Hövding – the airbag for cyclists
There’s no sensible reason not to wear a bike helmet. Or is there? Hövding 3 comes with headroom and the promise of more safety. Unfortunately, not in every situation.
Admittedly, the temptation was huge. As a tester of the Hövding bike airbag, I could’ve simulated an accident by letting myself fall off my bike and roll into a field or onto an inflatable mattress. It would have made for great slow-mo videos and I could’ve paraded around my inflated head protection. However, after watching several videos, I decided against it. YouTube has plenty to offer in terms of crashing testers. However, you don’t see any of them get their bike wheels stuck in tram tracks or cycling into a lamppost. I think I can safely say, even without an airbag, they would’ve survived those stunts relatively unharmed. Furthermore, I’d rather not waste any of my brain cells. Instead, I prefer to invest them in answering some of your questions about the Hövding and telling you more about it. The manufacturer's video shows you what happens when things turn nasty.
Ms Alstin, Ms Haupt and the chief
Hövding’s story starts in Sweden. To be precise, in the minds of Terese Alstin and Anna Haupt, who worked on the «helmet of the future» during their industrial design studies. That was over 15 years ago and the future has long since turned into the present. Along the way, the duo won an innovation prize, a start-up competition and were finalists in the European Inventor Award. Meanwhile, their company Hövding Sverige AB is listed on the stock exchange and the third generation of the Hövding is already out. It’s a success story. This is because there’s a market for helmet-less head protection and the product has matured. It has many strengths but also some weaknesses. But I’ll get back to that later. First up, I’d like to see what’s in the box.
What's new?
We’re looking at version 3, so this begs the question what the current Hövding is better at than its predecessor. Although the airbag system is the same as before, the new model offers more variety in terms of adjustment. It’s now only available in one size but, instead, is adjustable via a BOA system, which allows you to change the size of the collar. The Hövding is placed around your neck, so the circumference of the collar is relevant. The collar circumference should be between 32 and 45 centimetres. For perfect comfort, 34 centimetres is ideal. Like the 2.0 model, the latest Hövding is suitable for head circumferences ranging between 52 and 59 centimetres. The airbag is not approved for children. It’s only recommended from the age of 15, as the trigger mechanism is based on the movement patterns of adults and must be activated before you ride off.
The acoustic signals and activation process have been overhauled. In addition, the Hövding is now a bit slimmer, more streamlined at the neck and therefore more ergonomic. However, it’s not any lighter. Quite the opposite. The head protector weighs in at 800 grammes, making it 100 grammes heavier than its predecessor. The majority of city helmets are much lighter. Some of them aim to impress with a built-in visor or lighting. Last year, I had the pleasure of trying out the Giro Camden. The solid e-bike helmet with an illuminated back definitely felt heavier on my head than the new Hövding did around my neck. The Hövding’s charging cable now complies with the USB-C standard and also comes with an app. At least in theory. But apparently not for me. I looked for the app but failed to find it in the Play Store. Eventually, I find it via a Google search, only to read that it’s not available in my country.
If I could’ve installed the app like iPhone users can, it would have offered the following features:
- The battery check sends you a notification when it’s time to recharge. The battery lasts about 15 hours and is recharged in two hours.
- If you have an accident, your emergency contacts are automatically informed by text message.
- You can track your routes and join the Hövding community. I discover that the average Hövding cyclist travels at 14.06 km/h, cycles five times a week and covers 18.71 kilometres in the process. Hövding collects and analyses the data in order to further develop «modern cycling».
We passionately want to build a brighter future by fully understanding current cycling. Our aim is to influence decision makers to create safer traffic and improve the cycling infrastructure. By letting us handle their cycling data with responsibility and care, users participate in achieving our future goals. Together, we create a better world for urban cyclists.
I join the community and my head feels naked. And that’s not just because I lack hair to keep me warm. It’s mainly because I cycle pretty much everywhere and wear my helmet without fail. It will take a while before I get used the Hövding around my neck. Visually, it reminds me of a different kind of protector.
Who’s the Hövding for?
