Kinetic rope through windshield!

[JohnGalt]

This happened on a snow run on I was part of last week. I was leading the group of 16 Broncos (he was at the back) and thus wasn’t present when this occurred, but did see the Bronco when we trailered it out. In any case, it was a pretty stressful and sobering situation that day.

just a good chance to reflect on how we handle recoveries, giving or receiving and how we’re prepared for emergencies. It’s a long video, but it’s definitely worth watching IMHO…. Stay safe.

 

[TurboS]

This happened on a snow run on I was part of last week. I was leading the group of 16 Broncos (he was at the back) and thus wasn’t present when this occurred, but did see the Bronco when we trailered it out. In any case, it was a pretty stressful and sobering situation that day.

just a good chance to reflect on how we handle recoveries, giving or receiving and how we’re prepared for emergencies. It’s a long video, but it’s definitely worth watching IMHO…. Stay safe.

Very good video and lessons learned with really good drone coverage of incident. Well worth the watch for anyone that may take part in vehicle recovery anywhere off-road or on-road. A rare opportunity to see and learn valuable lessons in the dangers of recovery, even when all the equipment is the best currently available. I would not have expected a soft shackle or kinetic rope to penetrate a windshield and through the vehicle like this.

Very grateful no one was critically injured. Please tell your friend thank you for sharing his story with us, his video may save someones life.

Reminds me of this tragic recovery video below.

Recovery Safety - Breaking down the Arizona Fatal offroad recovery - By Colorado 4x4 Rescue and Recovery

I had a high school friend have a hitch ball narrowly missing him as it went thru the windshield of his truck, therefore I as well as most of you are aware, Never Never use a trailer hitch ball and insert to pull another vehicle. Also please don't use cheap recovery gear or D-rings, someones...

www.broncoraptor.com

 

[JohnGalt]

I would not have expected a soft shackle or kinetic rope to penetrate a windshield and through the vehicle like this.

You and me both brother! It’s remarkable how fast that shot through and continued out the soft top after hitting both the windshield and the driver.

That said a 1” Recovery Rope weighs around 10 pounds and is remarkably stiff & heavy at the spliced ends. Then add all the kinetic energy from that incident.. ugh

 

[Apache 8]

I watched the video yesterday and was trying to absorb all the contributing factors. If I recall correctly, it was: 1. Inferior soft shackle 2. Significantly higher engine power on the final pull than the norm 3. Failure to realize the depth of the snow that the right front tire/quarter panel was in. Did I forget any?

 

[JohnGalt]

I watched the video yesterday and was trying to absorb all the contributing factors. If I recall correctly, it was: 1. Inferior soft shackle 2. Significantly higher engine power on the final pull than the norm 3. Failure to realize the depth of the snow that the right front tire/quarter panel was in. Did I forget any?

1. Failure to communicate / take control of his recovery. Caleb said that he was very uncomfortable with how aggressive the first pulls were. He could have stopped the recovery and reset.
2. There was the potential that the 1” rope was overspecced for the recovery as it probably had a higher failure threshold than the soft shackle (which threshold was questionable). Theoretically, if the kinetic rope had a lower threshold it would have failed first. This would have left the heavy, rigid end of the rope connected to the bumper.
3. Unmentioned, but he failed right tool for the job. He had a winch. If he used that it could have avoided some or all of those major shock loads.

After seeing the damage that the aggressive multiple pulls did to the frame horns and the bumper, I’m not so sure the soft shackle was really that “cheap”. (Note: some of that damage may have been pre-existing).

It’s highly possible that if he had used a steel shackle, the clevis mount may have failed sending a missile at the Jeep.

important to mention that I personally have made many of these mistakes on various occasions. Just lucky those recoveries were consequence free.

 

[Tye]

So how do you prevent this from happening? Less aggressive pull?

 

[JohnGalt]

So how do you prevent this from happening? Less aggressive pull?

IMO and I’ve seen/done a lot of snow recoveries in the last couple years (including two Subies and an Acura in my neighborhood last night!) It’s a quite a few things that were pretty well covered in the video (just a long video).

Short answer: A winch (which he had) would have avoided the huge shock load that was apparently required to reasonably recover it forward. Digging it out some probably would have been required to pull forward with either the kinetic rope or a winch.

 

[Dragoon]

Wow, I wasn't expecting that emotional of a video! Thanks for sharing because it's a sobering reminder that we always need to take time and have good communication during recoveries such as this.