I had a big off at COTA at turn 19 where I lost it on exit and hit the opposite wall. Hit front right first then spun around, hit with the rear and then finally pushing me out back on track. I was fine physically, bruised emotionally and financially hurt since the car was totaled.

Do y'all replace your HANS and helmet after moderate+ crashes?

 

Was there any impact to the helmet? if so, should replace. Probably a good idea to replace the tethers on the hans. Sorry to hear, I have seen a few cars do the same thing at T19.

 

Take it to a shop that does HANS re-certs and have them inspect it. Most likely fine but good to get another set of eyes on it. If the helmet had any impact it probably needs to be replaced otherwise its most likely fine. Sorry to hear about your car.

 

Sorry to hear about this. I'd also want to have the tether anchors on the helmet inspected if any significant force was applied to them (sounds like yes).

 

Have the inside of the helmet inspected for any deformation of the liner by someone who knows what they're looking at. I had a wreck last year with no marks on the outside of the helmet but some deformed foam inside. It was either tape bubble wrap to my forehead or get a new helmet.

 

Sorry to hear about your incident. I sadly know the feeling...

As all of the above have noted, take your helmet and HANS to a dealer and have them look at it.
At minimum, replace the tethers (something everyone should do every so many years anyway). Just like harnesses, If the impact was hard enough for the HANS and harnesses to do their job, it's likely they are somewhat stretched/weakened. Tethers are cheap and you want them to work next time.

 

Excellent advice in this thread, I have nothing else to add beyond saying I'm sorry you had an off at COTA

 

Little devils advocate on being over safe with tossing stuff.

A lot of safety stuff is absolutely overkill to replace after any accident or at set time intervals. Manufacturers love to say they recommend replacing it asap or with 'any' accident; it covers their *** without using any brain power and they get to sell a new one but when stuff actually is put to testing there is a lot of safety stuff getting tossed for no reason. I'd say don't toss anything yet if it's all very expensive stuff to replace and get it inspected.

Child car seats are a pretty good example. At one point in my industry we were destroying child car seats for bumper scratches for insurance claims because the manufacturers' position statements said must be replaced in an accident. Absolutely asinine to do so as there are more forces exerted on these things from putting ur kid in it, or hitting a pot hole, than a lot of accidents let alone a bumper tap. Fast forward to today and now it takes certain criteria to warranty a child seat destruction and replacement which is proof we were filling up the landfill needlessly. Age of harnesses is an interesting one. I 'enjoy' changing my harness every 2 years knowing full well OE seat belts have no expiry date and get reused after most accidents and are far more finicky than a dumb harness.



But there are certain things you need to be careful with. I'd get the hans inspected forsure even though it's probably fine (I also bet tehy recommend a strap replacement). Helmet if it didn't impact anything I'd pull apart and look for stress cracks where the hans mounts to it, or have someone inspect it; it's probably ok but the worry is the anchor points get pulled out in the next accident. pretty much zero chance of that but doesn't hurt to look. I'd also toss it instantly if it has any contact scuffing or if u know it made contact with your cage, but I don't run multi thousand dollar helmets so I don't mind tossing a helmet. My thoughts are a risk crushed padding = no thx. Crushed padding is of more concern than stress cracks in the paint or split foam to me. Leading cause of death in collisions, especially racing accidents, is blunt force trauma to the head, and it's by a huge margin.

Harness i'd be inclined to just toss but i go with 2 year ones as i get them cheap specifically so i don't cry when i toss them; but i'm sure almost every harness thrown out is fine. It really depends though on the accident. Spinning out and no really single hard impact I see little risk.

IF you're planning on saving the seat, the seat may be compromised also. Seats are tricky and easy to miss problems with because they often bend or twist, and it's only on careful inspection (or when you use it in your next car and are like what the heck is wrong with this thing?) that you notice they're actually screwed. It's probably the most overlooked safety device in my industry for getting missed there is something wrong with it. The bigger the person in the seat hte more likely it's bent. I've seen even very minor street accidents compromise a seat. The problem with aluminum and composites is they can crack, and that crack can get worse over time.

In racing specifically I'd say the most overlooked safety item for replacing is a racing suit/gloves. Fluids will compromise the fire protection. The story that stuck with me on how important that was is there was once a guy in my area who had his race car catch on fire and he actually needed his suit to save him. He got out very quickly and was safe, except his suit had a tiny little oil stain in it that was still evident after with washing. Because of that oil stain he got burned badly exactly where the oil stain was. If you got any sort of fluid on ur suit from the accident I'd probably not want to wear that suit again.