Yeah that's the thing with new cars, there isn't anywhere to hook up. My recovery strap with loop end won't attach anywhere, and my shackle won't fit into the tiny tie down points either.

I don't carry hook end straps, too many horror store/photos from jeep forums.

I went way overkill on buying a strap and am very careful not to nick it on anything. Mine is a 30,000lb one. I got myself stuck bad enough once that I used:

30' snatch strap
6' tree saver strap
20' towtruck chain
pretty much every inch of winch cable
Hi-Lift jack
a friend's truck to pull to

That was a rough day, but it's funny to look back on it.

I'd be interested in a synopsis of the issues with these kinds of straps.

To reduce those danger you can use a winch cable damper or improvise with a heavy blanket or coat.

Also be aware, with traction plate, they can be thrown back by the wheels...

Great thread, Tjin! Thanks!

I've had my Jeep for about a month now and pretty much just moved my vehicle emergency gear to from my old Civic. I never had tow straps in there but I added a couple today and am paying close attention to what else I can learn from the ETS gurus!

I'm fond of putting the hood up on my Jeep in those situations also. It may not be 1/2" steel plate, but it's better than nothing at slowing down whatever comes your way.

Those are meant for towing not recovery, so the hook can break under stress and turn into high speed missile. There's a pic of one went through both front and rear windshield missing driver's head by inches. There's also story of a pickup with the hook coming through rear windshield, either seriously hurt or killed the driver's girlfriend who was in passenger seat.

Yep, what are generally known as "snatch" straps are somewhat elastic and use that property to their advantage in extracting a stuck vehicle. Not knowing the difference and using a non-elastic "tow" strap for tugging a vehicle out of being stuck can be very dangerous. They are not meant to be yanked on the way a snatch strap is.

Plus, their strength rating is generally a lot lower than a snatch strap. This is the same reason you generally don't want to use a winch cable for yanking on, just slow and steady pulling motion.

Same for aftermarket tow hooks, you have to be very careful to mount them properly. I've seen some that were just bolted onto the bumper. Mine bolt through the frame with large, grade-8 bolts, lock washers, and locknuts too. I believe strongly in redundancy.