So since my last post I directly messaged D3O on Facebook asking if it was true that you can't wash the armor.
First response was, as expected, that it's not recommended and to just use water or wipe clean.
I then responded with essentially "in that case, I goofed and laundered my motorcycle jacket at least half a dozen times by now. How can I tell if the armor is damaged?"
The response came in two parts. The first was basically "... I don't know. But let me find out."
The second, a day or two later, was, and this is a direct quote:
"Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
Unfortunately, there's no way for us to know for certain how several washes could have affected the performance.
Our advice would be to check the armor for cracks or rips. However, even if there's no obvious problem, it's impossible for us to say for sure that they are fine to keep using.
Thank you"
Without saying much that's very telling, but there's two ways to interpret this.
Way 1:
Like a helmet, there could be structural damage to the material that could render it less effective that isn't easily seen or identified, and it should be replaced if unsure.
That's all fine and good for something like polystyrene, that can be crushed and it won't "reinflate" back to its original form, but seems less critical or even flat out not the case with something like foam-rubber, which isn't exactly what D3O is but is essentially what D3O is.
Way 2:
We don't know what kind of damage detergent can cause to the armor because we haven't tested it enough, or at all, to see any actual repercussions, but the "boys in the lab" said that chemical cleaners can damage the armor and we took that as chemical cleaners will damage the armor.
In which case, so long as I don't see any identifiable damage to the armor, it's safe to launder, as I've been doing for years and will continue to do until further notice.
In all I think the general "remove before washing" suggestion is more of a CYA type of thing. "If there's a 0.001% chance that some guy will pour a whole bottle of bleach in with the wash and turns the armor into silly-puddy, breaks his elbow falling, and tries to sue us, let's just not recommend any washing at all."