WARNING! - KEP riding hat safety - please open

[conniegirl]

The FB post made it to New Zealand

This is a pretty good example of how not to do PR for companies Id say.

However I have seen a GPA whos panels had fallen off I think the modern design may not be the best and Im sticking with more traditional styles. I've just got a new Champion.

NZ was one of the first places it made it to. I have a lot of family in NZ and Australia and a lot of friends in the USA.

 

[Tiddlypom]

NZ was one of the first places it made it to. I have a lot of family in NZ and Australia and a lot of friends in the USA.

Even I, a Facebook numptie, tracked down your post. It's currently on 2,400+ shares, the word about KEP helmets is definitely getting out.

 

[KEP Italia]

FACTS ABOUT MRS. ANDREA SMITH'S HELMET AND KEP ITALIA'S REACTION.

1. Introduction.
We would like to clarify things as some points might not be clear, or incomplete. Many people are now commenting and jumping at conclusions with regards to KEP Italia’s helmets ability to protect riders, on the basis of a unilateral point of view. We would like to give you all the elements that together explain Mrs. Smith’s case and KEP Italia’s reaction.

KEP Italia as a company was born in 2007 with the specific objective to create a new and safe helmet. Safety has always been KEP Italia’s main concern and so much has been spent in terms of money, energy and time to make sure KEP Italia helmets were the safest possible. Since KEP Italia was approaching the market from scratch, it’s founders had a chance to also come up with something technologically new, using the most updated techniques to create the first CROMO helmet. Being an Italian company, design and looks were naturally an asset KEP Italia valued, but always as a secondary aim compared to safety. KEP Italia has never compromised with regards to safety. The secondary objective of KEP Italia, when building its helmets, was comfort. Comfort and safety had to go hands in hands, as these – we believed – were two features our new helmets had to have in order to serve riders in the best possible way.

2. Communicating with Mrs. Andrea Smith.
Andrea Smith could have been one of the many riders that everyday thank us after falling from her horse because her helmet had protected her from a serious injury. Instead Mrs. Smith decided that her KEP Italia helmet had failed to protect her. After falling on the grass from her horse while trotting, she took a photo of her broken helmet and one of herself with blood all over her face and posted them on a Facebook page, and instead of using her personal profile to share this accident with her connections, she posted on Equi Med Ag Ltd page in order to gain maximum attention to the fact that KEP Italia helmets were not capable to protect riders.

She then called our company and spoke to a person that was unaware of her posting on Facebook and who had not seen the pictures of the helmet. Someone who knew nothing about her specific case. She did not explain to this person what happened, nor in which conditions her helmet was. Our employee explained to her our normal procedure:
1. that the best would be for her to go through the retailer where she had originally bought the helmet, who knows how to deal with matters like these ;
2. that we needed to see the helmet in order to analyse it;
3. that after this analysis we could have been able to give her more precise information on what could be done;
4. he set some examples and talked about replacing, repairing and refunding, like we always do.
Without seeing the helmet and knowing the precise dynamics of the accident, there are not enough elements to offer a suitable solution.

At this point we would like to focus attention on what our instructions state (and they are included in the packaging of each of our helmet). Including this text in each helmet’s instructions, is a compulsory request made by each one of the bodies that release safety certifications.

“Although this helmet reduces the chance of injury, in some circumstances injuries cannot be prevented. This helmet was not designed to protect your head if crushed by a horse. The degree of protection provided by this helmet depends on the circumstances of a particular accident. Using a protective helmet does not always prevent death or long-term disability. This helmet is designed to absorb the energy of a blow through partial destruction of the shell or protective padding material or both. This damage may not be visible and therefore any helmet, which suffers an impact, should be discarded and replaced by a new one as it may have exhausted its ability to absorb further shocks.”

This also serves as an answer to the question that KEP Italia would suggest its customers to continue to use a helmet that has been through an accident of any kind. This is false as we suggest our customers to replace a helmet after a blow has been absorbed in many releases that are present in the product instructions, on our website, in our newsletter, in our communication materials and advertisement. We even suggest to our customers to turn to us to check their helmet in case they are not sure the helmet is safe, even when there is no visible damage.

