[ashis89]

It will be interesting to see the condition of these straps during the monsoons. The "ribbons" attached to the City and Etios look silly. No offence to the respective owners, it's their car, their choice.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Wow, I have never noticed these in Delhi. Not even once.

You'll find them on all the modded cars in Kerala.

Originally Posted by tharian

Just had to step out and saw this cab on the road and a car in my office lot.

These are not the usual tow straps. These look more like lanyards.

[sukiwa]

I have seen these straps peeping out of bonnet, clearly added for visual appeal not for functionality. If someone uses it for towing, front bumper will pull out rather the car .

[R2D2]

These are not tow straps for sure. This strap may be used to easily identify the placement of the tow hook.

[alpha1]

A question: people may put up these straps for fashion purpose, but what if they are really put to use accidentally? Do these straps have load bearing capacities?

On a lighter note, this thread kind of reminds me of the following :
https://www.thedodo.com/for-the-firs...605888880.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...why-180951888/
Some uncanny similarities ... don't you think?

[Rehaan]

I think there's 2 separate things being discussed here:

1) "Tuner" type tow hooks & straps:

source

These are a trickle-down mod, from the race-track to the street (where its effectively more for show). Just like spoilers to an extent, Blood group stickering, etc.

On the track, they make it easy and quick for the car to be towed off / extricated.


source

Some people with daily-driven dropped / stanced cars use these tow-hooks to protect the bumper from hitting the curb (eg. getting in / out of a driveway). In these cases, the tow hook hits/scrapes before the bumper.

You can see that this seems to be a horrible design (for functionality) as it would have no lateral strength.

They also have other uses at car meets:

2) Hanging branded straps:

As a BHPian, how would you feel if you got your car back from a service, and they had stuck a dealership sticker on it? Pissed right?

What about if you woke up one morning, came down, and saw someone had stuck a sticker on your car?

Well - this new breed of 'non-tuner' tow-hook straps seems to be just that -- MARKETING!

The good news for us is that they are easily removable with zero damage/residue.

The good news for them is that they certainly seem to have caught peoples attention

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by GTO

Can someone please share a pic so that it can be added to the opening post for clarity?

Spotted them on a LS 470 near my office today, some people are amazing...!!!

As can be seen, they are cheap imitations of tow straps which are hung onto the tow hooks using flimsy wire clamps which are too flimsy to hold anything but the satin strip that they are made of.

[dass]

I have seen them around for a while and I think they do the job that is expected out of them, that is to reflect light. Most cabs don't have a working tail light and hence this piece of reflective material is better than having nothing at all.

I personally would ensure that my tail lights are working, but for some, this may be a cheaper workaround.

[ROG_AK]

Originally Posted by dass

I have seen them around for a while and I think they do the job that is expected out of them, that is to reflect light. Most cabs don't have a working tail light and hence this piece of reflective material is better than having nothing at all...

Most (if not all) modern cars have built in reflectors in the tail light assembly / bumper so even if the lights are not working these still will.
For me personally I find these kind of distracting, your attention kind of gets drawn towards them.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ROG_AK

Most (if not all) modern cars have built in reflectors in the tail light assembly / bumper so even if the lights are not working these still will.

Exactly! And hence I was mentioning about the same couple of days back. The reflectors are there for a purpose. Both on the bumpers and the one as part of the tail lamp assembly that easily make your presence felt in case your tail lamps are not functional. But these guys who put these cheap straps will seldom know that anyway!

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I would like to gift them to concrete mixers rather than have it behind cars that have reflective tail lamp assembly and additional reflectors anyway!

[senthilalagesan]

Hi All, these straps are used in certain European countries by law enforcement agencies to determine whether a vehicle is overloaded or not. These straps are normally fitted by authorised agencies and if they touch the ground, it means the vehicle is overloaded and indicates a violation. But then, it is up to one's imagination on how to use them when there is no regulation

[PrideRed]

These strips have no function. These are just decorative and mostly adorned by cabbies. Looks like some of the service center guys have also started adding these instead of sticker they slap on bumper/windshield.

[prince0407]

IMO, these straps really look cheap and silly too. How would one look wearing a red belt with office formals? To me, it really spoils the overall beauty of the car. With due respect to the owners who have installed this, I would never install the same just as a show off. They hardly add to the functionality with the rear reflectors already being there. I doubt whether the people who have installed it have done it so actually to get some help at night or just for some fancy show off.

But yes, the tow hook certainly seems a worthy accessory and should be kept handy all the time.

[Alfresco]

Hanging stuff from vehicles is very old stuff.
Earlier there used to be chains for what some thought was grounding for the electricals.
Then came those tinsel danglers and black false braids used by trucks, buses and autos galore. This is particularly true in the NCR belt.
Many trucks/buses hang old shoes!!
Now we have these colourful straps.

If it is being used by many people then, most probably, it is neither a needed safety accessory nor technically required/correct; something akin to people putting up DOHC 16V stickers on 3-cylinder Omnis.

When some people start a trend, many others might follow due to some superstitious belief or just because it looks good or sets them apart or shows the world that they are attuned to the latest fashion.

Some might be genuinely using tow-straps but the price difference between the tow straps and these danglers must be large.

[speedmunster]

I have only one word for these ribbons.... UGLY. Tow straps definitely serve a purpose but not on regular road cars. Tow straps seem to be a trend in Kerala on most modded cars but nowhere else have I seen them.

Coming to these silly looking ribbons, I guess it is just a passing trend that some people are following.