ISSUE 50
December 21, 2008
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ISSUE 50 |
December 21, 2008
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The Newsletter of the Snell Memorial Foundation
In This Issue
The Foundation will host a Manufacturer’s Meeting from 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon on Friday, February 13, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. The address is One South Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46204. Telephone (800) 233-1234. A continental breakfast will be available at the beginning of the meeting. Snell certified manufacturers are invited. Other interested parties must contact the Snell office in California for details. Snell board of director Mr. William H. Muzzy will attend as will Ed Becker and Randy McCarty.
Snell Lab Holiday Schedule 2008/2009
The Snell Lab will be closed from December 22, 2008 through January 11, 2009 for calibration and maintenance. Testing services will resume on or about January 12, 2008.
FIA 8858 and FIA 8860 Issues for SA2010 Standard
SA2010 will incorporate a “head restraint” provision to test the load capabilities of helmet tether mounts. Helmets equipped with appropriate tether mount hardware will be subjected to loading tests similar to those of the current FIA 8858 standard. Qualifying helmets will be eligible for a “SAH2010" certification assuring that the tether provisions have also been met.
SA2010 is not compatible with FIA 8860, the FIA’s advanced helmet specification which describes the performance requirements for helmets currently used in Formula 1 racing events. However, FIA 8860 is compatible with SA2005. In fact, FIA 8860 certification requires also that the model be certified to Snell SA2005 or to one of the other standards in FIA Technical List 25. The Foundation will maintain SA2005 for as long as necessary to support the current FIA 8860. We look forward to working with FIA to revise the requirements of FIA 8860 and, possibly, to combine Snell and FIA test procedures for these advanced helmets to provide a simpler, more efficient certification procedure to the helmet industry.
FIA maintains programs to both FIA 8858 and FIA 8860. The Snell laboratory is one of three organizations accredited to perform the necessary testing. Please contact Gib Brown or Randy McCarty for details.
Certification testing to SA2010 will begin as soon as the SA2010 standard is finalized. The draft SA2010 standard is posted on the Snell web site. Helmets certified to SA2010 should not be on the market before October 1, 2010.
The certification testing to the M2010 standard continues. A few manufacturers already have certified products in different models and sizes. We look forward to seeing more new products meeting the M2010 requirements.
HPE in Farnham, Surrey, also has M2010 test capability. Manufacturers are welcome to arrange for testing there. If the manufacturer requests it, HPE will forward certification test results to the Snell Office here in California so that Snell certification can be granted. HPE will bill separately for their services but the Foundation will complete the enrollment of the helmets into Snell programs at no additional expense.
Contact information for HPE is as follows:
HPE
4 Farnham Business Centre
Dogflud Way, Farnham
Surrey, GU9 7UP
UK
Contact: Paul Walker
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 714920
Fax: +44 (0) 1252 737137
Email:
info@hpe.eu.com:
Safety Conference and Intermot
Edward Becker presented a research paper at the International Motorcycle Safety Conference in Cologne, Germany in October 2008. The paper, The Basis and Development of the Snell M2010 Motorcycle Helmet Standard, is available on the Snell web site. The conference was attended by mostly European motorcycle rider groups and members of motorcycle safety research, education, and advocacy from US and European countries.
Dr. Daniel Thomas, Ed Becker and Hong Zhang also attended the Intermot show in Cologne meeting with manufacturers and distributors at the show.
The Foundation has made an official response to the proposed rule making by DOT regarding changes to the DOT motorcycle helmet standard. The Snell response, along with many others including responses made by Arai, Shoei, MIC, ASTM are posted on www.regulations.gov for public viewing. Also can be seen on the Snell website at Snell's Response to the Department of Transportation's Notice of Proposed Rule Making, for FMVSS-218
New Pre-Test Information Sheet
A new Pre-Test Information Sheet has been posted on the Snell web site. Manufacturers submitting helmets to Snell for testing are encouraged to download this form and to fill out copies and include them with each submission. The laboratory receives many shipments of helmets. These Pre-Test Information sheets are essential to providing timely and accurate service.
The new form includes provisions for information essential to the proper testing of helmets to CM2007 and M2010. Please use the new form and fill it out as completely as possible. Available at www.smf.org/forms.html
Manufacturers submitting for FIA 8858 testing should be aware of the helmet weight limits in Annex L of the FIA driver regulations. These limits are not specified in FIA 8858 but helmets exceeding them will be rejected for FIA homologation.
If you have any comments, suggestions or complaints about any aspect of the Snell programs or services, please contact Ed Becker ed@smf.org.
| Snell Memorial Foundation, Inc. |
| 3628 Madison Avenue, Suite 11 |
| North Highlands, CA 95660 |
| Phone: 1-888-SNELL99 (1-888-763-5599) or 916-331-5073 |
| Fax: 916-331-0359 |
Editor: Hong Zhang, Director of Education
WebEditor: Steve Johnson
copyright 2009, Snell Memorial Foundation, Inc. - HeadsUp Issue 50