WARNING! - KEP riding hat safety - please open

blackhor2e

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All I can say to this is Wow! Such an awful thing to happen, only compounded by the fact that KEP as the manufacturer should show more concern (like any other company would) and take action to prevent this happening again. This is not acceptable standards for a riding helmet, and I for one will never purchase a KEP after reading this and their terrible PR response. I am sharing this with EVERYONE I know as this could of been a lot worse. I am glad you are ok OP, and shame on KEP for their terrible, inappropriate attack on your informative post.
 

Mike007

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I saw one of these hats for the first time on saturday, As an aircraft engineer, the failure and fractures of the op,s hat are exactly what I would expect . The hat has far too many angles for stresses to concentrate. To be honest ,I dont think much of most other makes either. I feel that we, the users ,are at the mercy of the hat vendors . They decide how the hat is tested ,to suit themselves . For the general public the modern hat may be ok ,but it falls a long way short of what is needed in a competition hat where the most likely serious injury is to smash down onto your head and damage your neck. Forget about that ridiculous penetration test. What we need is a hat that can absorb the energy of a head on collision with planet earth. We used to have hats that were pretty good in this respect ,but cost a lot to make ,so the tests and the hats were changed.
 

Cragrat

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Interesting indeed - especially given this quote from this article:

Do helmets have expiry dates?
It is not printed on like a milk carton but YES helmets expire! The materials inside them degrade and replacement is recommended every 4 – 5 years or after an impact. This includes dropping it from a shelf, so be sure to store and handle helmets carefully.

My Charles Owen 4star - bought about 2 months ago- had a label which said that modern helmets do NOT degrade in storage/sat on a shelf. It did of course say that it should be replaced after any impact.
 

MozartK

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Sorry for my long absence but only because I didn't really have any progress to report. Finally I have managed to speak with the relevant body at BSI and they have a full account of the accident and damage sustained to the hat. They are aware of my concerns regarding the performance of my hat and will address this with respect to the impact testing in the PAS105 and the design of the helmet. Unfortunately I will not be given any feedback as this is confidential. If there are any issues, then the manufacturer either addresses these or the hat is excluded from the British kite mark.

I now intend to take up the issue of hat age with BETA and BHS, with respect to the manufacturing date and visibility of this.

Everyone else I contacted has basically stuck their head in the sand, eg. BE.

However, H&H are interested and would like to speak with me but this person has been on holiday.

Interestingly, while I was doing some research online I found a document from the European Commission which states that the side stability of light-weighted vented helmets is lower than that of traditional heavier helmets. Although each hat, whether light weight or heavier weight, has passed the side stability test, should we not be aware that we are trading off safety versus comfort when we buy a lighter weight hat? Should hats not have a safety rating rather than just a simple pass or fail? The actual performance data for each test for each hat type is confidential, hence we have no idea whether the hat we buy has passed each test easily or whether it has just scraped through any of the tests. Hopefully these are some of the issues H&H may be interested in.
 

ester

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Thanks for coming back! Interesting to hear how you have got on, even though in some cases that is not very far!
 

MozartK

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Thanks for coming back! Interesting to hear how you have got on, even though in some cases that is not very far!

Yes, very frustrating but I do keep chipping away at it. Everyone is pointing me towards Trading Standards but that is a dead end. I think there are deeper issues here that horse riders need to be made aware of, for example the potential compromise in safety we could be making when we buy the lighter weight vented hats. Mike007 hits the nail on the head when he says that lighter weight, high impact strength materials are available as technologies of man made materials increase but they are expensive. However, when I paid for an expensive hat, this is what I thought I was getting! I realised it was lighter weight and had 'vents' but reassured myself that the hat would be made of higher tech materials.....

H&H are apparently going to run a riding hat feature some time soon, maybe they will be interested in the can of worms I seem to have opened!
 

maccachic

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After reading your update I've recently learned about baby stuff since no. 1 due soon. Child safety seats in NZ at least have a lifespan and all have dates printed on them between 6-10 years I think. They are made of similar materials.
 

Gisellemybelle

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After paying a substantial amount of money for my beloved KEP riding hat, I would have liked to have though my head was well protected. How wrong could I be!!!

