The DOT in terms of motorcycle helmets refers to the Department of Transportation. It mandates that all the motorcycle helmets should be tested for safety issues. The DOT performs its own in-house testing on the helmets and then labels only those helmets that meet its standards. If at all you are thinking of purchasing a motorcycle helmet and you don't see a DOT approval label on it, it's better that you think again whether to buy it or not. This will not be the helmet that you can trust on, to save your life in case of emergency or accidents.
How to Identify DOT Helmet
Lets us consider some of the labeling requirements of these DOT motorcycle helmet. You should check for the following things before you purchase a helmet:
How to Identify DOT Helmet
Lets us consider some of the labeling requirements of these DOT motorcycle helmet. You should check for the following things before you purchase a helmet:
- A DOT sticker should be attached on the back of the helmet, located centrally towards the bottom.
- In addition, these should be a DOT label that is sewn permanently at the inside of the helmet.
- This label should not be in such a place from where it can easily be taken off.
- A genuine DOT sticker should include the name or the logo of the manufacturer of the motorcycle helmet, date of manufacturing, size of the helmet, model name or the model number and the components used to make the helmet.
- If you don't see all the above-mentioned information on the helmet's label, it will be great not to purchase such a helmet.
Benefits of DOT
The DOT ranking is an industry standard and a mean through which the customers can judge the effectiveness and safety of the helmet. These ratings provide you with objective criteria to certify the safety of the helmet that you are purchasing. Thus, rather than only relying on what does the dealer tells you, now it is possible for the buyers to identify the real criteria on his own and judge the measures of protection offered by a specific helmet.
DOT Helmet Testing Procedure
Then, what are the testing procedures used to determine these criteria's? Let's discuss it:
- The DOT carries out a very straightforward impact test. It uses a simulated headpiece that is placed in the helmet.
- Then, the tester drops the helmet from a height of about 10 feet. A human head cannot receive units more than 400 G-force on impact. A G-force unit measures the gravitational force that is exerted on an object when it is in motion. Here is the kicker for the helmets labeled with DOT.
- The manufactures are not required to test their helmet to prove that it has a DOT rating.
- The manufacturer of the helmet only needs to know that his helmet will meet the DOT specifications so that it will be branded as "DOT rated helmet".
Thus, we can conclude saying that the DOT rating is a sign of quality motorcycle helmets that meets the minimal standards to ensure the safety of the rider. If your helmet is DOT certified, it means that it has met the minimum amount of certification process and thus, you are purchasing a decent helmet.
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