Girls On The Gridiron

Toyota is running a new commercial where a mom in a minivan talks about how happy she is that Toyota has shared data with a major university to help make helmets safety. That’s a great idea, but given the recent publicity about concussions in the NFL, and the lack of education on helmet safety, I would have loved at least one example of what this information sharing has actually led to.

Here’s an article on what Toyota actually did…

So it seems to me that the commercial is a bit misleading. I would have expected that the Toyota technology actually was improving the helmets themselves, not just looking at the damage caused by existing helmets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the technology sharing will help them accumulate the data needed to understand what changes should be made. But the commercial really made it sound like Toyota’s effort resulted in something I can just go out and buy for my kid at Sports Authority tomorrow. Given Toyota’s dicey safety record of late, they really should have just been more transparent about what they’ve actually done.

What about you? What do you think of this commercial? Am I being too harsh? What’s your concern about helmets and safety levels for players? Any good or bad experiences with this year’s helmet options?