A snatch strap is a piece of equipment used to help in the recovery of

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles ( motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles ( trains, trams ...

s bogged in

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a soil texture, textur ...

mud A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...

. Snatch straps are manufactured from

webbing red, blue and black woven as a flat strip or tube of varying width and fibre">auto racing harnesses Webbing is a strong Textile">fabric weaving">woven as a flat strip or tube of varying width and fibres, often used in place of rope. It is a ve ...

that is capable of approximately 20% stretch under load. This stretching property allows the strap to store

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its a ...

, which is used to pull vehicles from a

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

. Snatch straps are typically between in length, with being a common size. Snatch straps also have ratings of permissible working load - e.g. 8,000 kg.

Procedure

A snatch strap is used by attaching one end to a rated

recovery point A recovery point is a part of a car which can be used to recover the vehicle if it becomes stuck (bogged). Recovering a vehicle using a recovery point involves attaching a winch or a snatch strap to the recovery point. Recovery points should be ...

on the bogged vehicle (e.g. a recovery hook or loop on the

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpa ...

). A second vehicle is required to do the recovery. The snatch strap is laid out on the ground in the direction the bogged vehicle is to be recovered (either forwards or backwards), with an "S" bend in the middle approximately 1m in length. The recovery vehicle is backed up so that the snatch strap can be attached to a second rated recovery point on the rear of the recovery vehicle. The recovery vehicle then drives off, and the strap begins to stretch, building up

potential energy In physics, potential energy is the energy held by an object because of its position relative to other objects, stresses within itself, its electric charge, or other factors. Common types of potential energy include the gravitational potentia ...

, until the force keeping the vehicle bogged is overcome, at which point the bogged vehicle is pulled forward (or "snatched", hence the name).

References

{{reflist Automotive accessories Emergency road services