For people who don’t like wearing a helmet. People who – unlike myself – have an actual hairstyle they want to protect as much as their head. People who ride a regular bike on regular roads and cycle in an upright position. The manufacturer excludes all other types of vehicles including unicycles, mountain bikes, inline skates and cargo bikes. And that’s a good thing considering that the Hövding analyses your movements 200 times per second. Based on this data taken from regular bike rides, it decides when it needs to inflate. There’s also a safety margin that’s respected by the Hövding. If in doubt, it inflates. Better safe than sorry. If the Hövding goes into action, it makes a lot of money disappear into thin air in a tenth of a second. This is because the airbag can only be inflated once. However, if the evaluation of the «black box» shows that it didn’t inflate due to personal fault but was falsely triggered, you get a new Hövding for free. If you’ve had an accident, you can get a new one at a reduced price of 150 francs. Nevertheless, it’s worth thinking long and hard about making the investment. Our Community member m4f1j0z0 is definitely not the only one who did.
If you ride an S-Pedelec that reaches speeds of up to 45 km/h, you’re not allowed to use a Hövding. This is not so much a question of safety, but mainly of standards. Here comes a boring bit: the airbag is CE-certified and complies with EU regulation 2016/425 on personal protective equipment. However, it’s not been tested according to EN 1078 standard, which is required and designed for bike helmets. No matter how well the airbag protects you, the test criteria, such as the strength of the straps, are simply not made for it. This is a problem for Hövding, which is why the company is working to ensure that the regulations are adapted accordingly in potential markets. Until this is the case, Swiss cyclists may only use the Hövding if they are riding a normal bike or an e-bike with up to 500 watts engine power and at speeds up to 25 km/h, as helmets are not compulsory here. The CE certification was carried out by SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and the test was based on the requirements of the current standard EN 1078. In addition, the reliability of the airbag system was tested, among other things.
How well does the airbag protect you?
Hövding claims on its packaging that it’s eight times safer than a regular bike helmet. It also says «The world's safest helmet isn't a helmet.» That’s only partly true. Indeed, several studies and tests gave the airbag a good rating. Researchers at Stanford University even came to the conclusion that the 2.0 model reduces the risk of concussion eightfold compared to a normal helmet. However, this is only the case if the airbag inflates perfectly.
A cold gas generator with helium gas inflates the bag in a tenth of a second. The 0.55-bar pressure remains constant for several seconds to absorb a potential second or third impact. In addition, the airbag encloses the neck and sides of the head, which is definitely a plus. Falls to the side often go hand in hand with high rotational forces that are not considered in the standard test in line with EN 1078. To pass the test, helmets must be able to withstand a fall from about 1.5 metres onto a flat surface and from about 1.1 metres onto an edge. The measured acceleration value may not exceed 250 g.
In a test carried out by a Swedish insurance company, the Hövding fared much better with 48 grammes than the bike helmets with an average of 175 g. Furthermore, the rotation forces to the head were significantly lower. For some years now, manufacturers have been trying to reduce these forces in regular helmets by means of technologies such as MIPS. Personally, in the event of a «normal» fall, I’d prefer an airbag wrapped around my head than a layer of polystyrene on top of it – no doubt about it. There has also been a good verdict on its protective features in our Community.
When the airbag fails
The Hövding unfolds in a tenth of a second, which is the equivalent of a blink of an eye. It’s fast, but not always fast enough. The following impressive video by Touring Club Switzerland shows in which situations the risk is higher with a Hövding. 24 seconds into the video, you can see that the Hövding wasn’t fast enough during an impact with the edge of a vehicle. The test used the predecessor model Hövding 2.0 with an airbag system that is classified equally safe by the manufacturer.
It’s a risk Hövding wearers have to live with. The bike airbag will also fail to protect you from low-hanging branches or garage door edges. And then there’s an additional risk: you. This is because you have to use the airbag correctly.
Use and comfort
Using the airbag isn’t particularly difficult. Properly adjusting your bike helmet might even be the bigger challenge. The hardest part with the Hövding is putting on the washable and interchangeable cover with its two zips. This must be done properly in order for the airbag to do what it should in the event of an accident. First, you have to fully charge the Hövding. This is done via the USB-C port and takes two hours. After that, the control light turns green and the app will tell you that the Hövding is now ready to be used for 15 hours.
