IMPACT Firesuits, boot, etc., "decertified" by SFI? (1 Viewer)

[Randy]

I just got this email from NHRA:



From NHRA Tech Dept:



NHRA just received notice from SFI, Inc. that a Notice of Decertification was issued today to Impact Racing Products, Inc. regarding certain products (listed below), and that Impact will issue a Notice of Recall of such products. Therefore, effective immediately, the products listed below will no longer be accepted for use in NHRA racing. We understand that Impact will issue a recall notice tomorrow, March 20, 2009; please consult Impact! Racing Products for that information or contact Impact directly.

The products are:



· Driver suits, pants and jackets manufactured in 2008 identified as compliant with SFI Specification 3.2A/15 or 3.2A/20

· Driver shoes and boots manufactured in 2008 identified as compliant with SFI Specification 3.3/15 or 3.3/20



SFI has informed NHRA that products manufactured in 2007 and 2009 are being further evaluated by SFI.

 

[Draw 3D]

Holy crap, I went to check my Impact boots and noticed that they don't have the manufacture date marked.

Anybody else have the no manufacture date problem as I do?

 

[Tom]

Wow, we'll definitely spread the word. Makes you wonder how many of these products are out there being used today.

 

[Jenn]

Holy crap, I went to check my Impact boots and noticed that they don't have the manufacture date marked.

Anybody else have the no manufacture date problem as I do?

Do SFI 15 boots need re certification? I know I need to start shopping around for a SFI3.2/15 for Fred for next year. SFI 3.2/5s generally are good as long as they have no holes, tears, etc that would warrant a tech inspector saying "You can't use those".

I don't have my rulebooks handy.

 

[topdigger]

I can't wait till tomorrow morning to see what the solution is gonna be. Do I get a new suit? Or my money back? My buddy got 2009 made ULTRAlight -20 and he says it is a space suit compared to my 2008 light -20

 

[Mooseman]

I have heard a few people say the new 09 suits are deffinitly thicker , the sad part of it is that with all the bad talk and having a run of bad suits go out which does happen with certain companies , just because of some bad batches there will probably be some people who never use Impact again . Personally I will make that decission when the time comes that I need to buy a fire suit.

 

[Jenn]

the sad part of it is that with all the bad talk and having a run of bad suits go out which does happen with certain companies , just because of some bad batches there will probably be some people who never use Impact again . .

I probably wouldn't blame them for not going with Impact! racing, there are some people who'd take the risk a company that failed on quality at one point. It's sad, particularly based on Bill Simpson having a long history of good quality products and only a short history of 'unqualified' products.

Like you, it's something I'd definitely have to consider when I start shopping for suits for the guys again.

 

[Ugly one]

Based on the way that Impact and Bill Simpson have handled this situation why would you trust your life or someone elses with their products.
They have tried to sweep this issue under the carpet and wait for it to go away. We all make mistakes, it's how you handle the fix it part that builds customer loyalty and above all trust.

 

[Al smith]

Would anyone trust a manufacturer that threatened one of its own customers/racers with legal action on a message board? A post I might add that was deleted? and then further accuse that same racer with having a third party threaten one of its representatives at Gainesville? Here is that racers response to that post
www.insidetopalcohol.com - View Single Post - Impact SFI-15 and SFI-20 Firesuit Fail SFI Testing

You can stick a fork in impact. its done. I predict impact wont be around in two years to re-certify all their existing products. Mark my words.

 

[Randy]

Would anyone trust a manufacturer that threatened one of its own customers/racers with legal action on a message board? A post I might add that was deleted? and then further accuse that same racer with having a third party threaten one of its representatives at Gainesville? Here is that racers response to that post
www.insidetopalcohol.com - View Single Post - Impact SFI-15 and SFI-20 Firesuit Fail SFI Testing

You can stick a fork in impact. its done. I predict impact wont be around in two years to re-certify all their existing products. Mark my words.

You can't un-ring a bell, as they say. I kept a copy of it just for fun.

Several months ago Mr. Putz's firesuit was sitting in a basket at SFI along with our -20 suit (no one initially knew who's it was) and you can guess what the results were. We immediately replaced ours with a Phoenix firsuit well before the Winternationals and well before any announcements were ever made by anyone because we knew the sh#t was going to hit the fan.

Richard, in his own words, tried working with them at first. But someone got testy.

Here is IMPACT's response to Richard, copied and pasted...

Mr. Putz;
I am responding to your blog about me personally and Impact Racing.

You have made very serious accusations in your blog about S.F.I. 15 and 20 fire suits.

You say NHRA is covering something up, this is a false statement. You say S.F.I. is covering something up, this is a false statement. You say that I am covering something up this is positively false and libelous.

In November we recognized that a problem could exist with S.F.I. 15 and 20 suits. After some investigations we made the decisions to inform anyone that had purchased a S.F.I. 15 or 20 suit and have them return the suit as it could possibly be out of spec.

We spent about a week calling each and every customer including you Mr. Putz, asking them to please return their fire suit for inspection and recertification. We found no record of your suit being returned for inspection Mr. Putz. We did in fact receive about 70% of those contacted and upon inspection we found that a manufacturing error had been made to about 15% of those returned. We cut those suits open and added what was necessary to bring them into spec. They were then returned, postage paid and at no charge. I suggest you hire an attorney to verify the above statements.

We have made every possible effort to recover every single suit built from February 2008 through October of 2008.

As to my character, I have been around for 51 years and have been involved in homologating many, many safety rules. I have prided myself that under no circumstances would I allow anything to get in the way of what I consider the best.

Everyone has made mistakes and it appears in this instance that is what happened, and if it gives you any satisfaction four (4) people were terminated over this issue.