3. KEP Italia helmets’ safety is certified.
Our helmets undergo all kinds of different and severe testing before hitting the market and they are the only ones internationally to meet the standards of up to five of the most severe international safety certifications. Testing include a shock absorption test, a penetration test, a retention system test, a stability test and a lateral deformation test. Each helmet undergoes each of these tests repeatedly, which means that each one of our models must be submitted to the shock absorption test four times in four different areas of the helmet, then that same helmet has to be submitted to the penetration test and then the retention system test and then again the stability test and finally the lateral deformation test in four different ambient conditions (-20° and +50° ambient and water spray) (for PAS 015 and now also VG1). Only after that helmet has successfully passed these five tests for four times each, does that helmet receive an ok to be homologated under the specific standards. And our helmets bear five of those standards. All KEP Italia helmets are tested in Italy (Newton laboratory) and in the UK (BSI and Inspec laboratories) and the bodies that release the homologations not only request that we supply big quantities of helmets they use for the testing inside their labs, but also regularly inspect the standard production inside our facilities to make sure that all our production complies with their standards. This is expensive, and time consuming and energy demanding. We trust the bodies that certify that our helmets comply to the most severe standards in terms of safety and we turn to them to make sure our helmets protect riders and we go far beyond what is compulsory in order to release our models to the market. If Mrs. Smith is happy to question these safety certification bodies in order to find failures in their testing and certification systems, she is free to do so. She might even help to raise the standards of safety to the benefit of the whole equestrian system, and we are ready to contribute to that by improving our production continuously. But we cannot bear the accusations against our company based on her own reaction to her falling off her horse.

 

[KEP Italia]

FAACTS ABOUT MRS. ANDREA SMITH'S HELMET AND KEP ITALIA'S REACTION.

4. Mrs. Smith’s case.
We understand the panic she encountered after falling, and we also understand her first reaction as a scared rider. But after all the testing our helmets undergo, it simply is impossible that her helmet broke down like shown in those pictures by gently falling on the grass while trotting. While we confirm that we have never said that Mrs. Smith might be a liar, we remind that it is very difficult that a person has a realistic memory if his or her own accident. Each fall has its own dynamics and it is almost impossible to know exactly what happened during the fall.

Another aspect of Mrs. Smith’s fall is not very clear and makes us think she really cannot recall what happened exactly. The photo she released of herself after the fall, shows dried blood dripping from her nose and over her lips, but this is really not what you would expect after a gentle fall on a soft and grassy ground. This rather suggests a stronger impact than the one she recalls.
Moreover she said that she hit the lateral part of her head, which also does not really explain the blood on the front part of the helmet.
And finally, Mrs. Smith said that her forehead was the place that was hit, and she said that this is where she has not been protected by the helmet: but there is no sign of blood or of a bruise on that area of her face. Only superficially light red skin…

After all, assuming that the blood was caused by a stronger impact than the one she recalls, and assuming that she in fact hit the ground laterally, we could state that her head was saved by her helmet. But these are just assumptions and we do not have a video or other evidence to understand what happened exactly. What is sure is that a helmet will not break down like shown in the picture after a gentle falling on a soft and grassy ground.


5. What might have happened.
So, assuming Mrs. Smith is not liar, we suggest one of a few things:
. that Mrs. Smith fell on a harder ground than she thinks, or that she fell in a more powerful way than she recalls;

. that Mrs. Smith’s hat was not properly fastened (this is a very common situation unfortunately) and that she lost the helmet after she fell. In this case the horse might have stepped on the helmet in its effort to stand up after falling, or that it stood on the helmet in any other way;
Another, and worse, thought came into our mind: that someone might intentionally be mounting up this case with the precise purpose of damaging KEP Italia’s image. KEP Italia is a growing company and we know for sure that some of our competitors are reacting in a bad way to this, some of them even scaring off kids at shows by telling them stupid and false stories.

