The steric effects in inelastic scattering of NO and He, a system where repulsive interactions dominate, were discussed. The dependence of the integral inelastic cross section on the incoming λ-doublet component was observed as a function of the final rotational and spin-orbit state. The measured steric asymmetries were found to be significantly larger than observed for NO-Ar scattering. Analysis showed that the restricted coupled-cluster methods including single, double and noniterated triple excitations [RCCSD(T)] potential energy surface (PES) of He-NO was reliable and was slightly better than the CEPA PES.