Louis Garneau Recalls Bicycle Helmets Due to Risk of Head Injury

[Tony T]

Louis Garneau Recalls Bicycle Helmets Due to Risk of Head Injury

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2018/louis-garneau-recalls-bicycle-helmets-due-to-risk-of-head-injury

Hazard:
The bicycle helmets do not comply with the impact requirements of the federal safety standard for bicycle helmets, posing a risk of head injury.
Remedy: Replace
Recall date: March 15, 2018

[OtayBW]

Huh?!? What??

[Tony T]

Huh?!? What??

The helmet has been recalled as it does not comply with the impact requirements of the federal safety standard for bicycle helmets.

[OtayBW]

The helmet has been recalled as it does not comply with the impact requirements of the federal safety standard for bicycle helmets.Thanks - Yeah, I understand. I'm just kind of stunned at how a product can go to market under those conditions at all.....

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[Mark McM]

Thanks - Yeah, I understand. I'm just kind of stunned at how a product can go to market under those conditions at all.....

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I think you may be overreacting. According to the recall notice (follow the link), the recall only affects certain ranges of serial numbers manufactured on certain dates. So the issue is probably a (temporary) manufacturing issue, not an inherent design issue. This model has been produced for a number of years, and probably many thousands have been produced and sold, and the recall only affects a fraction of the units produced.

[RonW87]

It could also be a euro vs. US certification issue.

[OtayBW]

I think you may be overreacting. According to the recall notice (follow the link), the recall only affects certain ranges of serial numbers manufactured on certain dates. So the issue is probably a (temporary) manufacturing issue, not an inherent design issue. This model has been produced for a number of years, and probably many thousands have been produced and sold, and the recall only affects a fraction of the units produced. Fair enough - I don't always read every linked article, but at the risk of overreacting again, as you say, the lack of adequate QA/QC on the part of the company to let helmets out that don't meet minimum safety specs does not instill confidence...

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[Mark McM]

Fair enough - I don't always read every linked article, but at the risk of overreacting again, as you say, the lack of adequate QA/QC on the part of the company to let helmets out that don't meet minimum safety specs does not instill confidence...

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Then you'll probably draw less confidence in knowing that CPSC helmet standards are self certified. A helmet maker does not have to submit a sample to CPSC before selling a new helmet model, they just have to declare that it meets CPSC requirements. This usually means that manufacturing has done their own testing (or sent samples out to a contract test house). But there have been a few occasions where helmets were imported that met European standards, and were simply 'assumed' to also meet CPSC standards.

CPSC performs does perform spot checks on models that have CPSC stickers, although they may not always get around to checking all of them. This latest recall is probably from a CPSC spot check.

[OtayBW]

Then you'll probably draw less confidence in knowing that CPSC helmet standards are self certified. A helmet maker does not have to submit a sample to CPSC before selling a new helmet model, they just have to declare that it meets CPSC requirements. This usually means that manufacturing has done their own testing (or sent samples out to a contract test house). But there have been a few occasions where helmets were imported that met European standards, and were simply 'assumed' to also meet CPSC standards.

CPSC performs does perform spot checks on models that have CPSC stickers, although they may not always get around to checking all of them. This latest recall is probably from a CPSC spot check.Thanks for all your information.

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[Tony T]

Thanks - Yeah, I understand. I'm just kind of stunned at how a product can go to market under those conditions at all.....


My bad, didn't realize what you meant.

[OtayBW]

My bad, didn't realize what you meant.
Oh - no problem. Thanks for the info!

[benb]

I didn’t think CPSC did spot checking at all, it’s one of the weak points. I’d be more inclined to believe Louis Garneau discovered the problem and voluntarily told CPSC.

I usually try hard to avoid ever buying a helmet which only meets CPSC standards.