I dunno, over 25 years I've only had one car that's had a gas strut fail, that was on a Mk4 Astra. That was because it had a retrofit spoiler, so the boot lid was heavy and one strut couldn't hold the lid up. £10 from a scrapyard got me a pair of the uprated ones, which I've no doubt are still working on that car.

Some good quality scaremongering there. Just the sort of bullwossaname you expect from snake oil merchants.

Of course "this heavy part" (presumably they mean "the tailgate") will not "fall freely" when gas struts start to go, the thing sags. If it's falling freely, you've ignored the problem for waaay too long.

When the pair on my Zafira got "tired" and the thing started to tap me on the bonce in winter (rather oddly failing to kill me or paralyze me from the neck down in the process), I just bought a pair of unbranded struts off eBay from Germany. 30 EUR the pair[1] and they're still going strong three winters later....

[1] Presumably GM can justify 60EUR per strut(!) on top of that(!!) for silkscreening their part number and logo onto 'em.

Lol The Gingerous One, about the wood.

However, I’m going email them and ask them about the bit of wood. Will let you know what they say.

This is the reply they have send to my email.

Dear Bob

We can assure you that you will very pleased with our discovery. We have used advanced mathematical, computer and analytical techniques to ensure that our solution for failed tailgate gas struts is more than 100% safe.

And our solution is NOT a piece of wood, or broom stick or any other derivative or permutation of these ideas.

Please do not use any of these methods to support the tailgate/hatch of a car/van/people carrier as it is very, very dangerous indeed, especially in windy conditions. It is not just your safety but the safety of others around the vehicle, especially kids.

In any case, the piece of wood would get in the way and restrict the access to the storage area. Also, it can easily fail especially if you are loading/unloading a bulky or awkward item, and bring that heavy hatch crashing down and causing damage to the car as well as to life and limb.

Our solution gives you EXACTLY the same level of access as the original factory fitted gas spring struts, and is completely safe. In fact, it is safer than when the brand new car came out of the factory.

These gas struts are very finely balanced & designed only JUST to keep the tailgate open. Even a loss of pressure of 5% in just one of the gas struts is enough for the tailgate not to stay open (i.e. a failure condition). Also, both struts are required for the tailgate to stay open; so failure of one strut means the tailgate will not stay open.

Our solution is completely safe, and is actually safer than when the brand new vehicle came out of the factory.

Some other points of interest about our solution are (see our website for full details):-

- It is a truly inspiring & unique solution.

- A free solution that you can use again and again for free.

- We are so confident with our discovery that we can offer you a money back guarantee.

- A permanent solution. This solution will outlast any other moving part on your car, van or people carrier. In other words, you do not need to spend any more money on this problem again.

- Our solution also comes with some very useful & highly desirable (but unrelated) benefits to you.

- The car industry doesn’t really mind that your gas spring struts fail, because they benefit from this failure.

- Our solution is Green & Environmentally friendly

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions whatsoever.

Many Thanks

The support team.

A FREE*, SAFE, PERMANENT solution for failed gas spring tailgate struts