This past weekend, the New York Times joined the debate over the effectiveness of the current Snell Memorial Foundation crash helmet standards over the base-line Department of Transportation guidelines.

Specifically it highlights concerns that the current in-market Snell standard (M2005) requires a stiffer, less flexible helmet than that required by the Department of Transportation and European safety law. Specifically, the concern is that this stiffness can lead to less effective crash absorption at impact.

Snell have responded with a new standardization – the first revision in a number of years, M2010 – which aims to address the stiffness concerns by lowering the maximum allowable G’s to the head during an impact from 300 to 275.

Having a Snell sicker on the back of a helmet however doesn’t reveal everything about the helmet. The Snell foundation has a number of standards. To access the specific Snell standard of the helmet requires getting inside to a sticker that should be under the inner liner. With M2005 helmets allowable on shelves until 2012 telling old from new may prove a challenge for folks looking to buy.

M2010 standards compliant helmets go on sale October 1st.

Click through to read the entire article.

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