These pictures show what happened to my hat after my horse stumbled trotting on a grassy field, unseating me face first into the grass. As you can see the panelled design of the hat cause the hat to fall apart on impact. In fact the hat was no longer on my head after the fall but was hanging in pieces around my neck, held together by the harness!

The picture of my face shows bruising and grazing to my forehead, exactly where the hat should have protected. I count myself as extremely lucky to only have facial bruising and not a fractured skull and brain injury. Others may not be as lucky!

These hats have passed the relevant safety tests, hence I was confident my head was well protected. I will be contacting KEP, BHS and BETA regarding my accident and the inadequate performance of this hat. Hopefully they will take action as these hats are so common in dressage and show jumping. I dread to think what the outcome could have been if I had been going faster or jumping and landed in the same way!

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 2.jpg.html

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 6.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat 2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3

http://s880.photobucket.com/user/MozartK/media/Hat face 1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4

Glad you were okay! What I don't understand is the manufacture's attitude. Any brand of helmet can fail, unfortunately, but to have one shatter like that is not acceptible. KEP should have just accepted one of their helmets failed and to make sure this does not happen in the future. Here in the US, our standard is the customer is always right unless there is proof of wrong doing. To accuse someone of being a liar is not okay. They should have just been very relieved you were okay, offered a refund and, if it was me, offered a free replacement helmet. Not that you would trust them again. They also should not have made you go back to the dealer, they are the company and should make exceptions to some things, especially one of this magnitued. I am so glad my daughter chose another brand when she decided to spend the big dollars on helmets.
 
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npage123

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OP, thank you very much for bringing this under as many people as possible's attention!! You're doing some fantastic work - keep it up!
 

Tnavas

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OMG that is horrendous, I've never seen a helmet fall apart like that. The velvet hat I was wearing when I had a somersault fall (horse), he trod on my head as he got up and took out a hoof shape, and that was one of the very old hats with a nylon outer and foam inner, 60's style.

I have a hard time convincing parents to replace their kids helmets after a fall as they can't see any damage.
 

MozartK

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Just another update regarding hat gate. Out of the blue, I recently received a report regarding my accident and performance of my hat, which was carried out by a well known professional within the equine hat safety field. The report was courtesy of The Mark Davies Injured Rider Fund, for which I thank them very much. The report generated questions which require answers from the manufacturer, to help understand whether the hat is deliberately designed to break apart during a fall. These have been sent to the manufacturer (along with the full report) via their UK import agent. I await their reply.

With the credibility of the author of the report and the report itself, I now seem to be making some headway with BE. I have focussed more on BE lately due to the launch of the new KEP XC helmet, which looks very similar to the Chromo only without the peak, which makes it BE legal for XC!

One aspect of the report which I found really interesting was the detail regarding the impact test of the PAS015 test standard. It is unclear whether the area my hat was impacted, is within the actual 'test zone' for the impact test. I have asked for confirmation of this from BSI but haven't had a clear answer as yet. If not, then potentially this helmet would never fail an impact test......I continue to chip away!

Hopefully, with the help of BE I will make some headway with BSI and have them take the issue more seriously. I continue to be amazed by the lack of interest of safety related regulatory bodies within the equine industry. In the chemical industry, even the smallest accident is taken seriously and is reported and investigated. It is these smaller non-serious accidents called 'learning events' that can prevent the bigger more serious accidents from occurring. As I just pointed out to BE, investigating a learning event prevents serious injury or death.......investigating an accident, the serious injury or death has already occurred!
 

ester

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Well done you, and thank you for your perseverence. I agree with what you say with regards to investigation in a lot of other industries - much better to be proactive than reactive after a death!
 

Mince Pie

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I didn't see this first time round. I am completely appalled by both the state of your hat, and the response from KEP! I hope you get somewhere with this and will share on a couple of my Facebook groups.
 

maccachic

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Sounds like there may be systematic failings in the certification systems. Good on you for pressing ahead with this and hopefully it ends in a much safer system for all.
 

OldNag

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Keep going OP... It sounds like you are really getting somewhere with this. We all expect a degree of protection by using hats which have passed stringent testing... looks like those tests are not as rigorous as we think they are.
 

unicornystar

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KEP absolutely appalling customer service, poor product, you simply DONT accuse your customers of lying! LOL, stunned, will never recommend KEP ever based purely on customer service!!!

