How to tow your vehicle without any difficulty

by IndianAuto Team | 24/08/2020
Share this post:
At times, your car gets break down or gets stuck in mud or when crossing a hurdle. In such times, there's no option but to tow the car out of the sticky sitiation. Our guide here will tell yu how to tow your vehicle without any difficulty

Your vehicle will break down! You just have to admit it. It’s one of the inevitable things in life.  So now, the big question here is that how to deal with it properly. You must get the appropriate gears to be able to tow it. Usually, people will recommend a tow strap. But is it enough? Trust me, you don’t want to do it the wrong way and make the situation worse. It means that without some suitable steps and instructions, you can push yourselves to further regrets. Not only does your car have to suffer more damage, but you also can hurt yourselves or even worse, the people travelling with you and on the road. Keep in mind that this is a serious business. Don’t mess up! Please have a good read through this article before you even start to do anything.

Step 1: Get yourselves an appropriate tow strap

In these modern days, any car drivers who don’t have at least one tow strap in their cars should be ashamed of themselves. It’s not that hard to walk to your nearest automotive store and buy a tow strap or two. A tow strap is a strap of strong nylon whose both ends are firmly attached with 2 metal hooks.  Since it’s made of nylon, it’s very light. So don’t hesitate and keep them in your emergency kit on the cars. That nylon strap can be your lifesaver, especially on the muddy roads.

ALSO READ

MINI Cooper EV Towing A 150-ton Boeing 777F

A lot of people will prefer tow chain or cable rather than tow strap because they are made of steel or iron. However, there are just not many differences between them. Moreover, in terms of safety and reliability, the nylon tow strap is superior. Just imagine a strap made of steel is fully stretched and suddenly snaps. You will have to pay more money for that toll.

One more thing, don’t you dare use any rope, strip, etc that you find along the road or inside your car. You don’t know if they meet the safety requirement. They could snap and cause more problems for you. Safety comes first!

A yellow car is towing a blue car

You need to know how to tow a car right

Step 2: Hook the strap properly to the towing vehicle

This step sounds very simple, doesn’t it? All you need to do is take the hook and attach it to your cars’ rear end. Wrong! A lot of troubles will occur if your mount the hook to the wrong place.  You need to find the mounting point every car has to correctly attach the hook. Why? Because if you don’t do so and mount the hook to other inappropriate places or parts, they will be violently pulled out or even affect other parts. So, you need to make sure that you hook the strap to the right place. It will also significantly support the towing process.

And to be even surer, you should give the strap some strong and quick pulls to test the security and firmness of the hook.

A yellow strap with hooks on

You need to choose the right tow strap

ALSO READ

HM Ambassador EV is Cheaper to Run Than Honda Activa, Can Tow a Truck!

Step 3: Mount the other hook to the car need towing

This process is not much different from step 2 but there are some points you need to notice. First, you need to check if the tow strap is twisted or not. If you just leave it like that and tow away, the strap will soon become wear flat. So, you should make sure there are no twists, knots after mounting both hooks on both vehicles.

The difference in this step is that now, you have to attach it to the front car’s towing hook. Most of the time, it’s located right underneath the bumper. However, you mustn’t mount the hook to the bumper because it’s made out of plastic and tin most of the time. So, it’s not an appropriate part to be attached. It will eventually be pulled out.

There are tow hook in the front of the car being towed

How to hook the car being towed right

Step 4: The pulling process

Once you have thoroughly checked both hooks at both ends, you are now ready to enter the pulling process. Both vehicles have to have someone in control the car, in case of emergencies like snapping strap, loose hooks, etc. It means that you must never tow any car that is unmanned. The towing car should be put in first gear so it won’t damage the engine. And the car being towed, of course, can’t actually do anything so it should be put in neutral gear.

ALSO READ

Next-gen Jeep Renegade Heading Towards India

One important thing any tower must remember is that you mustn’t run at high speed because it can cause the strap to snap. What you should do is start and run slowly at first until the strap is tightly stretched. Don’t be possessed by the F-1 racer’s soul and perform a burnout! That’s not how it’s supposed to work.Once the strap is tight, it’s time to tow. So right now, you still have to proceed slowly and steadily. You need to try to avoid abruptly braking as much as possible. Remember, the impact will affect both cars so you need to limit anything abrupt movement like acceleration or braking in order to prevent the strap from snapping and the hook from coming free. If the tower really has to stop the car, they ought to signal the driver in the towed car so that they have enough time to apply the brake and completely stop.

 

A hatchback car is pulling another car out of the mud

However, if you are so done with this pulling and towing or your car has suffered a lot of damages, you should contact a tow company and have some experts do that for you.

Tracking icon
Would you like to receive notifications with latest news and car deals from IndianAuto?