to CPSC by 8 May 2018.

[1] Federal Register (83 FR 10418)
[2] Record of CPSC Action