Recovery gone wrong - A timely reminder

No details needed at this stage. The one thing that every piece of recovery gear must have is strength. Ensuring that the gear you have is up to the job is vital. Cheap Chinese pulleys, straps, hooks or chains are a no-no. Having top quality gear AND knowing the correct way to use and to do so safely goes a long way to a safe and successful recovery.
With the proliferation of suvs on and off road I think that unfortunately we will see more people injured unnecessarily whilst performing a vehicle recovery.

Hope the chap recovers ok...

Details are vague as usual but bet there is more to it. A strap would probably dissipate its force before getting into a vehicle whereas if a towball broke it would fly right through.

Has happened several times before and killed people, like a 17yr old passenger in a Patrol when the ball went in the rear window through his head and out the windscreen.

Who has noticed the errors with the new DMAX ad on TV showing a recovery. Not too bright are they?

I wish that I had a link. At least four things that I can see are wrong. And one is very reminiscent of how the above accident happened.

We speak about safety etc etc, but as it has been for generations, teenagers always know best. Hey - I know, because I was one.

Phil

I have had to tow a few people out of trouble in the past and they always attempt to anchor off the Tow Ball, I explain why this isn't a good idea.

The last one wanted a tow to clutch start a Hilux diesel and he had a snatch strap and put it over my tow ball on a Nissan Patrol. I told him it has to go on the tow hook or no go. They do not realise the dangers involved.

I was a Driver on the Rail NSW and was on a 6300 tonne coal train with 3 x 3000hp locos close to the track was a Isuzu rail truck sitting on the chassis bogged they had a d4 dozer their but couldn't move it. Had been like it all day.

So stop train and ask if they had a chain, Yes we have one what loading is it probably 100T. So we affix it to loco and truck. I tell the truck driver to keep his head below dash as if it breaks it will take the cab roof off and he doesn't want to lose his head. So we are on a downhill and just let gravity do its job and it had him out in no time without any issues. He was so thankful as it would have been a major issue to get it out normally.

On a different TV recovery:Brisbane on WIN this morning - Breaking News (??????)

How many noticed that the tow truck driver pulling the ute out of the Brisbane River used the pretty chrome piping at the back as a recovery point for his big chains. You have to be joking.

Yep!!! A professional with a severe lack of brains.

Phil

Hi landy how are you ?

I did catch that on the news and I hope many others did and realize how easy things can turn sour when trying to perform a recovery

I am sure if you rang around local hospitals casualty this is a common type of accident and one that can be prevented by doing the job correctly

safety first in all 4wd endeavors

I often get accused of being too cautious on club trip recoveries but to me a snatch strap is the last course of action when bogged. The potential for an accident is all too obvious with a loaded slingshot hanging of your recovery points.
A tow or winch is preferred to a slingshot recovery. In fifty years of winching I have never seen a D Shackle come through the back or any window for that matter. In the last 3 years I have seen 3 incidents with Snatch straps breaking parts off a vehicle and one lodged in the front headrest of a mates vehicle, straight through the back window of his Nissan, and missed his head by millimetres.
Slower though it maybe I will winch every time.

RodB

When I have ever needed to use a Snatch Strap to extract a vehicle the first attempt is always a gentle tow , if that doesn't work we reassess the situation .

I have seen what can happen with just a broken Snatch Strap , a fertiliser truck was bogged out came the snatch strap a much heavier strap than what we would use for 4Wding , connect to another Spreader Truck , the broken strap dented the front of the truck smashed the grill and destroyed the intercooler and that was just the strap nothing attached to it .

Would it of had enough energy to come through the windscreen , probably not ,

If it had hit a person the injury would of been quite severe or worse .

There is an interesting story here from Greg Milton from ARB.http://www.perth4x4.net/forum/index.php?/topic/22238-snatch-straps/

If anybody actually has a rated recovery point on their car, can they please tell me what it is rated for and who rated it? Greg is right, there are no rated recovery points on cars unless the car manufacturer says so or an owner has taken the car to an engineering company that has carried out whatever modifications are necessary to the chassis and connecting point and signed off on it in writing.

Of course it takes two to tango with snatch straps so even if your car has been correctly modified, how do you know what condition the attachment point on the other car is in? Has it ever had a snatch strap on it or has it already had a hell of a hiding from straps? Is it suffering from advanced metal fatigue or rust in the chassis captive nuts or has it got a few more snatches left in it before disaster strikes?

That is the problem you face every time you use one. It is always the connecting point on the other car than comes flying through the air and kills you, not the one on your own car.

After you get all of this sorted out we then have the safety precautions. We are told to do things like snatch gently, use dampers, remove any obstacle from in front of the wheels and then last but not least we must get everyone not directly involved well back out of the way.

That sounds great then we start the snatch with a person sitting at each end of the strap and directly in line with it and wonder why so many have been killed or injured.

Anyone who thinks these things can be used safely is living in fairyland. In order for them to be safe we need three basic things to happen first. 1. The car manufacturers must design cars for snatch strap use and include directions for their use in the owner's handbook in the same way they list towing instructions. 2. The strap must be the weakest link in the chain. 3. Windscreen and rear window glass must be tough enough to stop a recoiling strap.

When we get that we can then worry about designing training courses for their use.

Looks like a good result in the Snowy, just outside Jindabyne.

I didn't see anything wrong. Maybe the towbar was used but it was just a Mazda family car and just a straight tow.

Phil