Designed to mitigate catastrophic injury, the Hövding helmet senses a cyclist’s unorthodox movement patterns immediately after impact. This deploys the company’s shock absorbing helmet – inflating the air bag around the user’s neck protecting the cyclist’s head from whiplash, concussions or maybe worse.

Strategically housed within its waterproof collar, Hövding’s built-in airbag system records a cyclist’s movement 200 times a second. The airbag inflates only when it detects an out-of-whack body position and when deployed, covers all of the vital areas in and around your neck and head.

Hövding’s recently-gone-viral safety video (one million viewers) illustrates the effectiveness of its helmet. In the video, not only is the airbag inflated instantaneously upon a car’s bumper hitting the back wheel of the staged bicycle tire, but even more importantly, the test dummy’s entire neck and the head region is engulfed in the Hövding 2.0 ultra strong nylon fabric. As the back of test dummy’s head hits the car’s windshield, you can easily see the shock absorbing properties take full effect – protecting the skull from massive trauma.

According to the Stanford University study, “the thickness and stiffness of the Hövding helmet is “near perfect” in terms of protecting against concussions and head injuries caused by accidents.” The study concludes that there is “an eight-fold reduction in the risk of concussion with a Hövding 2.0 airbag compared to traditional helmets.”

Designed like a hood and made out of ultra-strong nylon fabric, the Hövding 2.0 airbag system protects nearly all of the rider’s head and has been rigorously tested. According to Hövding’s site, “the pressure remains constant for several seconds, making it able to withstand multiple head impacts during the same accident – after that the airbag slowly deflates.”

The technology is rather impressive, to say the least. Using helium gas to inflate the airbag, Hövding ergonomic design is strategically positioned on the cyclist’s collar. Hövding’s proprietary tech, which includes sensor and algorithms, is the result of testing thousands of re-enacted cycling accidents using crash-test dummies. The end result: the more comfortable Hövding 2.0 that has been adapted for mini and folding bikes.

Since the technology is so new and unfortunately studying real-world accidents is a necessary evil in order to improve its airbag system, Hövding has installed its version of a black box inside the collar. Recording 10 seconds of movement patterns from an accident allows Hövding designers to make adjustments to their algorithm. With Stanford University’s seal of approval and CE approval by the SP Technical Research Institute in Sweden, Hövding may just be the safest helmet on the streets today.

CEO Fredrik Carling, in an October 7th press release, said, “Now that a prestigious research institution like Stanford University has published a report demonstrating that the level of protection provided by Hövding far exceeds that of traditional bike helmets, it gives us and our customers more confidence and provides further confirmation of Hövding’s superior protection.”