Arai Helmet



Arai Helmet, Limited (株式会社 アライヘルメット) is a Japanese company that designs and manufactures motorcycle helmets and other helmets for motorsport. It was formed in 1926 by Hirotake Arai as a hatmaker. Currently, Michio "Mitch" Arai runs the company and his son, Akihito, is also involved.

Every Arai helmet is hand-built. All Arai helmets sold in the USA meet or exceed the Snell Memorial Foundation safety standards. The current certification for motorcycles is M2010 which was released in the beginning of 2010. For auto racing and karting the helmets that are sold today are still SA2005 and K2005 certified, these helmets will be legal for competition until 2015. The 2010 certified auto racing and karting helmets will not be available for sale until October 1, 2010. These will be certified as SA2010, K2010 and a new SAH2010 will be introduced which will include HANS anchor posts as part of the certification process.

Arai has been ranked first in customer satisfaction in all ten annual J. D. Power and Associates Motorcycle Helmet Satisfaction Studies. It was also first (or tied for first) in three of four categories: Overall Satisfaction, Ventilation, and Styling.

Several prominent MotoGP racers use Arai including Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa. Although popular in MotoGP many of the Formula 1 drivers also use Arai Helmets since the Arai GP-6 RC is one of the few helmets that meets the FIA requirements for the sports. The drivers include: Adrian Sutil, Heikki Kovalainen, Kamui Kobayashi, Lewis Hamilton, Lucas Di Grassi, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel, and Jenson Button. Button made the switch to Arai at the 2010 Canadian Gran Prix.