NF S72-800:2022 – A Guide to Equestrian Airbag Certification

Equestrian sports and motorcycle riding have fundamentally different risk profiles—the posture, impact direction, and speed of a fall from a horse are entirely distinct. For this reason, equestrian airbags require their own independent standard to validate protective performance.

Currently, the primary certification reference used across the industry is the French national standard NF S72-800:2022, which is also the core standard guiding our product development.

What is NF S72-800:2022?

NF S72-800:2022 is a French national standard published in March 2022 by AFNOR (the French Association for Standardization). Its full title is Protective clothing for equestrian activities – Inflatable protective vests for riders and carriage drivers – Requirements and test methods. It is currently the only national standard specifically developed for equestrian airbags.

The standard establishes requirements across four key areas:

These four dimensions reflect the core principle of the standard: an equestrian airbag must deploy fast enough, cover enough, inflate enough, and be strong enough to reduce injury risk in a fall.

How Deployment Speed Is Assessed

For mechanical airbags—which are triggered by a physical lanyard and do not rely on batteries or electronic sensors—the deployment time is determined primarily by the inflation process from the CO₂ cylinder to the airbag itself.

Based on currently available information, mechanical equestrian airbags that meet NF S72-800:2022 can achieve deployment times within 200 milliseconds, depending on airbag size and design configuration. This demonstrates that the standard accommodates different product designs while maintaining a consistent safety threshold.

The standard does not prescribe a single fixed time limit; rather, it requires the airbag to achieve the specified inflation pressure within a defined timeframe. Different airbag sizes may therefore require different inflation durations to meet the same pressure requirement.

CE Certification and Market Access

As Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) , equestrian airbags must comply with PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425 and bear the CE mark before they can be sold in the European market.

Currently, NF S72-800:2022 serves as the primary technical basis used by Notified Bodies for CE certification of equestrian airbags. While no harmonised European standard yet exists for this product category, products that meet NF S72-800 and pass review by a Notified Body can obtain CE certification and enter the EU market.

A Brief Note on EN 13158

EN 13158:2018 is the European standard for equestrian protective jackets, body protectors, and shoulder protectors. It primarily applies to non-inflatable traditional rigid protectors (such as foam or honeycomb-structure armour).

For inflatable airbag products, work is underway on a new draft standard, EN 13158-2, specifically addressing "protective garments containing only an airbag." A new work item proposal was submitted in early 2025. Until this standard is finalised, NF S72-800:2022 remains the most reliable certification basis for equestrian airbag products.

Conclusion

NF S72-800:2022 is currently the most authoritative certification standard for equestrian airbag vests, covering deployment speed, protection coverage, inflation pressure, and material strength. For products intended for the European market, compliance with NF S72-800—verified through a Notified Body—provides the pathway to CE marking and market access.

For our products, we design and test to meet the requirements of NF S72-800:2022, with deployment times within 200 milliseconds—within the range accepted by the standard. This ensures our equestrian airbag components are ready for integration into certified end products.

This article is part of our ongoing series on safety standards for wearable protection. For an introduction to motorcycle airbag certification, please refer to our previous guide on EN 1621-4.

Acknowledgment: The technical content of this article is based on publicly available information from AFNOR regarding the NF S72-800:2022 standard, as well as publicly available industry sources. Should any discrepancies arise between the content presented here and the official standard, we will revisit and update this article accordingly.

Developing an equestrian airbag product and need to understand NF S72-800:2022 certification requirements? HIGHVIEW's team can provide standard interpretation and compliance guidance. Feel free to reach out via email at tee@highview.top.