6. Conclusions.
We are perfectly aware that the social media environment speeds up the travelling of information, and while we are going to take proper actions in order to stop the releasing of false information, we are committed into turning this into a unique opportunity to talk about safety. We invite all of you who have shared posts regarding Mrs. Smith broken helmet, to also share our response in order to let riders have all the data they need to build their own opinion.

We are also informing the persons sharing false information that they should stop defaming our company and that they will have to assume responsibility for the consequences of what they say.

Thank you for reading.

 

[ester]

'he set some examples and talked about replacing, repairing and refunding, like we always do. '

This comment yet again, for any hat involved in a fall concerns me. - as per the instructions re. replacement that you say come with the hat.

'it simply is impossible that her helmet broke down like shown in those pictures by gently falling on the grass while trotting.'

Yet you have not yet inspected the helmet to investigate whether it may have had some sort of manufacturing fault, I think to suggest it impossible in that circumstances is quite a stance.

Is there any comment about this hat being manufactured in 2008 and only appearing to have the EN1384 tag inside and no kitemark and therefore possibly not BSI tested/carrying those 5 standards at that time like your hats are now.

Do you stand by the statement that it has taken the impact and that is what hats are supposed to do?

I imagine that she was shocked that the helmet did that, hence wanting to spread wider than her immediate connections and would likely have sent the hat back to you for analysis had your initial response been more appropriate.

 

[EquiEquestrian556]

Andrea Smith could have been one of the many riders that everyday thank us after falling from her horse because her helmet had protected her from a serious injury. Instead Mrs. Smith decided that her KEP Italia helmet had failed to protect her.

Sorry KEP, but who could blame her? The way her hat ended up is disgraceful - I wouldn't even expect it to look so bad if an elephant had trodden on it! It is irrelevant whether this is the first of 100th time one of your hats have done this, it still failed to function correctly.

I'd also like to bring it to your attention that, had you not started posting so called 'testimonials', and dealt with the matter more professionally, instead of posting accusations on a forum, this would of most likely died down ages ago. I suggest that if you would like to maintain even some of your remaining reputation, that you cease posting on this forum, it's really doing you no favors, other than losing more possible customers.

 

[conniegirl]

Kep you are just digging yourself a bigger hole!
This hat was not fit for purpose. No hat should ever fall apart like that! As I said my champion hat had very little damage to it after falling from gallop onto concrete, then having the horse land on me and then having the horse kick my head as it stood up. It probably would have taken several more blows if nessecary. I had a minor concussion and bruising to my face.

The injuries the op sustained are consistent with people who have falls not wearing a hat which realy doesn't bode well for your hat. Nosebleeds can be caused by any blow to the head no matter how minor since they are caused by small vessels in the nose tearing.

 

[conniegirl]

I have just received the following threat from kep

Dear Conniegirl,

We are aware of your defamatory words against our products and our company in various posts on this Forum.
Please stop saying lies about our company. We ask you to take your responsibility for what you say and reserve the right to take any legal action against you if you do not cease to defame our company in the continuation of these posts.

Thank you.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

KEP, you do realise that most grass here in the UK is on ground that is as currently hard as concrete?

Please, step back & look at the bigger picture.

A top end company (such as the UK's Charles Owen, or the motorcycle helmet makers Shoei or Arai) would have moved heaven and earth to rectify this from the outset.

 

[EquiEquestrian556]

I understand that KEP hats may well be made to come apart when a fall occurs, and whilst that is fine for motorists, I don't think that it's the best idea for equestrians, as unfortunately a secondary impact occurs. KEP, this isn't meant as a criticism, but perhaps you should reconsider the way in which is 'dismantles' on landing, for riders?

 

[DD265]

Well I don't know why we're all making such a fuss. Clearly the OP can just get some sticky tape from the pound shop (no need to fork out for any of this expensive super glue nonsense) and put her hat back together where it will doubtless save her from 100 more falls.

KEP - I think you would be wise to stop posting.

 

[MozartK]

Once again.......

