What tools should be carried in a modern car?

Well, you are certainly prepared for a riot situation. Do you actually know how to change bulbs on the 2011 Fiesta?

Jumper leads may be useful; and it could also assist other drivers.

For my 1993 202,000 miles Saab 9000, I carry:

- Space saver spare wheel, but no jack as it's broken.

- Spare bulbs

- Spare fuses

- Jumper leads

- A screw driver

THAT IS IT - END OF

Torch or worklight, definitely. Preferably a headband or magnetically mounted one. You can get one that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket, so it's always fully charged. I have a tiny but annoyingly bright wind-up one that lives in my pocket and came from Poundland. It's almost as useful as the Swiss Army knife.

Tow rope, if you have attachment points that you can get at.

Also, WD40 and gaffer tape. In winter, a lock un-freezer unless you've got central locking. A bottle of proper windscreen washer fluid, suitable down to -18C at least, in Winter.

If you're in isolated areas in Winter, a set of chains is useful. Take them out of the boot in Summer, obviously. If you can afford it, and are really going out into the sticks regularly, Winter and Summer wheelsets.

OBD2 scanner lets you tell the AA man what's wrong before he gets there, otherwise, it's not much use without the workshop and spares back up. IMHO, etc......

Just my two penn'orth, like.

Credit card. Mobile phone - with spare SIM for an alternative network. AA / RAC card.

Modern cars just don't break - and if they do, it's generally not something you'll be fixing by the roadside.

I agree with you 100%. (Something I never thought I'd say ;-))

I carry a small "legacy" kit for 12 or more years, but the only times I've used it is to do basic DIY when visiting someone's house.

Chris

I think that's a bit of a myth. They still have batteries, fan belts, hoses etc. It's far less common for the nasty electronic bits to actually leave you stranded.

But of the few bits that break and actually stop you nowadays, how many can really be fixed at the side of the road? Breakdown service and a mobile phone really are the most important, next would be water and a blanket. A modern car that is properly maintained is staggeringly reliable.

Batteries rarely fail instantly these days; you get some warning that it's near end-of-life, and can change it before you are stranded.

I would hesitate to offer anyone else a jump-start; it's possible to damage the electronics on the vehicle with the flat battery unless you have a surge arrestor like the breakdown services.

Auxiliary drive belts last up to 100,000 miles and more. If inspected at the proper service intervals, and replaced when needed, you shouldn't have one fail. The most likely item to fail here is the tensioner, and it's unlikely you would change that at the roadside.

WRT hoses, again, their life is much greater than back in the 60's or

70's when they almost seemed like a wear item! You anticipated changing a top hose every other year. I've not had to replace a hose on a car in the last 30 years, and that's on cars up to 10 years old. They generally show early signs of failure, so can be replaced before a breakdown.

Chris

Drive belts, tyres, wipers, bulbs. Locks freeze up in Winter, as do screen washers.

For the OP's list of intended uses, chains or M&S tyres for Winter snow.

Lights never get left on?

Urban myth. But you could well be right in not offering a jump start to a stranger. I was more thinking of accepting one.

Not by me, since 1964 ;-)

Always the first time I guess..

It's absolutely not an urban myth. I have first hand experience of a VW T4 having the ECU destroyed by jump-starting, and can quote many other examples from my step-son's days as an AA patrol. It is enough of a problem to be a sackable offence for AA staff to jump-start without a surge arrestor, and they went to considerable expense to build them in to their jump leads and battery boxes.

Chris

AA or RAC card usally does it for me

It's not entirely a myth, but it does involve having a loose connection to the battery or an utterly dead battery & not turning on the auxillary loads to absorb it.

The biggest mistakes most people make

1) undersized jump leads

2)trying to start the car with a flat battery almost immediatly upon connecting the leads and not allowing the donor car to put some charge in the flat battery first

3)Starting from an idling engine on the donor car you need to run the engine at around 2000 revs

4) connecting directly to the recieving battery with the earth lead instead of the chassis

And if you're worried about the surge then carrying your own jump leads makes even more sense.

and just turn the rear window demister on as well.

Absolutely agree. Don't want to start a debate on them but I fitted them for last winter and they were noticeably more grippy throughout the entire season and cope with heavy rain and deep puddles much better. When we had major snow before Xmas and people were abandoning cars and driving at a snails pace I was having a completely different experience :)

30mph in 6 inches of fresh snow was easy though had to use 2nd for enough power to cut through it... Cornering wise I managed 12-15 mph on wet ice turning into my road at a T junction before it started to understeer a little.

The only downside is that it's probably easy to get overconfident with the solid grip they appear give you while everyone else is floundering about unable to climb slight inclines and then overdo it. However in the 2009 winter on summer tyres I found it hard to stop once on a very gentle downhill iced over slope heading towards a main road when I was only going at walking speed. Had to use the handbrake to fully utilise the grip of the rear wheels in order to slow down as using the footbrake to the point where the fronts were about to lock only stopped me picking up speed without slowing me down.

Ergo I'm never using summer tyres in winter again despite needing two sets of wheels and storage space for the set not in use! In the long run they're cheaper too as they don't wear out as quickly in winter conditions.

I'm sure most of you will have seen this before but reposting for humour value:

:) Peter.

NEVER let it be known to your neighbours that you have a very good set of long jump leads:-)

This depends whether the demisters will actually turn on whilst your starting the vehicle.

Can you explain just how this happens? And how can you be sure it was the jump starting that destroyed the unit? Did you find out just what had failed and why in the ECU? A battery - even a flat one - is likely a better surge arrestor than any add on unit.

Hmm. I well remember an RAC man using his slave battery *in series* with mine on the SD1 when the starter refused to engage. And the SD1 has very crude first generation EFI. Which survived the 24 volts.

>

Hence the starte leads with surge suppressor.