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Invisible Bike Helmet Inflates Before Impact
By Lisa Smith - Oct 22, 2010
Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin's Hövding bicycle helmet blew our minds this morning—it works like an airbag, inflating immediately before impact from a shawl-like collar worn around the neck. The name translates to Chieftan. after the headdress-like form the helmet evokes when open. In our opinion, it's got a fantastic Hussein Chalayan thing going on as well.
You're probably feeling skeptical right about now. Does it open reliably? What happens if you have a hoodie on? Does it provide enough protection? Well, concerning inflation and protection, at least, they've been dilligent, providing the following test video of a 20km collision between a car and a crash test cyclist. We admire that the two have come so far in making this thing real.
In 2005 Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin were industrial design students at Lund University. At the time, a Swedish law had just gone into effect requiring helmets for all cyclists up to age 15, and there was talk of extending the law to cover adults as well. Haupt and Alstin observed that no one was interested in wearing bicycle helmets, and their survey results indicated it was because helmets were seen as bulky, ugly, cumbersome and unstylish, among other reasons.
Haupt and Alstin responded with a weighted collar embedded with movement sensors and a gas generator; the kind of thing design students sketch without having any idea how it might actually work. Kudos to the duo, pictured below, for working it out. After more than five years in the making, their Chieftan concept is now going into production, with a twelve-person company built around it.
Lisa Smith
Lisa is dedicated to promoting the American contemporary design scene. She keeps herself busy as the co-founder of the Object Design League, an association of independent designers in Chicago, and design practice Smith&Linder, both co-founded with Caroline Linder. She also teaches foundation research studios at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
30 Comments
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What really triggers the inflation ?!Report as spam
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I am wondering how this would work in a real situation. You know the ones where there is glass and other debris that would pop that helmet like a balloon.!Report as spam
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A traditional helmet spared me from more extensive injuries during a collision with a Honda Civic. I now cringe when I see cyclists not wearing proper protection.
If this gets more cyclists properly attired, I see it as a beneficial product..!Report as spam -
The speed bike in the video is 16 km\h, what is max. speed where the air bag is efficient,
so it won’t open up after the person will hit the ground?
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When will riders start to care about the head injury resulting from an accident more than they care about how "cool" or "stylish" they look riding around on their bike? Maybe after one of their friends has an accident and has to learn to walk and talk again, or unfortunately after one of them is killed by a motorist. Oh, and I hope their hair still looks good from not wearing a helmet when their head is cracked open like a melon and their brain is smeared all over the road. Sorry, I think this product is a stupid concession to stupid riders...they won't wear this either! The more you bike in the city, the more traffic there is: the more you need to wear a proper helmet. If you value yourself, that is.!Report as spam
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You all realize that this is designed for people who don't wear helmets, right? So comparing this to something that these people are not wearing anyway is pointless. This is brilliant and a huge improvement over really thick curly hair.!Report as spam
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Why NOT put it on backwards? Why not have full face protection, or at least more facial coverage than this design currently offers? Is there a reason that'd be a bad thing?!Report as spam
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Another expensive product for the stupid and vain? We Americans have had one for years! Check this advanced, cutting edge technology out: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/airbag-helmet.html!Report as spam
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Someone will put this thing on backwards, mark my words.!Report as spam
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A currently approved bicycle helmet has no protection against a face-plant. This one has more protection in the forehead and provides some neck support against cervical injury as well.
Nothing will protect you completely unless you seal yourself in a vault with padding. Where's the fun in that?
NT: I don't believe this is intended for motorcycles.!Report as spam -
Dale, Yogi:
People who bike in the forest should use a helmet for that purpose, just as you wouldn't ride there with a city bike.
People like me, who bike only in the city, care about their appearance and think ordinary "sporty" bike helmets makes you look like wearing an multicolored walnut on your head, (and therefor don't wear them) will use this. I love it.
It's a perfect example of "user-centered design", the opposite attitude of "oh, just use the old one for Christs sake." Making items that fit people, rather than insisting on people to adapt to the old, bad working items.!Report as spam -
It looks like the face is not really protected too well. Since this helmet is not deployed full time surely it could be modified to completely surround the head and face, possibly by coming up from the front of the collar as well. You could leave a little gap for breathing in case you are unconscious and no one is around to help remove it after impact, and maybe even eye holes in case it falsely deploys while you are riding.
And horses for courses, if you are riding where there is a likelyhood of low branches, wear a proper helmet.
