Helmet Manufacturer Was Warned On Concussion Risk

PBS.org

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/concussion-watch/nfl-helmet-manufacturer-warned-on-concussion-risk/

More than a decade ago, the sports equipment manufacturer Riddell was developing a highly anticipated new football helmet designed to reduce players’ risk of concussions. The helmet was ambitiously called the Revolution. It would become the most widely used helmet in the NFL and earn millions in sales to players in college, high school and youth leagues.

But back in 2000 the company received a warning: A biomechanics firm hired first by the NFL and later by Riddell to test helmets and study head injuries sent the company a report showing that no football helmet, no matter how revolutionary, could prevent concussions.

In fact, the report stated, even a helmet that passed the industry safety standard for protection against skull fractures and other severe head injuries could leave a player with a 95 percent likelihood of receiving a concussion from a strong enough blow.

Yet the report, made public during a recent Colorado lawsuit, did not deter Riddell from marketing the helmet as protection against concussions. Riddell promoted the Revolution by saying that players who wore it were 31 percent less likely to suffer a concussion – a figure criticized as an exaggeration by leading experts on head injuries and some members of Congress.

Riddell is being sued by thousands of former NFL players as a co-defendant in the major lawsuit against the league. The plaintiffs charge, in part, that Riddell failed to warn them that its helmet would not protect against concussion. Last month, in the Colorado case, Riddell was found liable for $3.1 million out of a total of $11.5 million that was awarded to the family of a young man who was seriously injured after a concussion in a high school football practice.

The Colorado jury cleared Riddell of a charge that its helmet had a design flaw. But it found that the company had failed to adequately warn players of the risks of concussion. Riddell said it plans to appeal the verdict.