Part 5: Kinetic And Tow Straps

It’s time to talk straps, a key element when it comes to vehicle-to-vehicle recoveries.

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It is so easy to fall into the trap of buying the wrong equipment when it comes to recovery, especially recovery straps.

Straps need to be tested and rated for the task at hand. Forget about the tow straps that you get at auto shops or the local supermarket chain. There is no way you can verify that the straps have met stringent manufacturing requirements, nor typically do they carry genuine certification.

Please buy the correct straps from reputable manufacturers. This is the only way to avoid putting yourself and your passengers and others at risk.

YouTube is full of videos showing things that can go wrong during recoveries because of using the wrong equipment and the wrong application. Don’t become a statistic. Recoveries have the potential to be dangerous.

Before buying a kinetic strap, for example, it is important to take note of a few vital facts:

How much does your vehicle weigh?

Do you have properly-rated recovery points on your vehicle?

Have you received training in the use of it in a safe way?

Bear in mind that when your vehicle is really stuck (as in stuck up to its chassis and not moving), then it no longer weighs the 2.8 or 2.9 tons that is your GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) as stated on your license disc. Your vehicle now weighs THREE times as much. So 2.8 times three gives you a realistic ‘dead weight’ of the vehicle – a rather different 8.4 to 8.7 tons.