ACC ordered to stop making helmets
Fri, 04/30/2010 - 21:26 — jan
Interesting article. These helmets could prove useful for trial exhibits.
Motorcycle Helmet Maker Forced to End Production
By CHRISTOPHER JENSEN
Motorcycle Helmet Maker Forced to End Production - NYTimes.com...
On its Web site, the motorcycle helmet manufacturer Advanced Carbon Composites warns buyers not to trust helmets made in China or India and instead to buy its American-made models. But the company's helmets have been recalled so many times by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that the agency has demanded that the company never make another motorcycle helmet.
The agency's demand stems from what the it says is the company's failure to properly carry out three safety recalls since 2005.
The recalls involve about 17,000 helmets that failed to meet safety standards, including puncture resistance. That resulted in the agency's accusing the company of violating "various provisions" of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The problem was worked out with a consent order signed at the end of March by the company's president, Kim L. Davis, that did not deny the violations.
Mr. Davis also agreed to the agency's demand that Advanced Carbon Composites stop designing, selling or manufacturing motorcycle helmets. In addition, motorcycle helmets can not be designed, sold or manufactured by any company of which Mr. Davis owns 3 percent or more.
Mr. Davis, whose company is based in Orlando, Fla., did not respond to several requests for comment.
According to the consent order, here's what happened.
In 2005, the company notified the agency that during testing, it found that its EXT 001 helmet did not provide enough protection to meet safety standards.
As part of its recall effort, the company changed the interior of the helmet, which it designated as a new model, calling it the EXT 002. Then, rather than replace the defective EXT 001 helmets it had already sold, Advance Carbon Composites modified them, a move approved at the time by the safety agency.
But the modified and recalled helmets still did not meet safety standards. Neither did the EXT 002. So in 2007 the company agreed to also recall the EXT 002.
The company then modified the construction again, called that helmet the EXT 003 and retrofitted the recalled EXT 002 helmets.
Those helmets still didn't meet the safety standard. The company agreed to another recall in 2009, this time of the EXT 003. Once again it modified the design of the helmet, but that didn't work, either.
About five years after the first recall, N.H.T.S.A. undertook a civil enforcement action against the company, leading to the consent order. Under that order, the company has agreed to refund the purchase price of those helmets, and N.H.T.S.A. says "under no circumstances" is the company to try repairs. The company will also pay fines totaling $10,000. If the company does not comply, the case will go to federal district court, according to the consent order.
Meanwhile, about two weeks after the consent order was completed, Advanced Carbon Composites notified N.H.T.S.A. that its model EXT 004 didn't meet federal safety standards, either. The company says the owners of those 645 helmets will get a refund, not a repair.
