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It seems this only relates to the racing version of these seats and not the street version ?
From memory there are two versions of these seats (at least in Europe), the street legal version and the FIA (no longer) approved track version.
Someone correct me.
During internal crash tests of the seat systems according to the “FIA standard for competition seats 8855-1999”, RECARO Automotive Seating found that under these specific test set-ups cracks in the seat shell may occur in the area of the front fixation to the steel adapter connecting the seat with the vehicle floor. In the case of an accident those cracks can potentially lead to a detachment of the shell from the adapter and as a consequence to a possible injury risk for the driver or loss of control over the vehicle.
RECARO Automotive Seating takes the quality of its products very seriously. Despite the fact that RECARO Automotive Seating is not aware of complaints or cases of damages or injured persons with regard to the issue described above, RECARO Automotive Seating asks end customers precautionary to refrain from using the seats. Due to the revocation of the homologation of the two seats by FIA as of now they are not approved for use in motorsports any more.
Relevant seats can be identified by their parts numbers, RECARO Pole Position SPG (FIA) starting with 070.98.XXX, RECARO Furious SPG (FIA) starting with 070.78.XXX, and by the text “Pole Position” and the common homologation number CS.997.00 on a label on the side of their backrests.
To solve the issue RECARO Automotive Seating is currently working on a quick solution.
Further information for end customers and registration of relevant seats is available through the RECARO HOTLINE. If you are calling from within the USA, please note this is an international call. Please contact the RECARO HOTLINE at: Phone: 011 49 202 2515 620. If you are calling from a country other than the USA, please check the international long distance instructions for your country. All calls are answered in English.
Last edited by FlatSix911; 12-27-2014 at 02:38 PM.
I just double checked, and for what it's worth, in Europe there are two versions of this seat; the track or FIA version and the street legal ABE / TÜV version.
I dont know what the physical difference is between the two versions, because other than the markings, optically they look identical to me, but someone here will probably be able to tell us. There must be some difference, because he FIA version is not street legal and the ABE/TÜV version is not FIA approved, unless it's just down to bureaucracy.
Anyway, long story short, this issue only seems to apply to the FIA version, as according to the explicit statement on Recaros UK website (which you can find by changing the language setting at the bottom of Recaro's home page), the ABE version is not affected and remains street legal. See link below:
Not sure how useful all this is though. And I don't mean to come across as all 'oh, but in Europe, bla bla bla..', but thought there might be some comfort in the fact that it applies to one version and not the other - maybe ppl with the effected seats in the States can get some clarification from Recaro.
I've spoken with Recaro both in Germany and here. I'm not sure why it is just now an issue, but it has been a long production run.
They are hoping for some sort of retrofit kit they would send out. Barring that, they would of course have to consider new seats. As per the conversations and the release, there have been no reported real world problems, but they are taking it seriously.
So for street use? Make your own call, but seems a long shot that there would be a problem. Track use? Again, make your own call, but I'm not going to risk it.
The Profi is different than the Pole Position. The recall is for the PP SPG and the Furious SPG. NOT the Profi. I think it is Profi SPA, btw.
The PP I have is FIA certified and has been recalled as verified by both the seller (Stable Energies in NJ) and by Recaro. Sad, but I'm caught in there.
If there is a non-FIA cert PP, I don't have that one.
The Profi is different than the Pole Position. The recall is for the PP SPG and the Furious SPG. NOT the Profi. I think it is Profi SPA, btw.
The PP I have is FIA certified and has been recalled as verified by both the seller (Stable Energies in NJ) and by Recaro. Sad, but I'm caught in there.
If there is a non-FIA cert PP, I don't have that one.
Recaro confuses the issue by using certifications and similar names and has changed names over the years
here's what I was able to dig up
The 2 left seats are Pole Position, the 2 right seats are PolePosition SPG(aka Profi SPG)
Bill,
What you have stated above the picture is incorrect.
The seats on the left side of the picture are Pole Position SPG (FIA) seats.
You can confirm the Pole Position seat by product number 070.98.XXXX (XXXX is the material and color). This is located on the underside of the seat bottom.
The seats on the right side of your picture are Profi SPG seats.
You can confirm the Profi SPG seat by the product number 070.91.UU11, also found on the underside of the seat bottom.
These are not related models at all, and the Profi SPG seats are not affected by the issue in discussion.
SPG is the term designating the fiberglass reinforced plastic material used in Recaro's race models, just as SPA is used for the carbon Kevlar composite they also use. SPG does not designate a model of seat, just a material.
What you have stated above the picture is incorrect.
The seats on the left side of the picture are Pole Position SPG (FIA) seats.
You can confirm the Pole Position seat by product number 070.98.XXXX (XXXX is the material and color). This is located on the underside of the seat bottom.
The seats on the right side of your picture are Profi SPG seats.
You can confirm the Profi SPG seat by the product number 070.91.UU11, also found on the underside of the seat bottom.
These are not related models at all, and the Profi SPG seats are not affected by the issue in discussion.
SPG is the term designating the fiberglass reinforced plastic material used in Recaro's race models, just as SPA is used for the carbon Kevlar composite they also use. SPG does not designate a model of seat, just a material.
Yes, you are correct but that is what I noted in the post, but many have called them PP SPG when they are really Profi SPG. plus there is now a PP SPG FIA and a PP and a PP carbon, I think that not all seats are called the same names in all markets
The attachment above shows the best current info that I could come up w/
In addition there is also a Furious which appears to be a PP by another name(at least in some markets) the Furious has also had it's FIA certification pulled