Frankly, I don’t trust the app one bit. For one, it’s unavailable for my Android mobile. And on my iPhone, it fails to record the distances I’ve covered. A glance at the comments in the app store soon reveals I’m not the only one experiencing these problems. Although I can enter emergency contacts, I wouldn’t be so sure that they’d actually be contacted if I were to have an accident. Technically, the alert should be followed by a two-minute countdown that you can deactivate to let your contacts know you’re safe. For the time being, the only positive thing I can say is that the app has a really pretty design. Thankfully, the airbag also works without it. If you’ve adjusted the collar size via the BOA system, you need to do up the zip under your chin before you start riding your bike. This takes some practice or the help of a mirror at first, but you quickly get the hang of it.
To activate the Hövding, you need to close a flap over it that locks into place with a magnet. It lights up green and plays a little melody to tell you that everything is in order. If nothing’s covering the airbag around your neck, you’re good to go. Glasses are okay as are hats and hairstyles. At least most of them are.
The following hairdos could be problematic: very large, rigid or heavy hairstyles such as a stiff and high mohawk, a very large afro and dreadlocks that cannot fit inside the collar when they are loose.
Personally, I don’t have these problems. The Hövding is free to roam. After getting used to my helmet-less head, I enjoy being topless. That’s only half the truth. The block sitting at the back of my neck bothers me, because I keep touching it with the back of my head. It feels like I’m wearing a rucksack that’s too high up. I try it out on my old racing bike and my city bike. But my sitting position is too stretched out for me to get comfortable with the Hövding.
It’s only with bike number three, which has handlebars that are much higher up than the saddle, that the Hövding collar fits perfectly. This is a point you should consider. The Hövding is aimed more at riders of Dutch bikes than hipster bikes. On the plus side, I can give you the all-clear about a different issue.
The tab doesn’t bother me one bit. On the contrary. I find it quite comfortable as it keeps the zip away from my chin. You can bend it forward quite far so it doesn’t get in your way when you’re cycling. And when I look down, it doesn’t rub. In my opinion, Hövding didn’t make a mistake by changing the design. However, I’m not fully happy with the «new activation for clearer communication with the user». In other words, with the light and sound signals. The light is nice but you can’t see it under the chin.
The ascending tones you hear when you activate it are clearly audible. Obviously, you’re also paying attention to them at that moment. What I’m not too happy with are the muffled tones you get when you deactivate the airbag. In other words, when you open the magnetic tab. I opened it on a busy road and barely heard the warning signal. Having said that, it’s unlikely that you manage to open the tab on the collar by accident. However, as the tab is a matter of life and death, airbag or no airbag, I think a louder signal or an additional velcro fastener would be a good thing. Other than that, I don’t have more to complain about.
My verdict: fate couldn’t care less about norms
I didn’t trigger the Hövding. But what did the Hövding trigger in me? I take my hat off to the innovative idea and the implementation. A collar to save you from risking your neck; now that’s something man womankind needs to have the vision for. It was a long way until the airbag complied with laws and regulations and was ready to be brought to market. In spite of this, it may only be worn on regular bikes for which helmets aren’t mandatory.
The helmet of the future has become a reality. For the algorithm that watches over the airbag’s release, the accident data of 3,000 stunt falls was collected. And the community keeps on providing new data on cycling behaviour.
The quality is what you’d expect for the price. The lifespan quoted in the manual is five years, which is also standard for helmets. The website even mentions a lifespan of up to seven years. Hövding definitely has its strengths and is superior to a bike helmet in many situations. Having said that, it’s too slow in others. For now, I’m sticking to my helmet and daydreaming about a helmet with a built-in airbag. I also learned the following three things:
- The more upright the sitting position, the more comfortable the Hövding is.
- It’s easy to use, but the app is under construction.
- Fate doesn’t care about standards and regulations – so you’ll only know if your protective equipment was any good after a crash.
While a bike helmet is always ready, the airbag takes a blink of an eye to inflate and your trust in the algorithm. The decision is yours.
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer, dad of two. Likes to be on the move, shimmies through everyday family life, juggles with several balls and occasionally drops something. A ball. Or a remark. Or both.
