Mugen Denko, LTD manufacturer of the Hit-air brand of Safety apparel is the world’s oldest manufacturer of airbag safety apparel. Mugen Denko began research and development work on an airbag system in 1995. The airbag jacket was invented and patented by Mr. Kenji Takeuchi. Three years later in 1998, Mugen Denko presented the world’s first airbag jacket for motorcyclists.
The U.S. lags behind Europe in its establishment of legislation that requires standards for all Personal Protective Equipment such as safety apparel. The European Directive on Personal Protective Equipment was made law in 1989. The U.S. still has not established this type of legislation that has been in effect in Europe for more than 20 years!
Under the European Directive on Personal Protective Equipment CEC 1989, any clothing claiming to provide protection from injury must be tested and labeled as complying with the relevant standard. This applies to all safety equipment not just motorcycle apparel.
Under this directive, a product can only be described as "protective" if it provides protection from injury, the term cannot be applied to products that provide protection from weather.
In 1999, Mugen Denko launched its airbag jacket in Europe where the safety standards are the highest in the world. In that same year Mugen Denko supplied some of the top apparel manufacturers’ in Europe with airbag systems, including world famous S P I D I of Italy, I X S of Switzerland and LOUIS of Germany.
These are the among the achievements of Mugen Denko over the past decade:
• 2000 Awarded Gold Trophy at the "Salon du Cheval" in Paris with the HP model.
• 2001 Launched the Hit-air jacket.
• 2003 Supplied the Police Headquarters in Japan with the airbag vests for the motorcycle police.
Obtained the CE* Marking approval by the EU for our airbag vest of MC Model. Launched the airbag vest for horse riding.
• 2004 Supplied the Spanish Police with the airbag vests.
• 2005 Awarded the highest prize at the JPMS Motorcycle Show in France. Launched the buckle type one-touch connector of increased strength and reliability, jointly developed by YKK and Mugen Denko.
• 2006 Signed OEM deals with top-brand apparel manufacturers for the supply of airbag jackets and vests. Supplied the Imperial Guard Headquarters with airbag vests for horse riding. Launched smaller and lighter key box (Y-type), jointly developed by YKK and Mugen Denko.
• 2007 Authorized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to make a plan to develop the new business field on the basis of multisectoral collaboration.
• 2008 Introduction JV vest model improved materials. Introduction of the Female Jacket FR and FFE model (this latter one in agreement with European Standards established by FFE: Fédération Française d’Équitation)
New testings on Hit Air jackets and vests done by the JARI (Japanese Automobile Research Institute) bring up outstanding and positive results for safety.
• 2009 S-System: Introduction of an improved key box (a device to activate the airbag system) cutting the deployment time in half. Commissioned the world famous Japanese Automobile Research Institute (JARI) to conduct an Airbag Jacket Deployment Test. Of the 20 tests the fastest deployment speed test T-09* was 120msec.
*The CE marking certifies that a product has met EU consumer safety, health or environmental requirements CE stands for " Conformité Européenne ".
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