!Report as spam -
Don't understand the pictures of a model with the collar on! That tells me that aesthetics have taken priority over function ... why don't they show someone in cycling gear wearing this? Also the 3 scenarios in the video and too little, speeds are too slow and the 3rd one in fact shows damage to the rider's face!
Lastly, personally, I feel helmets look cool and not "unstylish" Cheers!!Report as spam -
Simply because the bag inflates, does not indicate its safety. You could "engineer" a piece of paper to roll out instantly, doesnt mean that piece of paper will protect you. The two are not mutually exclusive.!Report as spam
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To NT: 180? Dude, wear a proper helmet... Protection over style/comfort for those kinds of speeds, and I speak as a helmet hater.
To Peter: I think you're making an assumption regarding the trigger method - it looked to me more like the trigger might be more associated with the change in rotation of the sensor perhaps? Though that could also possibly be riddled with problems too! I'm imagining someone leaning down to tuck their shoelace in...!Report as spam -
@peter @adam, watch the whole video.!Report as spam
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Marek's question isn't necessarily about a cyclist being stupid. I have been hit in the head by branches that I couldn't see while riding trails.
The difference I see here is that in a car, the initial impact in an accident is always to the outside of the vehicle. You can't guarantee that on a bicycle. Even so this device appears to provide protection against the majority of cycling accidents.!Report as spam -
Peter makes an excellent point. More crash testing is needed. Ultimately, perhaps the best solution to the problem of helmets not looking good and messing up peoples' hair is to get more people on bikes- safety increases dramatically the more bike riders there are on the roads.!Report as spam
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Works great if you get hit by behind at crazy low-speed, but most bike accidents end up with the bicyclist going forward and landing on their forehead. Most people wear their helmets incorrectly (IE, pulled way too far back), resulting in them hitting their heads anyway. This doesn't help that at all, since it looks as though the helmet would just push out of the way if you landed on the front of your head.
Also, what happens if I hit a pothole or jump a curb? Does that just set off the sensors?
I just don't see this working in real life. Just wear helmets people!!Report as spam -
I certainly hope these become widely used. Because they have such awesome comedic potential. I can't think of any social situation that couldn't be instantly converted to bizarre with one of these, accidentally or rigged to go off with (im)perfect timing.
Let me be the first to see one going off while worn backwards, please, please!
Now all we need is a visual sound effect to go with it. I suppose it would be something like PAFFF.... But the designers would probably sell more if they designed in a funny noisemaker.
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Having been involved (either as a cyclist or observer) in several bike accidents, I suspect this kind of thing would very rarely work. A bike is not a car. In a car, airbags work well because for the passenger to experience impact, the car must experience rapid acceleration first. For a bike, the passenger is not tied to the bike. The type of accident shown -- where the bike is more-or-less stationary -- and the rider is jerked by a sudden impact to the bike -- almost never happens. What almost always happens is the bike is jerked in some direction, but the cyclist keeps moving along her original trajectory. For instance, the front wheel hits an opening car door. The bike stops. The rider flies over the handlebars, at more-or-less the same speed and trajectory as when riding. The sudden acceleration happens when the cyclist's head hits the ground or traffic. In this situation (which is almost all bicycle accidents), the airbag wouldn't deploy until too late.
Try repeating the crash test, with the bike rolling, and the front wheel hitting an obstacle, and let us know what happens.!Report as spam -
Unfortunately there's very little face protection in evidence. If you look at the last one, the dummies forehead bounces off the cushion presenting chin and nose to the ground surface. A standard foam cycling helmet is rigid enough and deep enough at the front to prevent most facial injuries. My first crash involved going almost 180 with the full weight of my bike coming down on me. Thanks to my helmet, I didn't even realise that my head had connected with the ground until I noticed that the visor was over my eyes. My arm was murder though -- road rash in three places.!Report as spam
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Marek there's no way to make a helmet that prevents against stupidity.!Report as spam
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@marek: You should have been paying more attention to where you're going, then...!Report as spam
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I'd buy this!Report as spam
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I'm glad they were able to R & D it into a real product, not just an empty dream like so many other over-sensationalized internet "technology" stories.!Report as spam
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What if you're riding along and hit your head on a low hanging tree branch.
A real hemlet would only work in this situation!Report as spam -
For this sort of things I decided to study industrial design It makes me feel so proud of human capacity!Report as spam
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Awesome! Very similar to Dainese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo9Vlt5tGwY!Report as spam
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How much does this cost? If you take a minor fall and it goes off, do you have to buy a new helmet? Is it reusable?
I'm not sure if I would trust this product just yet.!Report as spam
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