Hey all a quick public service announcement here. For those of you who use cargo boxes that attach to roof racks, please heed. Earlier this week I was westbound on I-40 crossing the Texas panhandle with a Thule cargo box full of my kids' Christmas treasures. Wind turbines are numerous in the area because of favorable conditions. My wife was behind the wheel when a nasty gust of crosswind forced open the lid on my cargo box. The force of driving 75 mph did the rest, ripping the lid completely off. Wife pulled over immediately and I hopped out to do damage control. My chief concern was keeping the debris from causing an accident, and I managed to get most everything. Thankfully traffic was very light and 90% of the debris was in the median. Bottom line is don't rely exclusively on the cargo box's closing mechanism. Secure with ratcheting straps and you'll arrive with all your stuff. Live and learn...

You just need one designed for higher speeds

What does Thule say? I used their rooftop bike rack when I was racing some 30 years ago, and they were very well-designed and -constructed. I'm surprised yours popped open.

I have had my Thule cargo box through winds that were so ferocious that my main concern was whether my SUV would become airborne. So I think it must be more than just the latching mechanism. Maybe it is simply defective or got broken somehow?

If you are going to do something.

I've had my Yakima in some pretty nasty windy shit that buffeted the whole car and tried to move you into a couple of lanes over but never a problem with the cargo box itself.

Perhaps it wasn't fully latched? At least on my Yakima the key can't be removed unless it's fully closed and locked.

I have a SportRack (Thule’s economy line) we got hit with straight line winds, microbust, mini tornado, something. Felt like we got hit by a semi knocked us over 2 lanes into the shoulder.
Cars all around scatter and some turned 180*.
I thought for sure the box was gone. Nope and still bone dry inside.
I too am guessing you had a latch failure but the extra straps is not exactly a bad idea.

Anything on the roof should be secured with straps, regardless of how it closes, or attaches.

Safety.

Glad it all worked out. I'm sure they wind tunnel test these things to ridiculous speeds (modern highway speeds plus wind gust speeds combined can reach 200mph). I agree that it *shouldn't* have done this. I'm with the 'defective' camp on this one.

What brand and vintage was it?

It was a Thule circa 2002. Successfully drove 800 miles the day before with exact same load.

when it got down below freezing , a while back,
someone cracked open the neighbors son's thule,

now it has a basket ball sized hole in the back end.

he was pissed off , as it was not locked and empty

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
when it got down below freezing , a while back,
someone cracked open the neighbors son's thule,

now it has a basket ball sized hole in the back end.

he was pissed off , as it was not locked and empty

My Thule is either open or locked there are no other options. Certainly doesn’t excuse a dirtbag from ruining it.

I don't get the whole big plastic box on the roof thing. Here in MQT, the big plastic box is mostly seen mounted on the chosen millennialmobile, the Subaru CrossTrek.
A pickup truck seems called for.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I don't get the whole big plastic box on the roof thing. Here in MQT, the big plastic box is mostly seen mounted on the chosen millennialmobile, the Subaru CrossTrek.
A pickup truck seems called for.

We take ours on road trips, especially to the beach. Anything dirty or sandy goes up there. Keeps the inside of the car clean and allows more space inside for dog kennel and other temperature sensitive cargo.

I also totally get it on the Crosstrek. Adds a lot of storage space.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I don't get the whole big plastic box on the roof thing. Here in MQT, the big plastic box is mostly seen mounted on the chosen millennialmobile, the Subaru CrossTrek.
A pickup truck seems called for.

A pickup truck won’t accommodate a family of 5 that does a ton with the grandparents. If it did I would certainly own a Raptor.

They are invaluable for so many reasons. Our main purposes.

Skiing everything goes up in there and nothing wet and snowy goes in the vehicle.
Going to the beach everything that touched the sand goes in there so no sand gets in the vehicle.
Camping all the wet nasty muddy stuff goes in there and your vehicle does not stink since it could be a week plus before stuff gets washed and camping in the summer the vehicle interior can get over 100* and will start to reek rather quickly.

7 people going to the beach and Disney for two weeks takes up a whole lot of interior space even in an extended length SUV.




I got lucky and snagged mine brand new off Craigslist for $75.
I’ll gladly pay the $500-$600 for the super nice ones when I decide to retire this one.

Have now used it on the Explorer, Highlander, Sienna, and now the Expedition. It looks so tiny up there on the Expedition but it actually holds ALOT.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I don't get the whole big plastic box on the roof thing. Here in MQT, the big plastic box is mostly seen mounted on the chosen millennialmobile, the Subaru CrossTrek.
A pickup truck seems called for.

Had mine on a minivan with three kids and a dog. We limped home the last few hundred miles without the box but my son in the back was just about buried in the stuff that had been in the box.