The airbag helmet company Hövding goes bankrupt after sales were banned

Twelve years ago, the Swedish brand Hövding devised a bicycle airbag system. A story that comes to an end after the decision of the Swedish Consumer Agency to withdraw its Hövding 3 model from the market, a decision that, according to the brand itself, has irreversibly damaged the company so its board of directors does not consider that they can continue with their activity.

An Instagram video leads the airbag helmet company for cycling to bankruptcy

The influence of social media posts sometimes turns out to be scandalously relevant. Such is the case suffered by the Swedish firm Hövding that marketed a curious and useful airbag helmet aimed at urban cycling. A kind of collar that, through accelerometers, was able to determine when the cyclist suffered a fall to, in a matter of milliseconds, deploy and inflate an airbag around the cyclist's head.

 

 

 

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However, a video appeared on social networks in May, in which the airbag inflated off the bike, when the wearer put on a jacket and the company's initial reaction explaining that it was a misuse since its system should not be activated off the bike, ended up leading to the decision of the Swedish Consumer Agency to withdraw its current model, the Hövding 3, from the market and suspend sales of new units.

After several weeks of litigation, the administrative court of the Scandinavian country annulled the decision of the consumer agency, however it is a failure that comes late and the board of Hövding has declared bankruptcy after a month and a half without being able to sell any unit of its cyclist airbag.

The multitude of testimonies from cyclists who claimed that the Hövding 3 had saved them from serious damage after suffering a fall have done little to help the Swedish company and the company is forced to end 12 years of history with a brief statement on its website in which, in addition, it is explained that there will be no kind of support or warranty on the products that remain on the market as the company has been taken over by a bankruptcy administrator who will manage the bankruptcy process.