I’ve been in this situation a few times where I have something hanging out the hatch of a car. Often, there isn’t really anything to hold the hatch down. But at slightly open positions like this, the handle for the hatch is perfectly oriented to clip a bungee cord on and hold it down.
Is this just a coincidence? Maybe. Still pleased me when strapping it down in the parking lot
I do wish there were actually a hook of some kind, though, for when it’s significantly more open. Not that I’ve actually needed that.
as an automotive engineer I appreciate it when management allows us to add features to cars that are actually functional.
Should the rear seat striker be used to strap down things?
depends on what your concern is. the strap tension load isn’t harming it at all (mostly internal forces), and the inertial force of the load in regular driving is more or less in line with what it would experience in a crash with somebody in the seat, except much lower load
there’s a little bit of twisting on it when hitting bumps due to the unsupported middle of the boards, which is admittedly not great, but I’m not concerned at that at all because I pretty much never have passengers back there, so the chance of having a passenger, crashing in a way where this has been weakened enough to fail, and for it to fail in a way that makes it worse for the passenger is just not something I’m care about lol
I’ve always just latched the hatch door lock onto the bungee cord metal hook, on my hatchback.
none of the times I’ve had to do this have been with a vehicle where the hatch latch had a spot to hook onto, they’ve all had the receiver on the hatch and the loop on the trunk floor
Yes, use the bungee hook as the “hoop”, by shoving it into the channel the hoop would go into. Then hook the other side of the bungee to the hoop.
Me, staring at the unused roof rack:
not gonna work for 16 footers lol
also not rated for much mass unfortunately. although tbf those are very conservative ratings due to load variation possibilities
What I found is to "close the latch of the hatch using a key or screwdriver/ random popsicle stick. Etc. If you have a third row like my suv, you can even put the belt buckle in it and have it hook before you snap the latch closed. Then to open it using the tail gate handle as normal. And you don’t get an annoying warning beep because the latch is closed so the car thinks all is normal.
how does that keep the hatch down?
Always love to see a wagon be used for hauling lumber, show the truck guys that they dont need their pavement princess.
As for why there isnt a “real” solution to this, my thoughts are that its the same reason automakers dont put phone holders in their cars: it’s a liability and giving any feature that could be dangerous can be seen as permission from the maker to use it unsafely.
Like, I’ve hauled tons of stuff in the back of my wagons before (my XC90 even had a split hatch with a mini tailgate, very cute), but it’s not something I love to drive behind when other people do it, either. How many people do you think would safely use such a feature? All it would take is one not to and that’s a lawsuit. Not worth the risk - especially when most of the hatchback car companies would be just as happy upselling you on their full size pickup models!
Sorry, turned into a bit of a rant
Im not a truck person, but if someone actually uses their truck to haul shit around then that is by definition not a pavement princess.
A pavement princess is a truck or an offroad vehicle that is never used for any of the purposes it was engineered for, like hauling shit or driving offroad.
Also, hauling lumber with a truck is infinitely better than the dumb shit people do to haul lumber otherwise, simply because theyre too lazy to rent a truck for a day. The other week I saw someone with a few 12ft pieces of lumber sticking 6ft up and out the sunroof of their audi a4. Just fuckin rent an appropriate vehicle, its not that hard
The point is that they don’t need the truck.
it’d be pretty difficult to haul these 16 footers with a truck, though. calls for a big trailer unfortunately. I think their point is more that people say they need a truck for stuff like this but really it’s just not necessary, or even less convenient
luckily for me I had it just fine with the car, my 7ft trailer wouldn’t have helped me lol. although I did consider hitching it up just to ensure my stickout was covered haha
That’s what roof racks are for. I regularly transport long lumber there. Sometimes even full sheets of plywood.
like somebody else said, if the loop is just on the hatch instead of on the body, there’d be a spot to hook onto lol. like on most hoods that I’ve seen, where the receiver is fixed and the hook is on the moving part.
but yeah agreed on the truck not being necessary. I’ve hauled a lot of stuff in smaller cars than this, and safely. I wouldn’t drive this on the highway, but 15 minutes home on busy (so not high speed) stroads and residential streets? absolutely. this was an unusual load (typically I either have the hatch closed or use the trailer, been quite a while since I needed to have the hatch open tbh, many vehicles ago), but it was still perfectly fine. I made sure to say the incantation and perform the accompanying gesture before I left.
I loved my A5 Sportback for its utility. Though not a wagon, it was as long if not longer …around 4.7m iirc and could squeeze lots of stuff in as long as it was too tall while also being wide.
I have a wagon but the appeal of a truck is no vertical limit, so you wouldn’t have to disassemble, say, a snowblower with a non moving handle to bring it elsewhere.
The appeal would be higher if the bottom of the bed wasn’t ten feet off the ground
I have a wagon (P2 XC70) and a utility trailer for loads that are taller, like fridges, couches, etc. The only reason I would want/need a truck is to haul other cars, as even most SUVs don’t have the towing capacity to haul that much weight. Honestly I just want a wagon with a massive towing capacity, but that doesn’t seem to exist.
One of the things I love about the grand caravan was the engineering. Wish it was made by a higher quality manufacturer but dodge brands tend to do the neatest things.
I feel like I’ve gotta be missing something because I cannot find where you mention what car this is.
nice Subaru Outback (3rd generation)
it’s a piece of shit now but I guess I’ll keep it until it falls apart because there’s not really a replacement for it lol
trying to get a 2015ish Elantra Touring for when it does die
lol what’s wrong with it? i love my Legacy and if it dies i will rebuild it however many times it needs it! 💪
if you want a reliable car, maybe don’t pick a Hyundai… or another Subaru lolrust. subframe is gonna go eventually due to the obsession with salting roads around here
awe man :( that’s a damn tragedy. road salt should be outlawed imo