My horse stumbled whilst trotting in long grass. I went over his head and landed on my face/chest. The left side of my forehead, the bridge of my nose and my ribs were bruised. My nose was bleeding and my lower lip was skinned. I have other photos which show the bruise on my forehead. My hat, even shown in some of the photos has grass stuck to it. The air vent has a grass stains on it. The livery yard owner was pulling grass out of my mouth after the fall. I have one person that saw me seconds before it happened trotting along the grassy field and I have a different person that saw me getting up off the grass seconds after falling, whilst phoning my friend for help to catch my horse, that was trotting around the grassy field. I was not concussed and I have a full recollection of events. There is blood on the hat as I unstrapped what was left of it and walked with it in my hands. My nose dripped blood on it as I was walking. My mental and physical state after the fall, i.e. no concussion and no broken bones and I was not winded, all suggest the fall was low impact. I was able to remember my pin code, unlock my phone, call my friend for help and catch my horse immediately after I fell, again all of which would suggest low impact.

This is my experience and was specific to me, in my situation. I appreciate all falls are different, which is why I believe the testing standards to which riding helmets are tested may need to take hat design specific to impact zones into consideration. Maybe they already do, I don't know but I intend to find out. There are several other issues that concern me such as the shelf life of riding helmets and the effect on performance, maybe this could have been an issue.....If I can get an independent evaluation carried out in the UK, then maybe we can draw some definite conclusions from my accident and hopefully reduce the risk of the same happening to anyone else.

 

[squids]

I had been considering a KEP Italia for my teenage daughter, naively thinking the more expensive a helmet was, the more protective it would be.

This is no longer an option - not entirely because of the damning photographs, or MozartK's experiences, but the lack of customer service and wholly unprofessional conduct of the company.

While the experience of the OP was terrible, and I sympathise, I feel like this has been a huge wake-up call for me regarding safety, and the need to check manufacturing dates and safety levels of new hate.

 

[conniegirl]

Squids, its also worth checking when you bought your current hat, my fall was a big wake up for me in that respect!
Now my hats are never kept for more than 3 years but I will admit to not checking manufacturing dates (though I do check the standards) I will be checking in future (she says having just bought a new hat without checking manufacturing date)

 

[Fuzzypuff]

FAACTS ABOUT MRS. ANDREA SMITH'S HELMET AND KEP ITALIA'S REACTION.

4. Mrs. Smith’s case.
We understand the panic she encountered after falling, and we also understand her first reaction as a scared rider. But after all the testing our helmets undergo, it simply is impossible that her helmet broke down like shown in those pictures by gently falling on the grass while trotting. While we confirm that we have never said that Mrs. Smith might be a liar, we remind that it is very difficult that a person has a realistic memory if his or her own accident. Each fall has its own dynamics and it is almost impossible to know exactly what happened during the fall.

Another aspect of Mrs. Smith’s fall is not very clear and makes us think she really cannot recall what happened exactly. The photo she released of herself after the fall, shows dried blood dripping from her nose and over her lips, but this is really not what you would expect after a gentle fall on a soft and grassy ground. This rather suggests a stronger impact than the one she recalls.
Moreover she said that she hit the lateral part of her head, which also does not really explain the blood on the front part of the helmet.
And finally, Mrs. Smith said that her forehead was the place that was hit, and she said that this is where she has not been protected by the helmet: but there is no sign of blood or of a bruise on that area of her face. Only superficially light red skin…

After all, assuming that the blood was caused by a stronger impact than the one she recalls, and assuming that she in fact hit the ground laterally, we could state that her head was saved by her helmet. But these are just assumptions and we do not have a video or other evidence to understand what happened exactly. What is sure is that a helmet will not break down like shown in the picture after a gentle falling on a soft and grassy ground.


