Gear expiry checker.

Safety gear labels carry a standard, and sometimes a date. Whether a given label is accepted is decided by the body that runs your event, not by the label, and not by this page. What the checker can do is show you what the FIA, the SFI Foundation or Snell has published about that standard, as read on 20 October 2026, so you know which document to look at and which questions to ask your event.

It only covers the rules our research could confirm from the standards bodies' own documents. For anything else, including labels we have not listed, dual labels and club-specific rules, it tells you plainly that it cannot tell from the label alone. Where a date matters, it compares the published date with today's date on your device.

How the checker decides

The checker reads from a short list of rules, each taken from the standards body's own document as read on 20 October 2026:

• FIA helmets come from FIA Technical List 25 (11 December 2024, still current) and Appendix L 2026, Chapter III. FIA 8860-2010 is not valid after 31 December 2028. FIA 8859-2015 has no List 25 end date yet, but the FIA has scheduled it to be dropped from 2036. FIA 8860-2004 and every Snell helmet are not FIA-recognised.
• Snell SA helmets have no Snell expiry for racing use. Snell leaves cutoffs to organisers, so the checker shows the few club and track rules we could confirm and otherwise tells you to check your event's rules.
• SFI 3.2A suits follow the SFI Foundation's specifications page: a five-year recertification period for 3.2A/10, /15 and /20, and none for /1, /3 and /5. The sources we read count the five years differently, so the checker gives no end day.
• FIA 8856 clothing follows Appendix L 2026 Article 2 and its 2029 amendment, and Technical Lists 27 and 74. For 8856-2018, the date on the garment's own label governs, so the checker asks you for it.
• Head and neck restraints: SFI 38.1 has a five-year recertification period; FIA 8858 devices carry no FIA use-by date.
• SFI 16.1 and 16.5 harnesses: the SFI page lists a two-year recertification period.
• FIA 8853-2016 and 8853/98 harnesses: FIA Technical List 57 says the date on the harness label governs for 8853-2016, and the FIA's 8853-2016 clarification note (15 August 2025) lists 31 December 2022 as the date 8853/98 harnesses stopped being valid. National bodies can allow them longer at their own events; our seats and harnesses page sets out what they publish.
• SFI 27.1 window nets: the SFI page lists a two-year recertification period. FIA net labels are not encoded, so they return "check your event's rules".

The explanations behind each rule, and where sources disagree, are on our pages about helmets, suits and underwear, head and neck restraints, seats and harnesses and cages, window nets and fire safety.

What this tool does not do

• It does not tell you that your gear is legal, valid or safe for any event. The rules of the event you enter, and its tech inspectors, decide that.
• It does not read your event's rulebook. Clubs, tracks and national bodies set their own lists and dates, and single tracks can be stricter than their club. We could not read the current SCCA club racing rulebook, NASA's rulebook or IMSA's regulations, so the checker does not encode them.
• It does not work out exact recertification end days from a tag year, and it does not compute an 8856-2018 date from a manufacture date.
• It does not check the condition of your gear, whether a label is genuine, whether a single homologation has been withdrawn, or whether parts such as tethers and helmet anchors match.
• It does not cover labels it does not list. For those, and for dual labels, it says it cannot tell from the label alone.

Check the current rules of the event you enter and the label on your gear before every event.