MOTO R - Testing

For upright (20°) or semi reclined seating positions, e.g. saloon cars, stock cars, drag cars, sprint cars and sports cars.

SFI38.1 Standard

Important Notice:
The footage and graphs below were all generated as a result of the testing conducted at Delphi Test Centre in Vandalia, Ohio. The data below indicates average brace performance and takes SFI 38.1/Nij (Neck Injury Criteria)/ Baseline values achieved during SFI and R&D testing (e.g. open face helmet test). Our policy is to compare ‘like with like’ values, considering the peak forces achieved during a test run. These include 120ms and 200ms duration runs where all test variables were the same. The design rationale of the Leatt-Brace™, offering 360 degrees of protection, necessitates us providing all our test data as can be found in the text below. The Leatt-Brace™ not only limits neck tension, but reduces other neck forces too. The information provided on this page is designed to allow the purchaser of a head and neck restraint to make an informed decision when comparing the ‘Leatt-Brace™’ to ‘No Device’.

The SFI 38.1 Head and Neck restraint specification requires the restraint to be fitted to a Hybrid III dummy, which is submitted to a series of sled tests to replicate a 70G, 30 degree angular frontal impact, and three straight frontal 70G impacts. The Leatt-Brace™ MOTO R was used with both a full and open faced crash helmet. Results and video footage of the SFI 38.1 sled tests can be viewed below.

70G Frontal Impact (Full-Face Helmet)


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70G Frontal Impact (Open Face Helmet)


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70G, 30° Impact


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Simulations
The simulations below were created using a combination of the ADAMS and Lifemodeler software packages.

The ADAMS package is an automotive/mechanical engineering software package that was purchased to research the interaction between the components that make up the Leatt-Brace™ through a variety of applications such as durability, impact and vibration testing.

The Lifemodeler package is a plug-in that is built on top of ADAMS and enables the Company to build human models within a mechanical environment (e.g. a man in a car in side impact). This allows for the accurate measurement of forces, bending moments, etc. anywhere in the human model (e.g. the neck). Finite Element Analysis is also used.

30º Frontal


Frontal

Rear


Side

In-House Destruction Testing
In order to ascertain at what point the Leatt-Brace™ MOTO R would fracture, the Leatt-Brace™ Research & Development team use a drop test at their factory in Cape Town, South Africa. In this test, the Leatt-Brace™ MOTO R was fitted to an 80kg dummy and dropped from a 5m tower to simulate an impact in the region of 150G. This test was carried out with dummy positioned at various angles to ascertain the tolerance of the brace from all possible angles.

 


SABS Testing
Testing of early prototypes of the Leatt-Brace™ MOTO R was carried out at the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) in 2004. and incorporated high speed video and digital camera capture and dummy sensor downloads. The tests were conducted with modified SABS protocols, thorax secured and sled speed of 49.7Kph; see Land Mobility Technologies (LMT) document R/1/00431/1 Issue 1, LMT P/2/00/00431, May 2004, and Development of improved Injury Criteria for the assessment of Advanced Automotive Restraint systems – 11, NHTSA 1999. In summary, the limitation in range of movement was as follows:

Test Helmet, no Brace With Leatt-Brace™
MOTO R
Flexion 90 Degrees 45 Degrees
Extension 85 Degrees 20 Degrees
Lateral Flexion 90 Degrees, Dynamic 20 Degrees, Static