We usually check out Sharp before buying a new helmet to see what kind of safety ratings it gets, but helmet certification standards are not all alike and one standard like DOT, Snell and ECE R22-05 may not meet the other.
So when an Italian consumer protection agency Altroconsumo carried out their own tests on ten full faced helmets and seven failed, with six of them not meeting ECE R22-05 standards, we as consumers obviously get confused.
This agency took into consideration models with price ranging from 85 to 460 euros and on different sizes had them tested in a certified homologation laboratory to check normal safety conformity with an extra test to check impact in points different from the ones forseen by the ECE standards.
Three models passed the tests including the extra test, with the Shoei XR1100 model coming out on top, while the models that didn’t pass the tests (AGV Grid, Airoh Dragon, Arai Axces, Premier Style, Shark Vision R e Suomy Apex – with Nolan’s X-Lite X602 meeting the first test but not the extra test) Altroconsumo reported their findings to the relative manufacturers and to the Italian Ministry of Transportation requesting that they immediately test all helmets that are currently being sold.
The above video is in Italian, but it’s easy to understand the various tests they carried out.