Isc triple action snap failure to close.

[evo]

I've use those snaps for ever and ever No problems yet but i'll keep an eye.

Mine, luckily was on a wire core non swivel. I noticed it was jammed pulling it out of my gear bag. I used it a few times and recreated it by cross loading the thimble from the wire on the eye of the snap... since I bought a swivel version and had it happen one while fiddling around with it on the couch building the muscle memory (am I the only one who does that?)

 

[Phil]

...we investigated and produced a design revision to mitigate this for future models.

Any way to tell if the ones I have are of the newer design revision? I bought mine post 2016 but I'm just curious if I put an older one side by side with a newer one, what would I notice different?

I checked mine yesterday and they seem stout. I would have to pry the pieces with some force to get them to overlap.

 

[rich_h]

Any way to tell if the ones I have are of the newer design revision? I bought mine post 2016 but I'm just curious if I put an older one side by side with a newer one, what would I notice different?

I checked mine yesterday and they seem stout. I would have to pry the pieces with some force to get them to overlap.

Hey Phil, if you can get me the serial number on your particular snap I would be able to let you know if it is the most current version. Feel free to DM me or hit me up at: rich@iscwales.com

 

[colb]

I had this problem a month ago for the first time. My snap had been in use for about a year. It jammed open while I was climbing and I sensed it rather than saw it as I clipped to my D. I was a bit rattled. It was very stuck, so it's not like I could just unstick it and go back to work. I had to look it over to understand the design and find the issue. A few minutes later I got the lucky combo and with a great deal of force/bit of luck got it unstuck. The plates had overlapped as described in the OP. For a few days, the snap had a different feel to it, and did stick again. Now it is back to normal feeling, but I'm remaining watchful. I'm very willing to switch to another snap for my next lanyard. ISC makes a lot of great stuff. Kind of wonder if this snap could be redesigned to address this issue.

 

[rico]

This is how climbers die. Thank goodness you caught it before something very bad happened....

Might be time for ISC to seriously consider a recall on this product...

 

[southsoundtree]

I've known of this defect for over 6 years.
Shocking they haven't changed it.

 

[SomethingWitty]

It's shocking that people want to use the ridiculous triple action snaps at all.
Carabiners go everywhere for me, but double action snaps are bomber and I understand why some people would prefer them.

 

[Chaplain242]

It's shocking that people want to use the ridiculous triple action snaps at all.
Carabiners go everywhere for me, but double action snaps are bomber and I understand why some people would prefer them.

They are ultra smooth when the work so I can appreciate them, however I have always leaned towards the double actions for your given reason. The only issue being concussion when you throw it over a limb with the length just right to cause some consternation and injury if you miss catching it...

 

[evo]

Here’s some photos of mine. You can see the first action is slightly bent.

 

[evo]

Admittedly it takes effort for me to recreate the jam, but once unexpectedly is all it too to scrap it. These photos show the super lack of wear. I honestly have used it for less than a dozen times.

 

[islandarb]

Lot of pics Jesse. Dump it and get some doubles. Bombproof.

 

[Treezybreez]

Fuck those ISC snaps...They are garbage with a very serious design flaw...I myself would never trust my life with one.....

Here is what I use....Love it....

View attachment 67661

It says, "made it Italy". That's not a Kong product, is it?

 

[Z'sTrees]

The double actions are getting hard to come by. There's a way to turn your triple back to a double quite easily if one were so inclined. Seems like it might negate the "stuck open" problem.

 

[New2trees]

Not a qualified climber, but as someone who has fabricated a lot of parts for race cars/motorcycles where the dangers can also be great I can tell you that this is a glaringly apparent flaw in design. Would cost them so little to recall them and simply replace the third catch piece with one made from a thicker material.....of course that would require admitting they have a problem. I hate to speculate, but I wonder if there has been a backroom sealed meeting where costs of action vs inaction have dictated the wrong path.

 

[SomethingWitty]

Not a qualified climber, but as someone who has fabricated a lot of parts for race cars/motorcycles where the dangers can also be great I can tell you that this is a glaringly apparent flaw in design. Would cost them so little to recall them and simply replace the third catch piece with one made from a thicker material.....of course that would require admitting they have a problem. I hate to speculate, but I wonder if there has been a backroom sealed meeting where costs of action vs inaction have dictated the wrong path.

ISC is not that kind of company. The scale is pretty small and the customer base is important to them. One death that is directly caused by an ISC product could potentially wipe them out (in the US at least) because of the way that social media spreads information. I've met @rich_h and heard about him for years. He is the sort of person who does things right. Even if he didn't have the ability to work through the beurocratic garbage to change what the company was doing, I know that Jason Diehl wouldn't be splicing these things onto lanyards if he was aware of a deadly design flaw.

 

[islandarb]

Folks the prob has been fixed. Read comments. @rich_h has addressed it.

 

[southsoundtree]

Hey Phil, if you can get me the serial number on your particular snap I would be able to let you know if it is the most current version. Feel free to DM me or hit me up at: rich@iscwales.com

@evo

 

[rico]

Folks the prob has been fixed. Read comments. @rich_h has addressed it.

Sure ISC has remedied the issue as far as production goes, but obviously there are still a lot of the faulty snaps is service. If the fella in the vid had not noticed the faulty snap before he sat back in his flip line he would be crippled or dead right now. Unacceptable. A safety warning and a recall/replacement program should be mandatory and you would think that ISC and all its retailers would have been all over this a long time ago..What the fuck are they waiting for? A dead climber?

 

[Merle Nelson]

Swing that looks like he may well be looking into it. It looks like he may well be ready to do all that he can do. I'll take other people's word for it that he is a great guy.

But, even if the offending snaps are old production and it has been redesigned. Even if there is a recall and a warning out there, I have never heard of it.

And since there could be old snaps sitting in people's gear bags waiting to catch an unsuspecting climber by surprise I'm surprised you would use the word "fixed". At some point a good company has "done what they can do" and my hat is off to them at that point.

We've had examples of companies doing that with life support tree gear in the last years and it makes me want to do business with them again. On the other hand there have been examples of a company absolutely not stepping up and not only did I stop buying any of their products but I cleared out all that I had bought previously.

(I probably went on far too much with this post. Should have just asked you if "fixed" is the right word in this situation. )

 

[climbstihl]

It says, "made it Italy". That's not a Kong product, is it?

Don't worry, it's a CT.