Air bag vest

The air bag vest is a personal safety device worn by some motorcyclists that has found greatest use among equestrian competitors. The device is worn over a standard padded vest and is automatically inflated by gas released from a carbon dioxide canister when a tether attached to the horse's saddle is extended during a fall.

Description and availability

The device weighs approximately two pounds and is worn over a standard protective high density foam vest. Connected by a cord to the horse's saddle, a carbon dioxide canister is punctured when the cord is extended during a fall, inflating the vest in 100 to 250 milliseconds. Unlike car air bags, the air bag vests can be repacked and reloaded for reuse with a new CO₂ cartridge. Companies that manufacture the vests created them for motorcyclists as early as 1999. Point Two Air Jackets, a British manufacturer, began selling the device for horse riders starting in 2009 and the Japanese company Hit Air has a similar device, which sell for about $400 to $700 depending on the model. In the USA, companies such as MotoAir-USA started to spring up, using similar technology. As of 2010, Point Two estimated that 6,000 eventing riders wore its vests, while Hit Air estimated that 10,000 of its vests were being used. The United States Team at the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010 planned to provide riders with air bag vests.

Effectiveness

Studies conducted by the British Transport Research Laboratory showed that the vests improved protection by 69% when worn by riders in conjunction with a standard protective vest and cut the risk of rib fractures and damage to internal organs by 20%. Studies performed by the TRL for Point Two showed a reduction exceeding 55% in the chest compression experienced while wearing the vest compared to unprotected falls, and that chest compression was cut in half of the maximum limit set by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for chest compression in automobile crashes. At a competition in France held in September 2009, rider Karim Florent Laghouag was able to walk away from a fall in which his horse somersaulted over a fence with his only injury a dislocated elbow. Similar types of rotational falls had resulted in the death of 13 riders in the four-year span through 2010. In 2010, British rider Oliver Townend described the vest as "the biggest step forward in the safety of our sport, ever". Townend had his horse fall on top of him while participating in the Rolex Kentucky Three Day in Lexington, Kentucky, and despite a broken sternum and four cracked ribs, credited the vest with allowing him to leave the hospital after only one day, saying that without the vest he "would be in a box or in America for a month".

Certification

In 2013 a specific certification was created to improve the standard of mechanically operated airbag vests. The standard is EN1621/4:2013 this standard relates to all mechanically operated airbags (ie lanyard systems) and not electronic systems (like those used in MotoGP). The standard dictates inflation speed,inflation duration, inflation volume and amount of force it absorbs. Despite being around for almost 3 years many major brands such as Point 2, Helite and Hit-Air still do not meet this requirement.

Italian motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi and other leading competitors have worn a version of the vest, but the technology is still under development given the higher speeds. Versions of the device are also being developed for all-terrain vehicle and mountain bike riders.