Also, for the record in 2008 there were nine (9) major fires with drivers utilizing Impact and no one was burned, except Tony Pedregon who was burnt on one hand and he was not wearing Impact gloves.

Finally, my Drag Race Representative was threatened at Gainesville by one of your thug friends. Get real; beat up a girl who is only doing her job? That speaks highly of you. This whole mess will go away very soon as we are responsible for what we do and certainly never would I permit anyone to cover anything up when it comes to any racers well being no matter what the cost.


Bill Simpson

 

[jackass]

IF you noticed or watched Cup racing any.. you notice alot of Bill Simpson long time suporters have moved on to other companys....


Billy

 

[Mikey]

man sounds like someone needs a kleenex..... cant imagine what you guys would talk about if the world was perfect. Things are going to go wrong; just like cars getting recalled and bridges collapse. Perfection is never attained; not even by Bill Simpson. This guy makes a great product that has stood the test of time; now a little mess up and everyone questions his integrity. Real cool guys. Either stand by him and except the fact he messed up and continue to use his product, or throw his stuff away and buy something else. No one likes cry babies

 

[Randy]

Here was Richard Putz's reply to Simpson. According to Richard this has been going on for a long time:


Bill Simpson, you stating that I in any way, shape or form had anything to do with someone threatening a lady representative from your company is absolute slander. This is something I would never be a part of as I deal with my problems head on and face to face. You would know this if you would have answered any of my calls I tried to place to you in the last year, but you chose not to talk to me.

The lie you are trying to insinuate is actully reversed. I recieved a call from Kelly at Impact on Wednesday the 25th of [February] 2009. (To the best of my recollection this is what was discussed). Kelly told me she was advised to call me by Bill Simpson. It was suggested to me by Kelly that I may want to take my article off the internet. Kelly also implied to me that if I chose not to do so I may be included in a legal dispute being started against two other people. ( Lets Call A Spade A Spade ).

My take on the conversation we had is I am being threatened with a lawsuit to keep me quiet. I will not let you influence my right to freedom of speech, and if you believe it is proper to take a twenty some year customer of yours to court so be it. I have been nothing but lied to by everyone at Impact and I am fed up with it. ( I am prepared to back up everthing I have stated in my initial post if Impact proceeds with this matter any further. I stand by what I say.)

My opinion is Impact is putting more effort into keeping people quiet than they are to making sure all suit owners at issue are notified. All drivers have to subscribe to National Dragster so if you wanted to notify everyone that there was a possible problem you should have put a notice in National Dragster as I know for a fact that you have not yet contacted everyone with a 2008 suit. This tells me the manner you feel was sufficiant is not working.

It is also a lie that I was contacted on my suit and refused to send it in. My suit was never called on untill Feb. 25th - 2009 when Kelly called me with the threat, and I will tell you like I told her my suit was destroyed in testing. Kelly also told me at that time there were no suits turned in by anyone that were in question and I knew at that time that was a total lie as you Bill have verified this in you letter. Isn't it funny Bill you sell me a product that is in question and than have the odasity to threaten to sue me.

Also what was the lady in Gainsville who made the false accusations against me , was it Kelly ! Bill, you could have been professional about this and called me a long time ago but again you chose not to. So at this point in time do not bother as I do not wish to talk to you. I am not trying to do any harm to you or your company, just trying to notify anyone that may have a suit in question.

Richard Putz

 

[FEDowner]

Ok everyone that owns one of these suits raise your hand all others ........

 

[bus]

man sounds like someone needs a kleenex..... cant imagine what you guys would talk about if the world was perfect. Things are going to go wrong; just like cars getting recalled and bridges collapse. Perfection is never attained; not even by Bill Simpson. This guy makes a great product that has stood the test of time; now a little mess up and everyone questions his integrity. Real cool guys. Either stand by him and except the fact he messed up and continue to use his product, or throw his stuff away and buy something else. No one likes cry babies (quote)

Well now isn't that an interesting twist on the situation? Not about perfection, Just doing the right thing would be good enough! This isn't a defective wiper motor were talking about?!? Maybe if Richard, Randy and a few other stand up people would have dealt with it your way you could be offering that kleenex to a loved one standing outside a burn unit wondering "WHY"!!!! Or would you just tell them to Suck it up "No one likes cry babies"...............

 

[Mikey]

wah wah wah wah, that is all this thread is doing. Sounds like the problem is with you guys not telling Bill how you feel; anyone can throw rocks at a bear; but only select few have the balls to go hit him. Simply put you guys may have a legitimate point being mad about this deal. But in the same breath getting on nitromater will not change anything. Go to Bill Simpson and let him know how you feel.

 

[mokanmike]

hey kent & mike, what type of drag cars do you guys have nitro or alcohol or keyboard???????

 

[Ugly one]

Kent and Mike need to filp a coin to see which one gets to will wear an Impact SFI-20 and which one get the torch to test it
Are you two really that ignorant?

 

[Mikey]

if you guys dont like it; buy a new suit. wow i actually had to call a Rocket Scientist to come up with that conclusion...... Impact makes quality products; and Bill Simpson is a good person. I trust that if something was to go wrong on the track; my Impact safety equiptment would not fail me

 

[yoda]

hey kent & mike, what type of drag cars do you guys have nitro or alcohol or keyboard???????

Kent and Mike need to filp a coin to see which one gets to will wear an Impact SFI-20 and which one get the torch to test it
Are you two really that ignorant?

You may want to read Kent's post again Mike and Kevin... I think he's on your side... (He was quoting Carlisle's post, but being a guy with only TWO posts, he technically didn't do it correctly...)