Thule T2 rack failure: Company responds helpfully

To its credit, Thule has responded to the case of Andrew Sell, who lost a bike off the back of his vehicle when the rail it was mounted to slid off the strut on his T2 rack. We ran a post on Andrew’s mishap and documented similar episodes from other mountain bikers.

Here’s the message Andrew posted to the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance list:

Thule got back to me yesterday, they have sent me a digital claim form to fill
out and are willing to pay for all bike damage and by the sounds of it replace
my rack.

I am waiting for my buddy to get a repair estimate from Downhill Zone in the
U-district.

I was also told that as of 6 months ago they are including a bolt stop at the
end of the rack to prevent bike carrier jettison.

Kudos to Thule for taking responsibility, but we still feel the company should do a general recall on the T2 rack.

The “bolt stop” on the main strut (backbone) that Andrew refers to is, on the T2 rack I bought just last month, simply a tiny Phillips screw. If the rail (spar) is loose enough to work its way to the end of the strut, it’s going to be loose enough to rock past the Phillips screw head.

The inadequacy of the Phillips screw and other deficiencies in the rack prove the need for a redesign on several fronts. In the interim, a recall to prevent Andrew’s (and others’) misfortune from repeating itself for countless others is the only decent course for a responsible company.