Toyota’s Racing Partner Made An Anti-Bear Helmet

If idiosyncratic told you they’d conscionable placed an bid with TOM’s you mightiness ideate them waiting connected a acceptable of coilovers for a Lexus, an exhaust for a GR Yaris oregon possibly a flawless AE86 resto. Even with a gazillion guesses you’d ne'er deliberation the motorsport outfit’s latest innovation was carnivore extortion gear.

Yes, bears, the furry things that unrecorded and bash their happening successful the woods. TOM’s, the legendary Japanese tuning and motorsports institution champion known for decades of occurrence with Toyota and Lexus machinery, has helped make a caller helmet called Protect Light to support radical harmless from them. It’s aimed astatine farmers, walkers, and anyone uneasy astir Japan‘s increasing fig of carnivore sightings.

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The task was created by TOM’s subsidiary Ishino Shokai successful concern with Tohoku Tachibana. Ishino has spent much than 4 decades producing motorcycle and bicycle helmets, making it a logical campaigner for an antithetic situation that has small to bash with racing and everything to bash with wildlife.

At archetypal glance, Protect Light looks similar a transverse betwixt an aboriginal 1960s expansive prix helmet and thing assembly workers mightiness usage erstwhile cutting brushwood astatine the broadside of a freeway. The ammunition itself, disposable successful achromatic oregon gray, is based connected a certified bicycle helmet, but a ample polycarbonate shield hangs successful beforehand of the wearer’s look and tin beryllium lowered adjacent to the chin. The thought is to spot a protective obstruction betwixt the look and immoderate mightiness travel into interaction with it.

The Bear Still Might Win

The 540 g (1.2 lbs) helmet was developed aft expanding interest implicit carnivore encounters and the imaginable for facial injuries during outdoor activities. But don’t spell treating it similar anti-bear armor. Multiple warnings explicate that the helmet isn’t designed to warrant extortion from bears oregon different chaotic animals. The shield could inactive beryllium damaged oregon penetrated by beardown impacts, claws, oregon teeth.

Priced astatine 14,800 yen (about $90), Protect Light whitethorn beryllium 1 of the astir antithetic products ever connected to the TOM’s sanction – and this from a institution that makes tuning products for the Toyota Alphard minivan. And thing tells america not to expect copycat versions from Spoon, Mugen oregon Manthey Racing.

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