Thule Trouble

Florida to Arizona Trip started on December 27,2019.

On December 28,2019 in Western Mississippi, about three hours from New Orleans – the Thule Disintegrated, split apart in pieces with a piece slapping against the windshield on the driver’s side.

We have owned the Thule for more than 10 years and never had any serious problems – until that day.

On Route 10, just east of Biloxi, MS, as we came over a bridge, in the high-speed lane on a two lane highway.  We heard a loud bang and saw clothing falling out of the back of the car (out of the Thule). We had to pull over as soon as possible to avoid spewing our belongings all over the highway and into the traffic, with the potential of causing an accident. Getting off of the high-speed lane to the break down lane was a frightening experience. We had no idea what happened with the Thule. The traffic was fairly heavy and our winter jackets and other clothing we had tucked inside the Thule had flown far enough away that it was too dangerous to even attempt to retrieve them.

Once our Vehicle came to a halt. We jumped out of the car to see what had happened. Here are our pictures and a video of the situation below.

So we took the following action.
1) Broke off all the thule cover pieces since it was already ripped apart.
2) We had to locate a hardware store which was 30 minutes or more away in the cold and drizzling rain. We had to purchase a tarp, rachet straps, rope and bunge cords to secure our remaining belongings. Cost was $100. It took us almost two hours to complete this task.
3) It began to rain harder and we had to locate and then drive out of our way to the Thule Dealer in New Orleans
4) Purchased a new Thule for $820. We wanted the bigger one but we would have to wait a few days. We could not wait so we bought the smaller one. The process of locating the dealership, the dealership checking inventory, making the decision and installation delayed us by almost another 2 hours.
5) Reloaded everything and proceeded on our way. We stayed in New Orleans after that but got there so late, exhausted, and distraught after a lot delay and stress. We missed several appointments on that day and evening. We could not enjoy our stay in New Orleans after being so upset and we had our dog traveling with us which needed care. We cut our plans short and because of our stress, we ended up checking out of the hotel early, but still were charged for that night. However, we could not enjoy New Orleans and stayed at a hotel a few hours out of the way, adding extra hotel cost to our trip.