I Never Leave Home Without These Survival Tools in My Car. Neither Should You.

Check out the above photo of a rental car stuck in sand. I did that. I did that during a trip to Baja, Mexico. Normally I would have driven my fully-equipped truck—but we had guests and needed rear seats. We had planned a casual outing to a new restaurant that was accessed by a dirt road, and I beached the rental. And, because I was totally unprepared, I ended up relying on the old frayed and knotted orange cargo strap in the bottom of the photo, which I tied to a fragile suspension arm, in order to get out. My equipment was inadequate and unsafe, and the situation could have gone from bad to worse, very quickly.

I’ve learned to expect the unexpected when navigating unpaved roads. That’s why I have painstakingly assembled a kit of survival tools for anyone who like to drive when the pavement ends.

One of those people is my brother-in-law, Ian. He drives to the cabin our family shares in northern Montana, and travels around the Mountain West in his stock Ford Ranger pickup truck. The biggest challenge he regularly tackles is the drive to Bridger Bowl to go snowboarding. And while he doesn’t deliberately bite off as much risk as my wife and I do, that doesn’t mean he should be unprepared. So, I loaded his truck up with the exact supplies I’ve listed below, and showed him how to use them. No matter where you live, or how you drive, you can benefit from the same stuff. Let me show you how:

Traction Boards

Unlike improvised solutions—kitty litter, floor mats, etc—traction boards are designed to work both quickly and reliably. Just shove them under your driven wheels, and they’ll dig into even the slipperiest of surfaces while locking into the lugs on your tires to facilitate perfect traction between the two. Then you can just drive out of any obstacle.

The teeth on ARB’s Tred Pro boards have been specifically designed to prevent wheelspin that can quickly melt and deform even quality nylon traction boards. Wheelspin will cost you money, and if you’re on a long trip, it will also break your tools, thus eliminating the ones you may need to use the next time you get stuck. Since preventing it makes them beginner-proof, they’re the right choice for most normal drivers.

I last used mine down in Mexico, to dig my truck out of a sand pit on a remote beach when dropping tire pressures and excavating with a shovel proved inadequate. Ian hasn’t used his yet, but with winter approaching, carrying a set will give him peace of mind while navigating icy access roads to the ski hill, or even driving through unplowed side streets after a heavy snow. Heck, I used them to extract a college kid and his Subaru from the street in front of my house last winter.

Recovery Strap or Rope and Shackles (With Appropriate Recovery Points)

If Ian ever slides off the road into a snow-filled ditch, or if he comes across another driver who who has and needs help, those traction boards might not be enough. In this case, he will need another vehicle to pull himself out.

This requires a device to connect two cars together in a way that’s safe and won’t cause damage (two heavy vehicles pulling on each other creates extreme tension. The solution is an elastic recovery strap or rope, paired with two shackles. The stretch reduces momentary load spikes that may damage vehicles, and, once you begin towing, will also help pull the stuck car free as the strap contracts back to its original length.

There’s a big caveat here: you can only connect the shackles to recovery points on a vehicle designed to support these forces. You can’t use the little screw-in tow eyelets provided on economy cars; they can shatter or pull free, producing potentially lethal shrapnel. Any quality 4×4 will include at least front recovery points. On Ian’s Ranger, and most other stock vehicles, you’re left using the two-inch tow receiver. Inserting a shackle mount into that will prevent the pin from bending under high forces.

ARB’s Weekender Kit includes that strap and two quality Crosby 3/4-inch shackles, all appropriately rated for the weight of most common vehicles, and houses all that in a convenient sheath. One of these is easy to throw in the back of any vehicle.

A Quality Air Compressor and Tire Repair Kit

Driving up to the family cabin involves a couple hundred miles of lonely two-lane roads through the rolling prairie. Should Ian get a flat, he could simply swap on his full-sized spare. But what if a board full of nails or an unexpected pothole, causes two flats at once? Roadside assistance can take hours to arrive. And that’d be time wasted, because repairing your own punctures takes mere minutes if you’re armed with the right tools—specifically an air compressor.

ARB’s $450 single-piston portable air compressor is a good compromise between inflation speed and price. One of these should last you a lifetime, and can easily be moved between different vehicles as you buy a new car, or go camping with friends.

I like the Boulder Tools Tire Repair Kit over the ARB one it mimics. Not only is it a bit more affordable, but it includes stuff like a pair of needle-nose pliers, extra valve cores, and a valve tool, so you have everything you need to fix a flat tire inside one box.

Additionally, an air compressor can help you reduce your tire pressure, which is key to tackling both deep snow and tricky off-road obstacles. Driving on these surfaces requires roughly half the pressure of what’s required to safely drive on pavement. The problem there is easy to spot: you’ll have to reinflate your tires back to the correct pressure when you return to asphalt. Compared to cheap emergency air compressors, a good one will reduce the time it takes to perform that chore, and won’t burn out under the stress.

A Quality Flashlight or Headlamp

Doing any of the above after dark can get both tricky and dangerous. Wearing a headlamp won’t just give you the ability to see what you’re doing, but can also indicate your presence to any passing drivers.

I’ve been using nothing but the Biolite Headlamp 330 for years now. It’s affordable, light, comfortable, and provides all the light anyone could ever need for tasks both near and far, along with several nights of life on a fully-charged battery.

Paper Maps

I know this can seem redundant in the age of smartphones, but a nationwide road atlas costs less than $30 and can save a lot of time and hassle. Stick one under your seat, and forget it’s there until you find yourself in an area without cell reception, or a power outage or natural disaster knocks out cell networks.

A few summers ago, we warned one of Ian’s friends (an engineer who worked on Google Maps) that they wouldn’t have cell signal for a large portion of the drive up to the cabin. They brushed us off in disbelief, but felt pretty bashful when they finally showed up to the cabin several hours behind schedule. A simple paper map could have prevented that entirely.

A Fire Extinguisher

Fires happen unexpectedly, and quickly grow out of control. Keeping an affordable marine fire extinguisher in your vehicle will give you the ability to fight both flammable liquid and electrical fires at once, so you’ll be ready if a fire occurs in a vehicle, home, or anywhere else.

Spare Clothing and Footwear

I like to keep a full set of spare outdoor clothing in my vehicles at all times. That includes everything from a warm hat and rain shell to long underwear, merino socks, and a pair of comfortable hiking boots. While I’m unlikely to need a full outfit change unexpectedly, keeping every item of a complete layering system in my trunk means I’ll have whatever it is I need, whether it be a clean pair of undies or a warm puffy jacket. And that prepares me for small emergencies like an upset stomach, on up to spending the night in the back seat during a blizzard.

I don’t think Ian is going to listen to me on this one, but luckily we’re close enough to the same size that he can borrow my stuff when we’re traveling together.