Are you moving house or planning a family camping trip? These situations require hauling more cargo than your car can store. Ensure you secure this extra cargo properly to prevent accidents on the road. In fact, as per the NHTSA or National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 700 fatalities happen yearly due to unsecured loads on passenger vehicles, resulting in 17 000 injuries.
While you can use tie-down cords, straps, ropes, or a roof rack to secure the cargo, your number one priority should be a load bar. Also known as cargo bars, these car accessories secure loads safely while preventing shifts simultaneously. Below, we will go through some of the most reliable load bars and how to use them to enhance safety.
How Does a Load Bar Work?
A load bar works by locking into place during transportation so the cargo on your car remains secure while creating more available space inside. Securing the cargo on your vehicle with a load bar can help you avoid multiple trips to the desired destination, thus saving more fuel while reducing the risk of errors.
A significant advantage of these bars is that they help prevent load shifts during transportation, thus offering stability and preventing accidents by stabilizing and securing loads.
With a load bar, you need not worry about your cargo becoming loose during sudden brakes, sharp turns, or sudden lane changes, quickly falling out of the vehicle, and causing dangerous situations for the driver and the people on the road.
Load bars are made of durable and strong steel, making them highly reliable and long-lasting. However, avoid falling for the cheaper made jack or paddle mechanisms available at affordable rates. Now let’s look at the reliable load bars that can enhance cargo security on your car.
- Load Lock Bars
These are easy and quick ways to secure the cargo back in the car. With a rubber foot pad that is either welded or bolted to the bar ends based on your preference, the load lock bars are firmly secure to the walls of your vehicle.
They also feature an easy-release system allowing users to adjust them quickly to the desired height. However, check these pieces every time you use the load bar, as damage may cause cargo slippage.
Load lock bars also come with several customization options with sizes ranging from 50 inches to 112 inches. So, they are suitable for cars and even for large semi-trucks and small pickups. In this category, you will also find aluminum load lock bars in lightweight designs and standard steel varieties perfect for carrying heavier loads.
Heavy-duty steel used to make these load lock bars is generally 30% thicker than the standard models, ideal for securing the heaviest loads.
- Jack Load Lock Bars
Like load lock bars, these systems use outward pressure to secure cargo in place and are especially useful in professional semi-truck dry vans and enclosed vehicles. You must pump the Jack Load Bar handle to extend it and apply an outward force that keeps the bar secure in one place.
And once the bar is in place, you can have complete peace of mind knowing that your cargo is secure. Additionally, a Jack Load Bar can help you improve and organize available car space used for transportation.
Also known as Steel Jack Bars, Ratcheting Cargo Bars, and Trench Shoring Bars, the Jack Load Bars are extremely durable and heavy-duty to secure the heaviest types of cargo. Previously used in the professional trucking industry, these bars have started moving into the industry for personal vehicles and vans.
- E Track Load Bars
Want to make the most out of available space in your car or semi-truck? The E Track Load Bars will be the right option. You can use the E-track systems as standard load bars to separate different loads and prevent load shifts.
Conversely, you can use them to create several levels and optimize generally unusable space. Such features make the E-track systems one of the most versatile tools in the industry for cargo control.
If the amount of cargo restricts you, you can haul in your car and use the E-track shoring beams to increase your vehicle’s usable space. It can help maximize the number of items you can move in your car. This ultimately increases fuel efficiency while decreasing the risk of being on the road for an extended period due to multiple trips.
Besides your car, you can use the E-track load bars at the back of semis, smaller trailers, and even in sheds or garages. Featuring wood beam sockets, they create layers in a crowded trailer or garage to secure items properly.
Some even feature hoops that add an extra containment layer and are perfect for securing several boxes susceptible to falling or shifting. Overall, E-Track load bars are exceptionally versatile, ranging in sizes from 87 inches to 103 inches, thus the perfect fit for all types of vehicles, trailers, or trucks.
- Hoop Load Bars
Highly reliable and valuable, the hoop load bars feature large metal hoops that increase cargo-carrying coverage area while offering more protection against load shifts. The hoops on these load bars can either be bolted or welded as per consumer preference, with the bolted hoops being more beneficial as you can remove them for storage purposes.
Nevertheless, be careful when using the bolted versions ensuring they are perfectly secured to your vehicle. Specifically designed to carry huge boxes susceptible to load shift during transportation, the hoop load bars come in large rectangular shapes to contain things that the normal load bars cannot handle safely.
Available in sizes ranging from 89 inches to 112 inches, these bars are usually made of heavy-duty or standard steel.
- Pickup Load Bars
Its sturdy steel construction allows the pickup load bars to haul heavy cargo without being too heavy on your vehicle. Perfect for regular use, these bars feature a simple ratcheting system to extend and shorten them as required easily. Available in sizes ranging from 50 to 73 inches, these bars can accommodate the requirements of all kinds of vehicles, full-size or compact.
Conclusion
Now that you know about the most reliable load bars, it’s time to test the load on your car by pulling and pushing on the time, checking all items individually, and making necessary adjustments so you can drive off safely on the road.
And regardless of how well you have secured the cargo on your car, ensure that you are driving in the right lane while maintaining the recommended speed limit.