5. What might have happened.
So, assuming Mrs. Smith is not liar, we suggest one of a few things:
. that Mrs. Smith fell on a harder ground than she thinks, or that she fell in a more powerful way than she recalls;

. that Mrs. Smith’s hat was not properly fastened (this is a very common situation unfortunately) and that she lost the helmet after she fell. In this case the horse might have stepped on the helmet in its effort to stand up after falling, or that it stood on the helmet in any other way;
Another, and worse, thought came into our mind: that someone might intentionally be mounting up this case with the precise purpose of damaging KEP Italia’s image. KEP Italia is a growing company and we know for sure that some of our competitors are reacting in a bad way to this, some of them even scaring off kids at shows by telling them stupid and false stories.

6. Conclusions.
We are perfectly aware that the social media environment speeds up the travelling of information, and while we are going to take proper actions in order to stop the releasing of false information, we are committed into turning this into a unique opportunity to talk about safety. We invite all of you who have shared posts regarding Mrs. Smith broken helmet, to also share our response in order to let riders have all the data they need to build their own opinion.

We are also informing the persons sharing false information that they should stop defaming our company and that they will have to assume responsibility for the consequences of what they say.

Thank you for reading.

KEP you are indeed suggesting she is a liar, saying you are not does not change everything else that you have said which suggests that you do not believe what she has told you.

Personally I am far more inclined to believe her than your suggestion of what else might have happened, I cannot see why she would have come on here with a fabricated version of events. To be honest though, even if her fall had been much harder I STILL would not have expected the hat to fall apart as it did. If you believe that this is ok then that is fine for you, but certainly not for me and for that reason I will never entertain the thought of buying a KEP hat.

I cannot believe that you are suggesting that she didn't have the hat done up correctly and that the horse might have stepped on it... seriously?! You are just digging yourselves into an even bigger hole. This is not the attitude I would expect from a company concerned with safety.

I am also horrified that you have not considered the possibility of a manufacturing fault. With every product there is always a small chance of a fault in the production process, that is just reality. I would expect any reputable company producing safety products to investigate any complaints such as this one very carefully to look into the possibility of there having been a fault along the manufacturing process, or a problem with the materials degrading over time.

"Horrified" does not express strongly enough how I feel about the reaction of KEP to this situation.

 

[Circe]

I had been considering a KEP Italia for my teenage daughter, naively thinking the more expensive a helmet was, the more protective it would be.

This is no longer an option - not entirely because of the damning photographs, or MozartK's experiences, but the lack of customer service and wholly unprofessional conduct of the company.

While the experience of the OP was terrible, and I sympathise, I feel like this has been a huge wake-up call for me regarding safety, and the need to check manufacturing dates and safety levels of new hate.

this^^^^
I can't believe the price of these hats ( are they gold plated ? ), but more than anything, I am astounded at the response of KEP.
kx

 

[MissBaker]

oh wow I saw this on facebook its horrific I hope they have refunded you your money these are supposed to save your life not fall apart !!! x

 

[ester]

'he set some examples and talked about replacing, repairing and refunding, like we always do. '

This comment yet again, for any hat involved in a fall concerns me. - as per the instructions re. replacement that you say come with the hat.

'it simply is impossible that her helmet broke down like shown in those pictures by gently falling on the grass while trotting.'

Yet you have not yet inspected the helmet to investigate whether it may have had some sort of manufacturing fault, I think to suggest it impossible in that circumstances is quite a stance.

Is there any comment about this hat being manufactured in 2008 and only appearing to have the EN1384 tag inside and no kitemark and therefore possibly not BSI tested/carrying those 5 standards at that time like your hats are now.

Do you stand by the statement that it has taken the impact and that is what hats are supposed to do?

I imagine that she was shocked that the helmet did that, hence wanting to spread wider than her immediate connections and would likely have sent the hat back to you for analysis had your initial response been more appropriate.

KEP I am interested in your responses to these points.

Why do you ever suggest repair for a fallen off in hat when your product insert says differently?
Why are you sure there was not a manufacturing point?
What was the standard on a 2008 hat and was the structural integrity of the hat possibly compromised due to its actual age (not the length of time the OP had owned it )

 

[teapot]

he set some examples and talked about replacing, repairing and refunding, like we always do.

