Airbag jackets - are safety claims over inflated?

"Dozens of motorcyclists' lives could be saved every year if air bag jackets were made compulsory, accident and emergency doctors have said" according to Radio 1's Newsbeat on 13th February 2009.

Just six days later Motorcycle News reported that; "The A&E doctor [quoted in the Newsbeat report] admitted having virtually no experience of the jackets, which inflate in a crash, and no evidence they work". He claims that he was quoted out of context.

Evidence is certainly scarce when it comes to airbag jackets. By law, all impact protectors for motorcyclists must be independently tested and approved to the relevant European standards (EN1621-1 for limbs/chest and EN1621-2 for the back).

In spite of "CE-approved" logos appearing on most manufacturers' websites, none of the airbag jackets advertised make any reference to their airbags meeting these standards (although some may contain CE-approved armour in addition to the airbag).

Interestingly the following statement appears on the website of a company manufacturing airbag jackets for horse riders; "The .... air jacket offers additional protection, but we recommend it to be worn with traditional protective riding wear such as the EM13158 (sic) body protector." Apart from the mis-print (the standard for equestrian protectors is actually EN13158) it seems that manufacturer advises riders to wear their airbag jacket in addition to body armour. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

Before making claims about the protective qualities of airbags fitted to motorcycle clothing, first manufacturers need to demonstrate that these products meet the basic legal requirements for impact protectors, particularly as there is a substantial price premium for this technology. Until then, their claims are little more than hot air.

UK Motorcycle Market Overview (2008)

Registrations of new motorcycles fell by 3.4% in 2008 (source: http://www.mcia.co.uk/). However the devil is in the detail and closer scrutiny reveals that sales of mopeds (powered two wheelers >50cc) and scooters remained unchanged, sales of new motorcycles fell by 6%. There has also been a shift towards smaller capacity machines – according to British Dealer New five out of the ten top selling models were 125cc machines (i.e. ‘learner’ bikes). In terms of the market mix, 2/3rd of the 139,725 new PTWs registered in 2008 were motorcycles – the remaining 1/3rd were scooters or mopeds. In terms of brand share, Honda continues to dominate, although with Yamaha and Suzuki hot on its heels. These three Japanese manufacturers account for nearly two out of every five new machines registered. However, just like the Japanese in the 1960’s, the Chinese are beginning to make inroads with smaller capacity PTWs. In December 2008 the best selling moped, and scooter were both Chinese brands (Baotian and Wuyang respectively).
Sales of scooters and mopeds held firm compared to a 6% fall in motorcycle sales during 2008.
So how does this compare to the car market? Sales in 2008 fell by 11.3% (source: http://www.smmt.co.uk/), which is a more dramatic decrease than for PTWs. However, diesel cars accounted for a record 43.6% share of the market and that is over three times the share recorded in 2000. Meanwhile the mini segment saw the only growth in 2008 and the market share for superminis rose to 33.4%.
So both the PTW and car markets experienced similar fluctuations - an overall decrease in sales but an increase in bemand for smaller 'utility' vehicles.