An incident worth talking about. Kinetic Recovery Accident.

[Moyshe Kapoyer]

Ive always either popped my hood open or opened the tool box lid to prvide shielding.

 

[dstefan]

Ive always either popped my hood open or opened the tool box lid to prvide shielding.

Agreed for winching, but I been wondering what would happen with the hood up in a kinetic recovery? Seem’s like a good precaution, but I wonder if the lurch as the stuck vehicle moves would bend the hood back and damage it?

Has anybody tried this?

 

[Vinman]

…in the end the soft shackle didn’t fail until the snatch nearly pulled out his Bronco’s recovery point and tweaked his front frame.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say there was nothing about this accident that was equipment related and it was all human judgement related.

I agree 100% on both points.

I shudder when I see people using kinetic straps/ropes like in the video, thats a ton of energy that is going to get released at some point, whether the vehicle gets out or equipment fails.

And how many times have we heard how much safer ropes, straps and soft shackles are due to no flying metal projectiles?

 

[SDDiver5]

Been following this on IG. Scary stuff. Makes me want to re evaluate my recovery gear, I think my recovery gear is all heavy metal shackles and a super old recovery line which has been used many many times in the desert. I realize the point of the video isn't equipment failure but human error, but it is a good reminder to have legit recovery gear. Imagine if he had a metal shackle and that's what came flying back and smacked him...

 

[SDDiver5]

Agreed for winching, but I been wondering what would happen with the hood up in a kinetic recovery? Seem’s like a good precaution, but I wonder if the lurch as the stuck vehicle moves would bend the hood back and damage it?

Has anybody tried this?

I haven't seen the hood up argument in years. It used to be the go to safety precaution when it was rock crawling and metal winch lines. Once the synthetic ropes in winches came around the hood up argument disappeared.

 

[dstefan]

And how many times have we heard how much safer ropes, straps and soft shackles are due to no flying metal projectiles?

Ronnie Dahl on YouTube (Four Wheeling Australia) has a really good video where he tests and shows the damage from both metal and synthetic lines. Remarkably he has some pretty clear video of synthetic lines rebounding significantly. It looks like enough that if the strap or soft, shackle or mounting point broke, I guess the line could snap that back too but that’s open to interpretation.
Edit: synthetic line test starts around 15 minutes

 

[Willsfree]

I don't see this as an equipment failure; we all know that anything made can be destroyed with force.
The actions of the tow vehicle were destructive and dangerous...period.
The inaction of the O.P. almost got him killed.
O.P. had his whole crew up the road to help him get unstuck, but he put his faith in someone with no regard for safety.

 

[Metcalf]

I agree 100% on both points.



I shudder when I see people using kinetic straps/ropes like in the video, thats a ton of energy that is going to get released at some point, whether the vehicle gets out or equipment fails.

And how many times have we heard how much safer ropes, straps and soft shackles are due to no flying metal projectiles?

I still would much much rather deal with soft rigging when it fails vs metal rigging. We have to transition somewhere, but I still keep trying to pull metal mass out of the system.

It looks 'bad' in the video, but they where very very close to having it be worse with the metal bow shackle mount failing on the Bronco side. If the bolt head of the clevis mount wouldn't have gotten stuck in the slot of the bumper, this could have been a much much worse story.

 

[Metcalf]

Ronnie Dahl on YouTube (Four Wheeling Australia) has a really good video where he tests and shows the damage from both metal and synthetic lines. Remarkably he has some pretty clear video of synthetic lines rebounding significantly. It looks like enough that if the strap or soft, shackle or mounting point broke, I guess the line could snap that back too but that’s open to interpretation.

Steel and synthetic winch line have near identical elongation at the failure point. The lower mass makes synthetic winch line safer along with how it fails. Synthetic line will typically strand failure and contain itself in the braid as the rope continues to fail. When steel line fails one of the strands on the outside will part and start to spin around the remaining core causing a tornado of sharp metal bits. I don't want to get hit with either one, but I will take a synthetic line failure over steel every time.