This also serves as an answer to the question that KEP Italia would suggest its customers to continue to use a helmet that has been through an accident of any kind. This is false as we suggest our customers to replace a helmet after a blow has been absorbed in many releases that are present in the product instructions, on our website, in our newsletter, in our communication materials and advertisement. We even suggest to our customers to turn to us to check their helmet in case they are not sure the helmet is safe, even when there is no visible damage.

Which is it? Replace a hat after a fall, or offer a repair? No riding hat should ever be repaired IMHO.

I too am another who would have responded in the same way as the original poster. I want my hat to survive if I fall off, so that I've got protection from futher impact, say I dunno, from something like being kicked by a horse?

I'd love to know what the opinions of Charles Owen, Champion and Gatehouse would be if someone had contacted them with a hat in pieces.

 

[hairycob]

Any accident can have freak combinations that lead to unexpected results & just maybe that is what happened here. BUT Keps posts on here would stop me buying one of their helmets even if they could 100% prove it was a totally freak event.

 

[KEP Italia]

Dear All,
we understand your concerns because safety is an important issue.
Please submit all your questions and doubts directly to kepitalia@kepitalia.com so that we can give you precise answers.
Thank you.

 

[MrsMozart]

I came off at speed and hit the hard enough to sustain a bleed on the brain (scan available). My Charles Owen looked almost like normal, although it was replaced before I rode again.

Given the circs of the fall a kick to the head was only narrowly missed, which in my Charles Owen helmet would have been okay - thank heavens I wasn't wearing the OP's hat.

Charles Owen was grand when I rang to say thank you to them for making such a good bit of kit. They were sorry that I'd been hurt at all and were interested in seeing the scan and the hat, to further their research. A pleasure to deal with.

 

[ester]

Dear All,
we understand your concerns because safety is an important issue.
Please submit all your questions and doubts directly to kepitalia@kepitalia.com so that we can give you precise answers.
Thank you.

why can precise answers to my specific queries not be posted on here? Will the person on the other end of the email know what I am referring to?

Edited to change the title of the thread back!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I'd love to know what the opinions of Charles Owen, Champion and Gatehouse would be if someone had contacted them with a hat in pieces.

I can help here: I had (still have) a Gatehouse hat with a front vent. The vent 'shifted' in the shell a few mm's after a small bump.
I took it back to my local saddler the next day, bearing in mind the hat was 13 months old. They looked at it and promptly offered me a brand new replacement & sent hat off to Gatehouse after. No quibble, I didn't even have to ask.
Happy customer

 

[ester]

Fuzzy you got in the way of my title correction!

 

[Goldenstar]

Kep ilalia , would you please state in a completely unambiguous way whether the hat is designed to come apart like that on impact ?

 

[ester]

I await your responses to my email with interest KEP.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Dear All,
we understand your concerns because safety is an important issue.
Please submit all your questions and doubts directly to kepitalia@kepitalia.com so that we can give you precise answers.
Thank you.

Finally, a more appropriate response.

Funnily enough, the page on the KEP Italia website in which you advise that a broken helmet is a really good thing, seems to have disappeared. However, here is a screen shot I took of the page as it displayed on the KEP website on Monday .

Note tip number 5.

 

[ester]

They could have got an English spell check on it too...

 

[Goldenstar]

Finally, a more appropriate response.

Funnily enough, the page on the KEP Italia website in which you advise that a broken helmet is a really good thing, seems to have disappeared. However, here is a screen shot I took of the page as it displayed on the KEP website on Monday .

Note tip number 5.

I am actually not surprised by this it makes sense , however whether it's better to wear a more traditional style skull cap that would have at least some protection if you impacted and then get rolled on or stood on is another matter .
I understand of course a vented hat can never give the level of protection as a non vented one because of the risk of say a splinter of wood going through a vent in an impact.
All these things are a judgement I understand taking the judgement to ride at times in a vented hat because they are cooler ,you think it through and take your choice , if you know your hat may come apart like a chocolate orange in an impact to disperse that impact you need to make a judgement based in that .
I think in this case the thing I want to know is was OP's hat faulty or was it working as intended in a trauma .