When Should I Change The Motorcycle Helmet?

The motorcycle helmet is one of the most important passive safety elements on the motorcycle. For some years now, the motorcycle helmet is completely mandatory in any case to circulate (except if you have a medical permit for a collar or similar).

The motorcycle case must be in perfect magazine condition to ensure that it protects our head from damage. This is due to the fact that the helmet is like a kind of additional skull that absorbs the impact of blows when we fall or give some kind of blow with the motorcycle.

Imagine if our skull was damaged. The blows would go directly to our brain. In the case of motorcycles, something similar happens with the helmet, because if it is not in perfect condition, we will not have the head as protected as it should be, being more exposed to blows and brain damage.

Remember that there are thousands of motorcycle accidents every day, with many deaths. Although deaths have to be mourned every year, remember that without a motorcycle helmet, there would be twice as many deaths from a motorcycle accident, so keep in mind its importance.

Since the helmet should always be in perfect condition, you should try to change it when you see that it is in bad condition. The downside is that a helmet is not only in poor condition when it is dented (the most visible), but it can also be damaged on other occasions that are difficult to see, diminishing its safety.

Instructions

1. After an accident: The first reason why you should change a motorcycle helmet for another helmet is the consequence of having an accident. When we have a motorcycle accident, most of the impact of the accident is absorbed by passive safety elements, for example the helmet, which absorbs the damage from the impact of your head against the ground or against a solid surface in the traffic accident. When we have an accident and the helmet crashes, it suffers damage, since it has absorbed the impact to protect your head. These damages can be visible in the form of scuffs or scratches, but can also be on the inside. For this reason, I advise in any case to change helmets when we have had an accident.
2. After 5 years of use: All the products that exist in the world have a recommended half-life. This is because things gradually deteriorate with use, something that happens so gradually that we don’t even realize it. In the case of helmets, the recommended time to change a helmet is about 5 years, if we use the motorcycle frequently. If we never use a motorcycle, we could endure a couple more years with the helmet, but never again, because even if it is not used, something deteriorates (environmental deterioration, oxidation). Whenever you change it for another helmet, try to make the helmet that you have bought protects well (integral) and that of course it is approved, since if it is not approved, you will face fines, in addition to not being well protected against traffic accidents.
3. After a hard fall: When the helmet has taken a hard fall, it also takes damage. Here we are not talking about traffic accidents, since I have already talked about them in point 1, but we are talking about when the helmet falls to the ground. Many people throw their helmet to the ground when they get angry, other people drop it down the stairs and others even drop it out of the window. This is as if we had a small accident, since the health of the helmet is damaged a little with each hit. When we have had many spectacular accidents of this type or few of them but very serious (a fall from a fifth, for example, would be a serious accident), it should be changed for another helmet, since it is the equivalent of a traffic accident.
4. When other elements are deteriorated: Not all of the helmet is the chassis that covers it, since there are other elements of the helmet that also serve to protect and that should not be underestimated. Among others, we have as most important the visor of the helmet and what serves to keep the helmet attached to the head. If the visor of the helmet is damaged, full of dust, has breaks, this could be risky, because imagine that there is a small break in the visor, we have a small impact, the visor bursts and we are blinded by the glass. It could also happen that we have problems to keep the helmet attached to the head, which would cause neck problems and other problems, such as that in an accident the helmet does not protect us properly. For this reason, when some element of the hull fails, we will change it for another, even if its chassis is intact and it seems that the hull is new, since it really is damaged, because a chain breaks at its weakest link.