Five-year helmet lifespan?

[shooter]

Step cousin , twice removed. You can't pick family.

[Nero]

I usually change my helmets out every 3 or 4 years. Unless of course it was dropped. I live in Arizona and for many years I kept my helmets in my garage. I had a beautiful Suomi that I wore for many years, after 5 years the interior of the helmet was just crumbling. I now keep my helmets indoors, tremendous heat build up just destroys the inner liner, don't know about the styrofoam however.

[TailGunner]

it boils down to liability

[shooter]

My Shoei's are factory warranted for five years. Might have something to do with that.

[53driver]

Somewhere in this thread I erroneously reiterated the MSF position on the 5 year rule for helmet replacement.

I'm doing prep work for my Florida MSF certification and here is their latest on helmet lifespan:

"A helmet will not last forever and should be replaced after several years of use."

[willtill]

Somewhere in this thread I erroneously reiterated the MSF position on the 5 year rule for helmet replacement.

I'm doing prep work for my Florida MSF certification and here is their latest on helmet lifespan:

"A helmet will not last forever and should be replaced after several years of use."

That is vague. Even they do not know for sure. There are too many variables involved.

[Old Ryder]

That is vague. Even they do not know for sure. There are too many variables involved.

Given a choice---If I knew for sure I was going to crash I would rather be wearing a full face 5 year old cheap helmet, than a brand new carbon fiber $150 WSB half helmet. IMHO--the helmet is the last resort for preservation. Riding style provides much better protection in 99% of instances.

[seadog]

It depends largely on what your helmet is constructed of, fiber glass does dry out and become brittle over the years, the new helmets with polycarbonate and all these exotic concoctions are probably going to go a lot further in safe protection. I am guilty of hanging on to a comfortable helmet like the rest of us, as a matter of fact I am just replacing a helmet I bought when I got my M109R back in 07. But it was a nice helmet and still is for that matter of fact but it was a cheaper one and its way past it time.

[opas ride]

I read an article in the Motorcycle Consumer News, I think, a few years back, that indicated if your involved in a crash and suffer some type of head injury, that the manufacturer of your helmet cannot be held liable if it is over 5 years old....Assuming your wearing one and the lawyers can prove that the helmet was over the 5 year limit...Seems like a lot of legal BS to me, but I do not have or wear any helmets over 5/6 years old....I did have an older HJC several years ago that I dropped off a higher shelf in my garage and it did crack the top surface for whatever reason....Heads are pretty "damn" important so do what ever you feel safe/comfortable doing as it is your choice!!!

[3Chief]

It may have changed but years ago I did a safety paper on helmets and what I found at the time was only 2 or 3 % difference in survival at speeds over 25 mph. It's mostly the difference between an open or closed casket funeral if you impact your head.