Companies Halt Use of Zylon In Body Armor, Offer Replacements

By Matthew Crawford

WESTBURY, N.Y. – Manufacturers of body armor are offering voluntary return programs following the National Institute of Justice’s decision to revoke certification of all vests containing Zylon.

DHB Industries Inc., a company that manufactures and sells several protective vests for the correctional industry through two subsidiaries, and Armor Holdings Inc., which also manufactures body armor through a subsidiary, have announced the discontinuation of Zylon-containing bullet-resistant products.

Zylon, a ballistic-resistant, high-strength organic fiber produced by Toyobo Co., Ltd., has been a source of controversy since 2003 when a Forest Hills, Pa., police officer was seriously injured after a bullet penetrated the front panel of Zylon-containing armor manufactured by Armor Holdings' subsidiary, Second Chance Body Armor Inc.

Calls to Armor Holdings representatives were not returned.

A representative from DHB subsidiary Point Blank Body Armor, who asked to not be quoted, says it is hard to say if any vests manufactured and marketed specifically for correctional facilities contained Zylon. The representative says it depends on what package was purchased for use at a correctional facility.

In an NIJ test of the ballistic and mechanical properties of 103 Zylon-containing body armor products in use at law enforcement agencies throughout the United States, only four met compliance. During a six-shot test series, 60 vests (58 percent) were penetrated by at least one round. Backface deformations in excess of NIJ standards were found in 91 percent of the vests that were not penetrated.

An August report by the U.S. Department of Justice stated:

• Zylon can degrade due to environmental factors, thus reducing the ballistic resistance safety margin that manufacturers build into their armor designs.
• The ultimate tensile strength of three single yarns removed from the rear panel of the Forest Hills armor was up to 30 percent lower than yarn from new armor supplied by the manufacturer.
• Upgrade kits tested did not appear to improve used armor to the level of performance of new armor. However, used armor with upgrade kits performed better than the used armor that was not upgraded.

Both DHB and Second Chance Body Armor are offering voluntary replacement programs for Zylon products. It is too early to know if anyone in the correctional industry has returned any products with Zylon, according to the Point Blank Body Armor representative.

DHP President Larry Ellis did not return several calls from Correctional News, but he did issue a statement in a press release:
“We will diligently work with our customers to address these issues. It is our intent to work with the law enforcement community to supply them with replacement vests as rapidly as possible. We encourage all those presently using bullet-resistant body armor containing Zylon to continue wearing their body armor as recommended by the Department of Justice, until their vests have been replaced or exchanged. We believe that, based upon testing and research, our vests are safe for use by officers in the field.”

DHB subsidiaries design and manufacture armor for corrections personnel and several law enforcement agencies. The company's correctional products included S.P.Y.D.E.R. Corrections, The Rock, Delaware Correctional Officers' Association, TG-TE-T1 and others.

Scott O'Brien, president of Armor Holdings products division, also released a written statement regarding the voluntary replacement program: “This is simply the right thing to do and we are proud that Armor Holdings is in a position to assist the law enforcement community during this difficult transition.”