'Most child helmets in the market don't meet safety standards'

PETALING JAYA: A significant proportion of child motorcycle and bicycle helmets have been found not to hold up to safety standards.

Five out of the 10 child motorcycle helmets bought from retail outlets by the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and Road Safety Marshal Club of Malaysia (RSMC) failed to meet standards.

MMA and RSMC said in a joint statement that 10 child motorcycle helmets bought from online stores were also subjected to tests but these fared even worse, with only three passing muster.

Since the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) and Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (Sirim) had proposed the newly-developed standard of MS 1-2:2023 be implemented, a further 10 helmets were bought from retail stores and tested according to the proposed standards.

"Of the 10 additional child motorcycle helmets bought from retail outlets and tested to proposed MS 1-2: 2023 standards, only five passed – five failed," the statement read.

As for tests on child bicycle helmets, 11 were bought from retail outlets and 10 from online stores and sent to Sirim for testing to current pedal cycle helmet standards MS 1763: 2004.

Six out of the 11 helmets from retail outlets failed while seven from online stores also met a similar fate.

MMA and RSMC noted that the retailers were generally aware of the standard requirements for child motorcycle helmets but not so for child bicycle helmets.

"Some retailers were unaware of the quality of the helmets they were selling. Some retailers verbally said that the helmets meet standards while there were no labels on the helmets.

"Some of the helmets sold had a QC label implying that they met the manufacturers' standards," said the statement.

It added that the majority of the bicycle helmets did not have a standards certification label while some had labels of foreign standards that were acceptable, such as USCPSC and EU standards.

"Some of the helmets were labelled 'toy'. Some were flimsy," it said.

MMA and RSMC urged the authorities to take action to ensure that all motorcycle and bicycle helmets available in retail and online stores meet Malaysian or international standards.

They also advised the public to exercise caution and make sure that they purchase motorcycle and bicycle helmets that are up to standard.

MMA said it would be invited by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry in May to present the findings to the management group and discuss further steps towards protecting the public from unsafe helmets.