Virginia Tech released its inaugural youth football helmet safety ratings on Wednesday. Coming out on top was the VICIS Zero1 youth helmet, which received the best score ever achieved for a football helmet since the university began testing helmets in 2011.
The VT Helmet Lab measured the risk of concussion associated with 17 different youth football helmets. The process involves hitting the helmets with a weight swung on a pendulum arm in the attempt to copy the trajectory and severity of an in-game impact. Sensors placed on dummies’ heads record linear and rotational impacts to produce an overall star rating. VICIS’s youth helmet scored a maximum five-star rating, outperforming all other manufacturers tested including youth helmets from Xenith, Schutt, and Riddell. (The full ranking list is available on the lab’s webpage.)
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