Nathan, no, and I hope it stays that way.
John
I know that Nathan specifically stated seat belts and fire suits... I, though, was referring to items other than those two that are NOT SFI approved ... and usually due to reasons of lack of availabilty or something....
Yes, I do recollect the fiasco with Impact fire suits.... and, other than the story about why it happened (from Impacts end), the facts spoke pretty loudly as to what the story really was.... subcontracting to the lowest bidder.... and having it "made" outside of an area where real quality control could be imposed.... about the same reason that a few jet aircraft fell out of the sky about 20 or so years ago....
It seems to be what often happens when an acquirer of a venerable and successful company starts looking for ways to "unlock" hidden profits and "create economies of scale".... all MBA and accountant driven!.... people who know and care NOTHING about the reputation of the company that they are unwittingly setting up to fail... because the "flawed" business model is more like what gets applied to convenience stores (and, as a side point, here is an interesting quip made to me some time ago by an accountant-"You cannot quantify a value for intangibles like a well trained work-force or the company's reputation; therefore the values placed upon those and other intangibles is usually ZERO!") ...so, in an instant, the reputation for quality safety products "goes up in smoke", so to speak, and NOBODY will trust that company with anything after that.... the bean counters and MBAs then attempt to invoke "damage control" and usually fail when the choice of a roasted or unroasted racer's butt is the possible outcome of doing business with them or doing business with someone else.... then.... the bean counters and MBAs have a series of "blame-storming" sessions with the final session being inclusive of the person who will be informed of the open minded efforts of "all concerned" to come to the "pre-determined outcome" and who has been set up to take the fall... they will then "move forward" and often write off/sell off the bad investment for pennies on the dollar-often to the original owner of the company and whose great reputation they destroyed in the process.... and, presto.... Bill simpson is now a rich man and he owns the company again?
? (Sounds almost the same as winning the lotto) But I do understand that Bill Simpson is back there.
Anyway... yes, the rules spell out pretty clearly the alternatives on scattershields and other items that are, in other sanctioning organizations, required to be SFI approved and usually, any items that are in that category are also dicsussed at length.
DJ Safety's website states that the Defender IS NOW approved... it was reputed to have occurred in (possibly late) February.... SFI may not update their lists on a day by day basis....
I am waiting for a bit more information about DJ's new HANR system.... for our lakester and our new car, it looks like a possible answer to the "getting out quickly" issue.
It is probably a good thing that the SCTA-BNI is NOT as beholden to the SEMA as NHRA is (SFI is the successor certification agency to the old SEMA rating agency-which was wholly owned by the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers- I cannot say who actually owns or controls SFI, though...) .... otherwise we WOULD be required to have a lot more SFI approved stuff.... and replace it A LOT more often!... (for instance, seat belts-every 2 years in NHRA)
