ASN Safety Bulletin #21 FIA Safety Equipment Homologation

Dear colleagues,

As part of the FIA’s ongoing mission to continuously improve safety, competitors should use safety equipment approved by the FIA. The FIA Safety Department uses data from different sources, such as car telemetry, Accident Data Recorders, videos and still footage to monitor the performance of every FIA Standard.

1. FIA Safety Standards

Each FIA Standard defines the minimum safety performance requirements, to allow safety equipment manufacturers to bring innovations to the market while guaranteeing a minimum safety performance. The drafting of each FIA Safety Standard is usually written in close collaboration with world-leading safety experts, independent laboratories, and safety equipment manufacturers. Before the FIA Safety Standard is published, the design and safety performance requirements are validated by safety experts from different areas, such as doctors, engineers, biomechanics, competitors, and drivers from different parts of the world and with different backgrounds.

For a piece of safety equipment to be approved by the FIA, the safety equipment manufacturer must comply with stringent regulations. The approval process is regulated by the FIA Homologation Regulation for Safety Equipment, which can be found HERE. Once the equipment is tested by an independent laboratory, the test data and samples are analysed in Geneva by the FIA Competitor Safety Engineers.

The ASNs have also an important role in this process, as they carry out an initial analysis and guarantee that the manufacturer is reputable. If the FIA Competitor Safety Engineers conclude that the safety equipment meets the FIA standard and the FIA Homologation Regulations for Safety Equipment, the product receives the official homologation and is included in the respective technical list (all technical lists can be consulted HERE). The homologation is valid for five years and if the manufacturer wishes to continue to produce the safety equipment after that period, the manufacturer must request a re-homologation. To achieve the re-homologation approved by the FIA, the manufacturer must comply with the FIA minimum Quality Control requirements. 

2. FIA Safety Requirements

Following the assignment of the homologation, the safety equipment manufacturer must continuously comply with several other requirements defined in the FIA Homologation Regulations for Safety Equipment, which are:

•   comply with the minimum Quality Control defined by the FIA

•   label each safety equipment in accordance with the FIA labeling guidelines (i.e. every safety equipment item contains a label that is composed of two parts: the label that is produced by the manufacturer which has their information, the necessary information for competitors and officials to identify the eligibility of the product for a certain competition, such as FIA Standard reference, manufacturer name, a unique homologation number, etc. And the FIA hologram that contains a code for the FIA Standard and a unique serial number.)

•   each product has a unique serial number on the FIA hologram and for each unique serial number, the manufacturers must have a complete traceability file. 

Enforcing the quality control system, allows the safety equipment manufacturers to identify any potential issues with a product during manufacturing. If the manufacturer reports to the FIA a specific problem found during their quality control processes, the FIA and manufacturer will work together to find a solution to remove the non-compliant products from the market.

3. FIA Holograms & Post-Homologation Controls

Whilst people may try to copy FIA holograms and use them to sell counterfeit products, the FIA Hologram has the same level of security as is used on bank notes to ensure that it is nearly impossible to replicate. A series of checks can be done by the FIA, the hologram supplier and safety equipment manufacturer to check if the product is genuine. The full traceability program also allows the FIA to identify if a label has been forged.

The FIA Homologation Regulation for Safety Equipment also allows the FIA to carry out Post-Homologation Controls. These are done to ensure that every item produced complies with the strict homologation rules that are defined by FIA Standards, not just those that are tested during the homologation process. The FIA Competitor Safety Engineers target off-the-shelf safety products and puts them through a post-homologation testing process to ensure they remain as safe as when first examined. Post-homologation tests compare the off-the-shelf product with the original that was tested during the first homologation process.

Once a product has been re-tested and either passed or failed these tests, the FIA goes through the process of informing the manufacturer appropriately. Should a product fail such a test the FIA will take all necessary steps, in collaboration with the manufacturer, up to requiring products be recalled if necessary. 

The FIA Safety Equipment Homologation program has been designed to ensure that competitors can purchase high-quality safety products with confidence. That is why the FIA recommends that competitors should always look for the FIA hologram.

We encourage you to share this information with your technical delegates, scrutineers and competitors. To assist you, below you will find a post for your social media channels (along with this image) so that your motor sport communities are aware of this important information:

Social Media Post

(Please feel free to copy and paste this for use on your social media channels)  

For a piece of safety equipment to be approved by the FIA, the safety equipment manufacturer must comply with stringent regulations. The approval process is regulated by the FIA Homologation Regulation for Safety Equipment, which can be found HERE. Once the equipment is tested by an independent laboratory, the test data and samples are analysed in Geneva by the FIA Competitor Safety Engineers.

The ASNs have also an important role in this process, as they carry out an initial analysis and guarantee that the manufacturer is reputable. If the FIA Competitor Safety Engineers conclude that the safety equipment meets the FIA standard and the FIA Homologation Regulations for Safety Equipment, the product receives the official homologation and is included in the respective technical list (all technical lists can be consulted HERE).

The homologation is valid for five years and if the manufacturer wishes to continue to produce the safety equipment after that period, the manufacturer must request a re-homologation. To achieve the re-homologation approved by the FIA, the manufacturer must comply with the FIA minimum Quality Control requirements. 

Enforcing the quality control system, allows the safety equipment manufacturers to identify any potential issues with a product during manufacturing. If the manufacturer reports to the FIA a specific problem found during their quality control processes, the FIA and manufacturer will work together to find a solution to remove the non-compliant products from the market.

The FIA Safety Equipment Homologation program has been designed to ensure that competitors can purchase high-quality safety products with confidence. That is why the FIA recommends that competitors should always look for the FIA hologram.

#FIASafety #FIAVisionZero

CORRECTION

The paragraph in the ASN Safety Bulletin #20 about the "Vehicle safety equipment" should've read ...

Vehicle safety equipment

Safety Harnesses in compliance with FIA Standard 8853-2016

Safety harnesses in accordance with 1998 FIA Standard 8853/98 will not be valid from 31.12.2022. As from 1.1.2023, cars in compliance with any article of Appendix J must have a safety harness installed in compliance with 2016 FIA Standard 8853-2016. Please note that historic cars in compliance with Appendix K may be authorized to use a safety harness in accordance with FIA Standard 8854/98 or 8853-2016, depending on the class.

Best regards,

FIA Safety Department

If you have any topics you would like us to cover in future bulletins please send your suggestions to the FIA Safety Department.

To read the other articles about the ASN Safety Bulletins, please visit the FIA website. You can also read by clicking here.