New FIM Helmet Safety Standard

Helmet makers are already faced with a maze of different certifications across the globe to be legal for sale and use, like DOT, Snell, UN ECE, and JIS in Japan. But recently the FIM has thrown its own hat in the ring with the FRHPhe-01 regulations currently needed for helmets used in circuit racing activities it oversees. From 2026, that standard is to get tougher with the introduction of FRHPhe-02 rules, and the FIM’s requirements for compliance will spread to almost all motorcycle sports including off-road championships.

Although not directly impacting the rules that helmet makers need to meet for road use around the world, the FIM’s involvement means that high-end helmets with aspirations to be used in FIM-organized competition are going to have to be uprated to beat the test protocol set out in FRHPhe-02. Since 2019, MotoGP riders have had to wear helmets approved to FRHPhe-01 levels, and that requirement was expanded to other FIM circuit racing categories in 2020. The new rules will be phased in, with testing available to FRHPhe-02 standards from January 2023, and a recommendation that helmets comply for almost all FIM racing classes from 2025. From 2026, compliance will be mandatory in FIM racing, with the exception of trials, pedelecs, side-by-side vehicles, and streamliners in land-speed record attempts.

The new rules will start with helmets approved to ECE 22-06, JIS T8133:2015, or Snell M2015, M2020D, or M2020R levels—so they’ll already have to have survived some of the toughest approval processes available—and add further tests. FRHPhe-02 includes new requirements for impact tests, with helmets being randomly struck in between nine and 13 of 22 potential impact locations, and needing to survive hits against flat, hemispherical, and oblique anvils. In particular there are higher-speed impacts in four of 17 possible locations against a flat anvil, and another four from 17 locations against a hemispherical anvil. There’s also a new quick-removal cheek pad test, and the same penetration tests that are already required by FRHPhe-01.

As with FRHPhe-01, compliant helmets will be identified by a label sewn to the chinstrap containing a QR code linking to its homologation certification and allowing the helmets to be individually tracked at events that they compete in.

“The first aim of the FIM was always the safety for its riders. After the experience of phase 1 of the FIM Racing Homologation Programme for helmets (FRHPhe-01), the FIM and Dorna are fully satisfied with the efficient results for the safety of riders. The FRHPhe-02 represents a milestone to increase the level of safety for our riders, and to introduce an FIM standard for off-road riders,” Jorge Viegas, FIM president, said. “The FIM got involved in this project, with a lot of work alongside the helmet manufacturers, our promoters, and with our Technical Stewards’ feedback. I expect that some manufacturers will propose helmets compliant with FRHPhe-02 to our riders before the target of the 2026 season, and they could manufacture them not only for FIM championships but also for national federation events, for safety in off-road.”