Hövding

Did You Know?

• Each Hövding contains an event data recorder that logs accelerometer data for 10 seconds before deployment.
• The Hövding collar has interchangeable fabric shells for color selection.
• Founders Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin left the company in 2015.

Certification and safety tests

The Hövding carries a CE mark, indicating the maker's declaration that it meets applicable EC Directives. In 2012, Swedish insurer Folksam tested 13 cycle helmets at an impact speed of 25 km/h, higher than the CE-marking speed. Traditional helmets produced G-forces between 196 and 294 G, while the Hövding yielded 65 G, indicating at least three times better shock absorption. A test by French organization Que Choisir concluded that the Hövding did not meet international safety requirements, criticizing its protection against hard, narrow objects such as curbstones or metal posts. Hövding refuted this, arguing that normal standards are irrelevant for such a different design and pointing to its CE certification tests showing far greater safety. Que Choisir rebutted that their laboratory was highly reputable and that standards apply regardless of design. They also measured inflation time at 382 ms, while motorcycle airbags must inflate within 200 ms; however, crash velocities differ, and a stunt-person test showed proper deployment. A team of bioengineers performed drop tests and found an eight-fold reduction in concussion risk compared to traditional helmets, describing the thickness and stiffness as near perfect. They noted that partial inflation could cause bottoming out, reducing protection below that of conventional expanded-polystyrene helmets. In 2021, French testing organization Certimoov ranked the Hövding best of 156 tested bicycle helmets, giving it an overall safety rating of 4.5 out of 5, the only helmet to score above 4.

Criticism

Criticism has centered on the Hövding's price and questions about its functionality in certain crashes. The U.S.-based Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute (BHSI), which received an ASTM Award of Merit in 2014, closely followed the product's development and marketing. When the manufacturer petitioned in December 2017 to exempt the Hövding from the U.S. CPSC bicycle helmet standard, the BHSI submitted a scientific comment rejecting the request, based on its own testing using conventional criteria, Hövding's submitted test results, and general considerations about airbag helmet protective principles. The BHSI also pointed to alternative foldable helmets as potentially meaningful, especially for shared bicycle programs. In November 2023, the Swedish Consumer Agency temporarily banned sales of the Hövding 3.0 in Sweden following an Uppdrag granskning investigation into the company's decision not to recall helmets with a known manufacturing defect that could prevent activation. On 15 December, the agency announced a permanent recall and sales ban, which was overturned on 22 December. The day before, Hövding had applied for bankruptcy, which proceeded.