Explaining the star ratings FAQs
A clear guide to SHARP star ratings and what they mean for real-world motorcycle helmet safety.
The helmet I want has a low star rating. Should I buy it?
It’s not necessarily the highest SHARP rated helmet that will be the best for you. Any helmet rated by SHARP will provide protection for your head in a crash. But that protection only works if the helmet fits you properly and you are wearing it correctly. A five star helmet that is too loose and will come off in a crash is not a good option for you. A three star helmet that makes your ears sore and distracts you at a dangerous junction is not protecting you. When you are choosing your helmet, try on as many as you can to find a selection that fit and are comfortable. Then if you have several to choose from, use the SHARP star rating to help you make the safest possible choice.
My helmet has a low star rating. Has it failed?
A helmet assessed by SHARP is not given a pass/fail score. All helmets that are rated by SHARP have already been designed and tested to prove that they meet the safety standards that make them legal for sale in the UK. This means they offer – at least – a minimum level of protection in the event of a crash. However, as our tests show, some helmets are designed to provide much more protection than this minimum level, you just can’t see it.
What do the stars mean?
The star rating system is an easy and quick way to convert science into a user-friendly format that is familiar, like a feedback rating or merit award . Each additional star tells you that the helmet will provide a greater level of protection to your head if you have a crash or fall off your motorbike.
What does the latch score mean?
SHARP observes whether a system or flip helmet opens during normal testing when it should stay closed. During each of our 30 linear impact tests we note whether the lower face cover (or facebar/chinbar) has unlatched or unlocked during the impact. The number of times the faceguard remains fully locked after each of the linear impacts is expressed as a percentage: this is the latch score. For example, if the facebar stayed completely shut in every one of the thirty impacts the score would be 100% but if it should open on nine occasions, the score would be 70%.
We are not currently able to apply an objective measure to the safety effect of a failure of the chinbar locking mechanism and therefore we do not factor this into the safety (star) rating.
How is the star rating calculated?
Interpretation of the test results is complex. So the overall safety assessment is expressed as a star rating to enable motorcyclists to quickly and easily identify those helmets likely to offer the highest level of protection: 5‐stars being the highest and 1‐star the lowest. The more SHARP stars a helmet has, the better the protection it can give beyond the minimum required by law.
A detailed answer to this question can be found in the document ‘SHARP rating calculation procedure‘ which can be found in the SHARP library section of this website.
