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Cybertruck Pulled from Beach by Toyota Minivan (fuelarc.com)

submitted 14 hours ago by KayLeadfoot@fedia.io to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

62 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Another day, another Cybertruck being towed from somewhere nobody really ought to need a tow from. Take a look, Toyota Sienna to the rescue.

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[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

People using straps or chains typically think you need to “get a run at it” and take up the slack by accelerating away at 30mph, only to have their bumper ripped off

If it was attached to the bumper, it was never going to work anyway.

"getting a run at it" often does work if slow and steady doesn't work (i.e the pulling vehicle doesn't have enough traction). But you need enough slack to get the pulling car moving. If you just give it throttle on the spot, you'll dig in and have two stuck cars, at which point you might as well get a tractor to save time on pulling them out.

If you're going off roading though, there's other equipment to help you out. Have a shovel in the trunk. Some sort of boards or something that you can put under the wheels so they stop digging deeper through the dirt. I reckon could've gotten that cyberdumpster out with no pulling, not that I'd take that thing off roading (or drive it in the first place).

What most surprises me is that in the video they actually put something under the wheels of the cyberdumpster so clearly someone there has previous experience getting vehicles unstuck. If it was the cyberdumpster driver, it begs the question of why he'd take such a ridiculous vehicle off roading anyway. I've had better luck in FWD sedans, let alone cars with torsen-based AWD (Quattro!) or proper 4wd with lockable diffs.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 58 minutes ago) (1 children)

"getting a run at it" often does work if slow and steady doesn't work (i.e the pulling vehicle doesn't have enough traction). But you need enough slack to get the pulling car moving.

This is never a good idea as straps and chains have no "give" so all that energy you're putting into the strap will be released instantly once it goes tight, which will impart the same amount of force as if you were crashing into one another at the same speed (possibly worse since cars have crumple zones to reduce impact forces). Many people have died doing this when the part they're attached to shears off and gets launched through the window of the opposing vehicle along with the strap/chain.

They make recovery ropes that are specifically designed for this purpose that act like a giant rubber band and spread this force out over several seconds so you can pull with more speed safely.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 53 minutes ago

Oh I've never seen ropes without "give". There's always been elasticity in every towing rope I've used. They're sold in every gas station so I've never seen the point in using some random ass rope that I don't know the strength of.