antistatic straps-what are they made of-do they work

The ones I have seen are rubber with a couple of copper strands.
Length so they just touch the ground when stationary.
Tyres are a good insulator.
I understand they do work.
Static doesn't so much worry me, but my wife is sensitive to the zap you get some times. So she lets me get out or get in first.

The strap will only stop the car itself biulding up a static charge from the air as it moves along, but this doesnt happen much, as this effect only works on plastic, and since the majority of a car's exterior is metal, this isnt much of a problem. Also, it can only happen in really dry climates. The static that most people experience from their car when getting in or out of their car, is normally due to sliding across a seat that is made from synthetic fibre, this act actually charges up the whole car as you slide across it and leave the car.
There is one very easy way to make sure you never get shocked. Always keep your hand firmly gripped around the metal of the door, the sill whatever you like as long as its the metal of the door, before you place your foot on the ground. This ensures you earth out the car to the ground through your foot and usually through your shoes, which you dont feel.

If you were not touching the car's metal with your hand as you got out, and just stepped out onto the ground, your leaving the car behind you, still charged. Then as you turn around and go to grab the door to shut it, remember your now earthed to the ground, ZAP! through your sensitive single finger as you go to grab the door to shut it! Some people say "well why didnt you get zapped as you were still partially sitting on the seat and with one foot on the ground?" Because the seat and your shoes together add up to a really good insulator. No transfer of charge.

You may have seen the video on the net of the lady who set fire to the fuel bowser. she got out of the car, starting fueling and some time passed before she then got back into the car, slid across the seat and then got out. This act charged up the car. she then straight away goes to grab the fuel filler, (the fuel hose was too good an insulator to discharge the charge) surrounded with fuel vapours, ZAP and then fire! The car's charge discharged from the steel of the filler, to her finger just before she touches it. This tiny spark ignites the strong fuel vapours there.

Hope this all makes sense.

My advice is to get one ASAP !

Works a treat, our Navara " zapps " whoever gets out of it first,,

I have seen a 1" - 2 " spark go from my finger to the fuel cap ( thank god it's not a pertol vehicle )

I spend $5 every year at Autobahn, and install one ,,, they work great

Cheers Mate
Bucky

ps ,,, be ready for " hey mate,,,,,, something is dragging under your car " , syndrome ,,, this happens to me all the time

The opposite of Bucky, above....

Fitted one on a Duunnydore once and don't reckon it was worth a tinkers....

I fitted 1 to the new Prado as we were getting hammered with a very large zap everytime we got out of the vehicle. Has done the job nicely. The one i have is a semiconductor material as there is no copper on it. Tested it with my meter and bugger me it was, funny though it wasn't expensive.

Gday
In my field of work, i am in contact with sheets of nylon and HDPE....When carrying this stuff around,one gets zapped at the part of the trousers where the legs join,,as this is the bit of me that touches the work bench first,,,,,,not real nice but do you think i should get a strap and hang it from my crutch????

Rubber with some copper wire and attach to chassis and leave long ,will wear down to size quick enough by itself , dont know if really works on the static ,but do know that it helps / fixes my young fellows car sickness ,, no stap = chunder , have strap on the vehicle = no chunder.

Fozzy.
Tyres are made from plastic and can build up a very large voltage, but most tyre manufacturers use carbon black in the tyre to make it look like rubber and it also makes the tyre a conductor thus reducing the charge. Eric.