Jump to content
HybridZ

Firesuit Recall Notice


johnc

Recommended Posts

Just sent out by SCCA:

 

RACING MEMO

DATE: March 31, 2009

FROM: National Staff

TO: All Participants

SUBJECT: Impact Racing Product Recall

 

IMPACT RACING PRODUCT RECALL

Any and all driver suits, pants, jackets, shoes and boots manufactured by Impact Racing pursuant to SFI Specifications 3.2A/15, 3.2A/20, 3.3/15 and 3.3/20 at any time during the year 2008 have been decertified by SFI Foundation, Inc. and must be immediately returned to Impact Racing offices or an Impact representative. Impact Racing has reason to believe that these products do not fully comply with the stated SFI Specifications and therefore do not meet SFI manufacturer certification requirements. This recall applies to all such products whether or not they have been updated, rebadged, or recertified by Impact Racing. This recall applies even if the product now has a 2009 SFI patch or label affixed to the product. All applicable sanctioning bodies have been notified of this noncompliance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

WOW!!! Counterfeit labels.

 

 

Bill Simpson's, Impact Racing Products are top notch and IMHO, better than many of the other manufacturers who sell safety equipment. He is fighting this de-certification, and believes it is unproven and without merit. SFI has accused Simpson of placing labels on his products that were not purchased from them. I have always trusted his products, and will continue to use them, with or without the politically charged SFI labeling requirements. Simpson has been involved with the safety of racers for many years and I believe in his effort to make racers safe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Impact Racing Has Responded To Thier Clients With This Statement

 

Impact Racing would like to respond to the statement on March 26, 2010 by SFI regarding their intention to decertify all SFI labeled Impact Racing products. All SFI labeled products currently being sold by Impact Racing have current SFI certification and legally obtained labels. The safety of our products has in no way been compromised. The allegation from SFI is in relation to the actual SFI tag only. We suggest at this time to continue to use your equipment, which is safe and has been certified and do not have anyone replace your tags on your products.

 

On March 26, 2010 the attorneys representing Impact Racing filed an appeal. There is also a hearing in court on April 1, 2010. Impact Racing will keep all of our customers informed as details unfold.

 

We are not accepting returns or refunds on delivered products. We suggest at this time to wait until further notice until we learn more about the details and allegations.

 

A formal press release will follow shortly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Impact Racing And SFI Joint Press Release April 1, 2010

Based upon sworn testimony by Impact Racing, the decirtification of Impact Racing products for the production years of 2009 and 2010 is lifted. Decirtification of products made prior to 2009 will remain in effect until both parties resolve their issues. (The full press release can be read at impactracingproducts.com)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

IMPACT PRESS RELEASE - APRIL 20st 2010

 

Be advised that SFI has made the decision that as of April 27th, 2010 our products manufactured in 2008 and previous years are decertified. Impact strongly disagrees with this decision. SFI's decision does not apply to products purchased in 2009, 2010 and forward.In light of the decertification, if any of our customers have to replace their products we can offer firesuits at a discounted price based on date of purchase, restraint systems at the trade-in price and free shipping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMPACT PRESS RELEASE - APRIL 22nd 2010

 

Impact strongly disagrees with SFI’s decertification of its products manufactured in the years 2005-2008. Impact is working diligently to resolve this issue with SFI. Impact decided to stop the internal SFI appeal process because it became obvious that Impact could not get a fair hearing.

 

Impact’s track record of providing safety to racers is unmatched. There have been no burns or other injuries reported to Impact by any racer wearing Impact Race Products since its inception. Impact has seen drivers wearing its gear walk away unharmed from very serious explosions and wrecks. We stand behind the safety of our products 100% and have always placed the safety of racers at the forefront of our mission and company. Bill Simpson has worked at the goal of saving racers’ lives for over 52 years and his name is synonymous with motorsports safety.

 

Impact’s vocal position has been that SFI’s certification programs are seriously flawed and antiquated and do not address the issue of safety. Accordingly, SFI is applying standards to us that it has not applied to any other product manufacturer.

