NEWS – Are you a cyclist? If so, you wear a helmet, right? I bet you don’t have a helmet like this one. It’s the Hövding 3, a wearable collar that tracks your movements 200 times a second and deploys an airbag around your head if it detects that you’ve been in an accident. It may look ridiculous, but I’m guessing you won’t care what you look like if it saves you from a concussion or even worse! You can read more about the Hövding 3 wearable airbag hovding.com where you can buy one starting at €349 ($399 US).
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hi julie,
was actually considering getting this item about a year ago until i saw a youtube video of a user still wearing the hovding in the grocery store after having parked his bike. he actually slipped on the floor which activate it and turned it into a helmet (so basically, he was out $399)
it it pretty sensitive to sudden movement..
Buddy, I can imagine why that might be disappointing, but it was doing what it was supposed to do I suppose.
If he slipped bad enough to land on his head, the hovding saved him from head injury.
Right, my thoughts exactly!
actually, he didn’t. from the video below, he just slipped (must have been either a slippery floor or his shoes had some snow on it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Kb53DCeEc
should look at that video again because they clearly slipped causing the still activated air helmet to inflate because they never deactivated the device after getting off there bicycle.
For those of us in the USA, unfortunately you cannot buy it here due to local regulations. I had to import mine.
I would not worry about accidental deployment. There’s a simple arm/disarm mechanism that you can’t mess up, along with an audible tone that plays when you arm or disarm it. Can be done even while wearing gloves. Does not deploy even on rough roads and cobblestones: it uses an accelerometer to detect an actual fall.
Haven’t had mine “save” me yet, but my friend had his deploy after hitting a car. It worked exactly as designed.
Very comfortable to wear year round, although on the warm side in the summer.
About the only negative is if it deploys you must buy a new one. While not dissimilar from a standard bike helmet in that you’re recommended to replace after it strikes the ground, this is several hundred more and for those of us in the USA, we can’t just buy another one.
This reminds me of the suit Yours Truly wore in Snow Crash! I wonder if it has the other – um – protective accessory? Great design, though. Do airbags have to be replaced after deploying in cars? I’m guessing so, but there are probably other repairs that would far outweigh that small cost.