Comparison Between U

Comparison Between U.S. Motorcycle Helmet Standards

There are two organizations setting safety standards for motorcycle helmets in the United States, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Snell Memorial Foundation. DOT sets minimum standards that all helmets sold for motorcycling on public streets must meet. The following table lists the major differences between the two standards. For additional details, please click here.

ITEM	DOT FMVSS 218	SNELL M2005
Impact Severity - (based on energy of impact)
Flat Anvil	2 impacts at each test site 90 joules/90 joules*	2 impacts at each test site 150 joules/110 joules
Hemi Anvil	2 impacts at each test site 67.6 joules/67.6 joules*	2 impacts at each test site 150 joules/110 joules
Edge Anvil	N/A	1 impact at each test site 150 joules
Required Coverage	Minimal	Greater
Impact Criteria
Peak Acceleration	400 G	300 G
Duration Requirement	Yes	N/A
Test Equipment
Impact Test Rig Type	Monorail	Twin-Wire or Monorail
Headforms	DOT	ISO
Program Administration
Certification Requirements	The DOT has no specific requirements regarding testing. It is up to the manufacturer to determine compliance to the DOT standard.	Snell requires initial certification testing performed in our own laboratories.
Standards compliance and Random Sample Testing	The DOT will periodically obtain selected samples from the market to have tested by a commercial lab. (A few hundred, every few years).	Snell continually obtains certified helmets from the consumer market to check for compliance. We test thousands of helmets each year.

* Based on the DOT size Medium headform

Here is another motorcycle helmet standard comparison that includes:

The U.S. DOT FMVSS 218
BSI 6658-85 Type A
EN (European Norm) Reg.22
Snell M2005.

Go There.