 

Impact regrets that SFI has chosen the path of decertification and lawsuits against Impact as a way to handle any concerns it has. Bill Simpson and Impact Racing have always worked closely with SFI and all sanctioning bodies to help improve driver safety in motorsports and come up with many innovations in safety. Impact would like to have resolved this issue in a different way. Unfortunately, SFI’s actions have caused racers unnecessarily to question their safety.

 

Impact will do everything in its power to resolve this dispute and help our loyal customers through it. We are committed to clearing Impact’s name and moving onward with our real job of providing the best safety equipment money can buy to racers across the country and world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SCCA just issued a technical notice saying that Impact fire suits, gloves, shoes, and underwear manufactured before 2009 are now de-certified for use at Club Racing events. But, they added a line at the bottom saying SCCA is delaying enforcement of the de-certification. As a scrutineer it just confuses the shit out of me - the products are not certified but I'm not supposed to enforce it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man..........Yet another Notice Fro Impact Racing! This whole thing caould have a large impact, on Impact Racing's future. No pun intended.

 

 

IMPACT PRESS RELEASE - APRIL 23rd 2010

 

Contrary to the assertions of SFI, there is no safety risk to users of Impact Racing suits bearing SFI 3.2A/5 certification tags. The issue that has been created by SFI involves thread used in Impact’s fire suits. The error in the assessment of SFI is revealed by its assertion that thread used by Impact Racing “melts away in a fireâ€. According to the analysis presented by SFI “this causes the fabric to come apart since there is no longer thread to hold the suit togetherâ€. This conclusion demonstrates the lack of understanding on the part of SFI as to what causes a fire suit to work and what causes a fire suit to be safe.

 

The thread about which SFI complains is not intended to “hold the suit togetherâ€. The fabric does not “come apart†in a fire. In a fire, the layers of fabric must be allowed to expand because it is expansion that creates the layer of air that insulates a racer from fire. Impact Racing understands the necessity of this process in fire suit construction. SFI does not.

 

SFI has been aware of the thread used by Impact Racing since January 14, 2009. Rather than acknowledge that SFI’s specification diminishes fire suit safety and changing the specification to enhance fire suit safety, SFI has, without foundation, accused Impact Racing of providing samples of a certain type to get SFI certification and then changing the lay-up for manufacturing. Impact Racing manufactures fire suits knowing that lives are at stake. Impact Racing fire suits are safe independent of SFI standards.

 

SFI has taken credit for the avoidance of burns or other injuries to users of Impact Racing products. According to SFI the absence of burns or other injuries to due “to the policing of Impact products by SFIâ€. The absence of burns or other injuries to users of Impact Racing products is a result of attention to design and commitment to safety throughout the Impact Racing product line. What SFI has deemed to be a “pattern of non-compliance†by Impact Racing is a dispute over standards that SFI refuses to change even under circumstances when change is in the best interest of the user of the product.

 

Impact Racing is engaged in discussions with SFI about its products, SFI standards, and SFI testing procedures. Impact Racing is committed to resolving these issues with SFI if it can be done without compromising the benchmarks Impact Racing has established to assure product safety.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was out doing tech at the SCCA Double National event at Buttonwillow this weekend. This was a big topic of discussion and no one, nobody, felt that Impact suits were unsafe. Most feel its just a BS pissing contest between SFI and Impact with SFI looking like the worst of the two. Again, for now SCCA is allowing drivers to run the Impact safety gear and has not seen any safety issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

SUBJECT: Impact Racing Product Recall

 

 

IMPACT PRESS RELEASE - JUNE 21st 2010

 

On June 21st, 2010, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana issued a ruling granting, in part, Impact Racing's motion to preliminarily enjoin SFI Foundation from terminating Impact's Contract of Participation with SFI until SFI "does so in a manner that is unquestionably 'substantively rational and procedurally fair." According to the Court, "Impact has made a strong showing of likely success on the merits" and "until Impact is afforded fair procedure, Impact could suffer irreparable harm, if it has not already."

 

This means that Impact's Contracts with SFI will not terminate on June 22, 2010, as SFI had previously announced. All Impact products manufactured in 2009 and 2010 currently certified as SFI-compliant remain certified. In addition, after June 22, 2010, Impact can continue to manufacture and certify its products as SFI-compliant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...