Helmet failure

[rebls]

Just got my Abate newsletter and it had an article by Bill Gannon. The article states according to the National Highway Trans. Safety Admin. that since 1994, 64 percent of all helmets tested failed. I went to the site
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ to check this out. Typed in Motorcycle helmet tests and sure enough the number seemed correct. The site is a little vauge about the type of failure. There were some "failures" due to labeling. Not quite sure what all this means but saw some brand name helmets in the test that failed. Here is the link with some tests.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/comply/fmvss218/

[Crusin]

Interesting, I sorta feel like either I will be going slow enough that the helmet will make a difference or so fast it would not have made a difference. Wonder if that is true?

[Wyandotte Kid]

I am alway sceptical of any goverment testing agency. The test that states the helmet must survive two drops onto a 2" stainless ball. They had to drop it twice because they did not have a tower tall enough for a good single drop. The Snell specs say the helmet has to survive 300gs. The brain doctors say brain function after that kind of lick is not likely. The main reason for the thickness of helmets even whith todays modern materials is some archaic puncture spec. I found a carbon fiber helmet that is no thicker than a skid lid and passes ever DOT test but the puncture one. I guess if you had a wreck and got launched 25 feet in the air and came down head first on a wrought iron fence a DOT helmet would protect you.