You open the boot to get the straps out and find a ball. Four lengths of webbing plaited together, two hooks caught where they should not be, and a ratchet in the middle acting as the knot.
Ten minutes later, the day has already started badly.
It is not bad luck or untidiness. It is physics, and it has a solution.
Why they tangle
A conventional tie-down strap is a long flat length of webbing with a metal fitting at each end. It is, quite literally, the ideal shape for tangling.
Every time the car takes a corner or goes over a bump, everything in the boot moves. The webbing slides over itself and the hooks find gaps to slip into. The more movement, the more knots.
And there is a second factor that tends to get overlooked: almost nobody puts a strap away the same way twice. When you have just finished unloading, in a hurry, you roll it up any old how. That badly rolled webbing comes undone by itself within a few kilometres, and from then on it is free to tangle.
The problem with excess webbing
There is a worse consequence than an untidy boot.
When you strap down a load and webbing is left over, that metre or metre and a half hangs loose. In transit, it flaps in the wind. It hits the bodywork again and again, and on a long journey that leaves marks in the paint.
If it is long enough and the anchor point is low, it can end up rubbing against a wheel. It is rare, but it happens, and when it does it is serious.
That is why the standing advice is to tie off the excess webbing. The problem is that you have to remember, on every strap and on every use.
How to store them if they are conventional
If your straps are not retractable, there are three ways to reduce the chaos:
Roll them towards the ratchet. Start at the hook end and roll towards the mechanism. When you finish, the weight of the ratchet itself holds the roll together.
Secure the roll. A rubber band or a hook-and-loop tie. Without one, it comes apart.
Keep them in a bag, not loose. A cheap fabric bag solves 90% of the problem, because it stops them moving against each other.
It works. The drawback is that you have to do it every single time, and that is exactly what you least feel like doing when you have just unloaded and it is raining.
How a retractable strap solves it
A retractable strap keeps the webbing coiled on a reel inside the mechanism itself. It works like a tape measure.
You pull and out comes the webbing you need. You pass the strap round, hook up and tension it by hand with the ratchet, exactly as with an ordinary strap. When you release the mechanism, the webbing returns to the reel on its own.
That changes three things:
- No excess webbing. Only what you use comes out; the rest stays inside.
- Nothing to roll up. The step we all skip stops existing.
- They do not tangle with each other. Each strap is a compact block with the webbing stowed away.
One thing is worth making clear, because it causes confusion: what is automatic is the webbing being drawn back in, not the tensioning. You still apply the force yourself with the ratchet. That is deliberate: you decide how tight to go depending on what you are holding down.
What it does not solve
To be fair, a retractable strap is not right for everything.
The length is limited by what fits on the reel, so for very long loads or for lashing down on a flatbed you will still need conventional straps. And the mechanism is bulkier than a plain ratchet.
Where it makes the difference is in frequent use: the bike every weekend, the bicycles every summer, the boat trailer. That is where the minutes saved add up.
One last piece of advice, whichever ones you own
Check the webbing now and then, in good light. Look for cuts, fraying, burn marks or heavy fading from the sun. Make sure the hooks are not opened out or deformed.
A strap left in the boot through two summers has taken more heat than you would think. And tired webbing gives no warning before it fails.
STRAPTOR makes retractable tie-down straps: the webbing is drawn back into the housing on its own and you apply the tension yourself, by hand. No loose webbing, no tangles.