 

[Vinman]

I still would much much rather deal with soft rigging when it fails vs metal rigging. We have to transition somewhere, but I still keep trying to pull metal mass out of the system.

It looks 'bad' in the video, but they where very very close to having it be worse with the metal bow shackle mount failing on the Bronco side. If the bolt head of the clevis mount wouldn't have gotten stuck in the slot of the bumper, this could have been a much much worse story.

Don’t get me wrong, the vast majority of my recovery equipment is of the soft variety. I do still carry a short length of grade 80 chain and a couple of Crosby shackles in the event a stuck vehicle doesn’t have soft shackle friendly recovery points though.

I was one of the first guys to use an aluminum snatch ring a few years ago and when I posted pictures of it all I got was a hundred reasons why it wouldn’t work, kind of like when synthetic winch rope first appeared.

That video shows what happens when, how do I politely say “idiots collide”?
In the video he even states after the initial overly aggressive tug, both drivers give the thumbs up to continue.

 

[YetiX]

I don't see this as an equipment failure; we all know that anything made can be destroyed with force.
The actions of the tow vehicle were destructive and dangerous...period.
The inaction of the O.P. almost got him killed.
O.P. had his whole crew up the road to help him get unstuck, but he put his faith in someone with no regard for safety.

100% agree. I know next to nothing about recovery (need to fix that), but even I could see that Jeep was going way too fast.

 

[ITTOG]

Glad this is out there. I'm not an expert at this and rarely need to help someone out of a snowbank, so this is helpful...

...if you have an hour to sit there watching a video of a talking head. That could have been a lot shorter and to the point, and would help a lot more people.

Still glad it's out there

No doubt. Can someone give me the cliff notes version? Is it just the tow vehicle went to fast?

 

[Vinman]

No doubt. Can someone give me the cliff notes version? Is it just the tow vehicle went to fast?

Jeep was going way to fast when the kinetic rope tightened. The rope broke after pulling the Bronco’s bumper about 1-1/2” then the loose end went through the Bronco’s windshield striking the driver in the face and neck.

 

[ITTOG]

Jeep was going way to fast when the kinetic rope tightened. The rope broke after pulling the Bronco’s bumper about 1-1/2” then the loose end went through the Bronco’s windshield striking the driver in the face and neck.

Thanks.

Interesting that both attachment points had damage.

 

[WanderingBison]

I think this story is important, and I'm glad he shared it.

There are lots of lessons to be learnt from this story, but the one it reinforced for me was this one;

Should a pull be the first solution we use?

Let me explain:

I have had the "chance" on many occasions to either get stuck in snow or on a beach or to help someone in the same predicament.

Often, plenty of folks are willing to "pull someone out" and jump at the chance to lend a hand using a chain, cable, strap and, on occasion, a dynamic rope. But, often, I'm concerned about the knowledge of the Good Samaritan or the condition of the gear used.

My most recent instance was on a Baja beach when a 2WD rental camper van got stuck on a beach ahead of me. After continuing through the softer sand, I returned with my Maxtrax boards to help the driver.

After a couple of successful attempts getting back towards harder-packed sand using the Maxtrax, someone stepped in, offering to "pull them out," and proceeded to tie a steel chain to the stuck van and their full-size pickup. During the first pull, the chain snapped in the middle (thankfully not injuring anyone or breaking back windows ), and they tried again, successfully pulling the van back onto hard sand.

Why was this event and this video such a great reminder of my concerns?

While a "good pull" using your weapon of choice is a valuable solution, it comes with significant risks NO matter how good your gear or training/experience are!

We would have successfully recovered the van from the soft sand (as I have done many times) using recovery boards or traction boards; it would have just taken longer.

This video reinforced the question that has been on my mind recently: is it worth the risk to use a rope/cable/strap when traction boards would work?

This video made it clear for me - NO! There are just too many additional risks.

That doesn't mean there is no room for a dynamic rope or winch, but I'll keep a "pull" for when traction boards haven't worked.

At least, that's my take.


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