The tag date is only half the story and that is the part that gets people hurt. A sling sitting in a clean dry shop for five years is a different animal than one that has been dragged through mud, soaked in oil, and baked on a truck bed in Texas heat. The real cutoff is not a date on a tag, it is what the sling has been through. Sun and chemicals break down nylon and polyester way faster than normal use ever will, and a 2019 tag on a sling that lives outside tells you almost nothing useful. I would also ask whether anyone has actually inspected the thing inch by inch, because cuts, burns, and worn stitching are what fail, not the year. A guy running a 4,000 lb load on an old sling with no real inspection is gambling with someone's life, and the tag is the least of his problems.