What if a racer could sign up for a program that provided them with a brand new head and neck restraint at no charge if they crashed? If they crash ten times in one season they get ten replacements for free. Or, the whiney wussie racer grazes the wall and wants a new one, just to be safe. It doesn't matter if the product is damaged, they get a new one when they send back the old one.

Here is the situation we are trying to address: A racer buys an ISAAC system and crashes. Their first thought is, "Glad my safety gear worked!" Their second thought is, "I wonder if my ISAAC has been damaged?" It is a perfectly reasonable question, and one would think a question the manufacturer would be able to answer. Well, we are able to answer it, but there are some odd economics involved. For one thing, the total cost of properly analyzing a system would be substantial, principally because of the time involved. Another factor is that it would be disruptive; we'd have to stop everything, conduct the analysis, and ship everything back ASAP so the racer can get back on track. We can do that of course, but it would be much simpler to just ship a new one.

Our present policy is that if you hit something hard you should buy a new ISAAC system. That stinks, but we have no real option. Racers don't like it and we don't like it, because you just know that some post-crash racer somewhere is saying, "I don't want to spring for a new one, and this one looks fine." This bothers us. A lot.

So, if you had already invested in a high performance head and neck restraint, how much would you be willing to spend annually to get a free new one? Something like a maintenance fee. Another option is to make it like an extended warranty, i.e. you just pay extra up front and it is good for X years.

The guy who does parade laps with his vintage car twice a year will not be interested, and the oval guys crash so often that they could strain the numbers. Nevertheless, we are convinced this is a service that can be very valuable to many active racers and want to get some idea of its perceived value, so please give us your input.

Any other ideas in support of this effort would be welcomed.

Thanks!