Manera Exo failure

[BernieTomic1]

I was kiting yesterday, when suddenly I got a huge yank, faceplanted, and saw my kite, bar and harness fly away.

I swam in, and a guy bodydragged in the gear in sideshore conditions.

What had happened was the metal loop on the left side breaking in two, and the metal attachment point breaking off too, see the photos.
When looking at the straps, they look great on the right side, but in bad condition on the left side, probably due to the stress of the accident. The small one is half through, while the big one has a 3 mm rip where it goes through the broken loop.

The harness is about a year old.

At first I thought it went pretty well, but when I went out later, my back hurt a lot, and now I can't kite today.

Is this a known issue with the Exos?
Imagine this happening in a big boost or close to obstacles.

[BernieTomic1]

Broken loop/straps.

[maffhieu]

Wow scary ..!

[alexeyga]

I was kiting yesterday, when suddenly I got a huge yank, faceplanted, and saw my kite, bar and harness fly away.

Can't help wondering what were your first words...

Of the bat, it looks like your harness is too big for you (or the spreader bar too wide), the straps are all the way in. Not that it's an excuse for a failure, a buddy of mine who's big on mega-looping has gone through a couple of Manera's spreader bars (so far) due to broken hooks.

[Matteo V]

I am pretty sure that the welds on kite gear are not x-ray checked. But that is standard for most pressure vessels and other life endangering or life saving equipment. That is why most kite harnesses say "not for jumping or gliding".

Sometimes metal can fatigue when heat stresses are induced by welds nearby. Sometimes the forming process (shaping and bending) can happen at a point in the metal that already contained a weak point. Forming around this weak point can cause a crack or just a lower tensile area of metal to exist in the finished part.

Again, with no x-rays of the welds and parts, we wind up being the testing apparatus for these pieces.

Be aware that this can happen on any piece of gear you own.

[Blackrat]

The welds didn't fail, but rather the heat generated from the welds will cause the stainless to harden

It's stainless steel , it's doesn't fatigue well at all ....

[dwarf]

Love my Exo but this is scary stuff indeed. What does Manera say?

[windmaker]

Love my Exo but this is scary stuff indeed. What does Manera say?

This is very rare and I am sure they will replace it. Same happened to a friend of mine a few years ago on a Dakine harness...

[tautologies]

This is very rare and I am sure they will replace it. Same happened to a friend of mine a few years ago on a Dakine harness...

Its not that rare is it? I had so many dakine spreader bars go...it was mostly the pivoting spreader bar. I caught most of them before they actually went tho. I'd go through a spreaderbar every 3 months until I had a enough.

[Kamikuza]

This is very rare and I am sure they will replace it. Same happened to a friend of mine a few years ago on a Dakine harness...

Its not that rare is it? I had so many dakine spreader bars go...it was mostly the pivoting spreader bar. I caught most of them before they actually went tho. I'd go through a spreaderbar every 3 months until I had a enough.

Dakine had a habit of breaking hooks off up to a couple of years ago. Guess they sorted it... I've gone on to the Dynabar so that may explain the reduction in the number of breaks reported