prodracing.com

Again......

Went to the local place to get some new belts. They didn't have the color I wanted, but will later in the week. He brought up that they are not putting "build dates" on the belts anymore, just expiration dates. Also they are dating them only June and December. The ones I looked at said they expired June of 2020 in big print on a 2"x2" tag.

How is this going to work with expirations now.

Example

https://goo.gl/images/frNckD

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Mazda Jon
AKA Suzuki Jon
2009 Mazda MX-5 12A GTL #04
SCCA Member #97968

Time to write the CRB to get a clarification. I thought that the SFI used manufacture date, and the FIA used expiration date, but the example shows SFI with an expiration date.

ARGH

I need to get belts for next year too

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Tim Linerud
#95 GTL VW Rabbit GTI
2014 Runoffs Sunoco Hard Charger - GTL
2016 Western Conference GTL Champion

Buy FIA belts... SCREW SFI!

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Joe Harlan Member #175515

This is addressed in the Apr updated GCR.

Restraint systems meeting SFI 16.1 or 16.5 shall bear a dated SFI Spec label. The certification
indicated by this label shall expire on December 31st of the 5th year after the date of manufacture
as indicated by the label. If for example the manufacture date is 2014 the fifth year after the date
of manufacture is 2019. SFI labels, with expiration dates, expire on December 31st of the labeled
expiration date.

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99 HP Toyota Yaris
2005-2008 SCCA Solo National Champion
2017 SCCA Runoffs Champion

So we go from 5 year SFI belts to 2 year SFI belts?

The belts I looked at had a build date label AND an expiration label. Which do I go by? The same belts are good for 5 years and/or 2 years.

_________________
Mazda Jon
AKA Suzuki Jon
2009 Mazda MX-5 12A GTL #04
SCCA Member #97968

^^^^^ This ^^^^^

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Jimmy Pettinato
88 BMW M3 - SPU #98

SFI started putting expiration dates on their belts almost immediately after SCCA updated the GCR to allow 5yrs from date of manufacture on SFI belts.

Now tell me they aren't grabbing for money.

SFI states that belts deteriorate and lose over 50% of their strength in that time, yet I've seen test data of 10 and even 20yr old FIA belts still holding strong. Not to mention the number of standard automotive seatbelts that are Ok in a street car for decades.. So it sounds to me like SFI is either lying to protect their pocketbooks, or they mandate belts to be made from an inferior material.

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Matt Blehm
Houston Region
EP 1st Gen RX7
STU Nissan 240SX

This. SFI is only in it for the money.

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Brett W
Huntsville, AL

It's definitely about grubbing for money, but what they are doing is selectively using test data that show webbing strength deterioration after a few years of exposure to direct sun. This may be relevant in aircraft parked outside with plastic bubble canopies but I've yet to meet anyone who stores their open race car outside so it's irrelevant to race cars.

Twisting the truth is so much more effective (but not much more ethical) than lying!

I suspect that if you store your FIA belts by hanging them on a fence post is South Texas that they would in fact be in bad shape after 5 years!

Hi Matt,

Where did you find test data on the seat belts?