PRO Tector hat for me everytime ...when I can afford one :)
 

Red-1

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Well done OP for taking this so far. Also well done Mark Davies Injured Rider Fund, they took a hat of mine when we were rear ended by a car, and my horse and I were bounced down the road. I am glad they are there to help keep the sport as safe as possible.
 

Fiona

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Delighted to hear you are getting somewhere OP....

Well done for your perseverance.

If you have saved just one person on here from buying one of these hats then you've done a great job...

Fiona
 

Mike007

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Please keep shakeing the tree! Our hats are a disgrace ,they are designed to pass a set of tests designed by the manufacturers. If I had been wearing an old crash hat from the 70 s I doubt whether I would now have a severed phrenic nerve (works half your diaphragm ,and hence one of your lungs). The old hats were designed to absorb the energy of impact , modern hats are not.
 

ycbm

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Please keep shakeing the tree! Our hats are a disgrace ,they are designed to pass a set of tests designed by the manufacturers. If I had been wearing an old crash hat from the 70 s I doubt whether I would now have a severed phrenic nerve (works half your diaphragm ,and hence one of your lungs). The old hats were designed to absorb the energy of impact , modern hats are not.

You are joking aren't you?

In the 1970s most of us were wearing a bit of fibreglass lined with a bit of cork.

I still have one. It wouldn't protect a sparrow.
 

Mike007

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Not joking at all . The typical hat in 1976 had a nylon cradle within the hat which would have to stretch about 1/3 of an inch before the head touched the (cork lined) glass fibre shell. Modern helmets have a polystyrene lining which barely compresses at all on impact . Now this may not sound much but the difference between being brought to a stop over 1/3 of an inch ,to being brought to a stop almost instantaneously ,is vast. Incidentally , when those hats were designed , a great deal of thought was given . Particularly to the size of the hat. There was a trade off of penetration protection against whiplash. Now whiplash is hard to measure but penetration is easy so modern hats make much of their ability to protect against it. The biggest problem of the old hats was the cost , £65 in those days ,and you had to know how to use it and fit it. I knew that these old hats were on the way out as non racing folk started to use them. Gradually the design changed. few people realised that you didnt just hook the hook on. You were supposed to undo the press stud on the other half first ,and on refastening it ,the chinstrap (Split web with soft leather) was pulled VERY tight . If you are competing and likely to hit the ground fast ,the modern hat is as much use as a chocolate teaspoon!
 

ycbm

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Mike you are talking about jockey helmets I think, which average rider did not wear in the seventies. . The typical rider's hat in the seventies had a satin lining or some webbing straps fastened in the top with a bit of shoelace/string, with a two point fastening which was often a piece of elastic. I also think you are understating the ability of specialised polystyrene to compress on impact. Today's hats are far more effective than the old hat I have in the cupboard. You may as well compare old pith helmets with today's motorcycle helmets.

I think people are also forgetting that although the standard appears to be too heavily influenced by the manufacturers, it's not actually in the hat manufacturers interests to have someone die wearing one of their hats. It's terrible PR. So to suggest they they are deliberately manufacturing hats which are less safe than they need to be is, apart from KEP clearly, I think going one step too far. And probably why no-one else makes a helmet of several bits glued together, afaik.
 
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Mike007

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Yes I am talking about jockey crash hats on which the modern hat was derived . Its not just myself that slates the ability of polystyrene to compress . I had a very interesting chat to a hat designer from Patey, who really went to town on the subject. I hadnt even expressed a viewpoint. His view was that essentialy the modern hat might be of advantage if one fell off a slow moving cob onto the edge of a kirbstone. Anything else ,forget it.Edited to add that if you think there is anything specialised about the polystyrene then you also believe the moon is made of green cheese!
 
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ycbm

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Patey?

The only people who sell a hat with no harness??? That one the last person who fell off hunting and died from a kick to the head was wearing?

Not the first people I'd think about asking about hat safety.


PS by specialised I only mean chosen density for purpose. It's not the same as the polystyrene my amazon parcels come packed in.
 
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