Thule Easy Fit Snow Chain Guinness World Record

Guinness World Record

The record challenge: 12 people, 24 automobiles, and 81 Thule Easy-fit snow chains fitted in just 60 seconds.

After a tough and very stressful test, the Thule Easy-fit Snow chain has been announced as a Guinness World of Record holder. Thule Easy-fit is now officially the world's fastest and intuitive snow chain. It takes you only 9 seconds to assemble and off you go! The record challenge that was carried out in Lecco, northern Italy, 12 people, 24 automobiles, and 81 Thule Easy-fit snow chains was fitted in just 60 seconds.

This exceptional record was set on Monday, October 8th inside the Ice Sports Complex in Lecco, before the Guinness World Record judges. The motivation behind the Thule Easy-fit, Guinness World Record Challenge is to proof, once again, that Thule is at the forefront in developing user-friendly and fast-mounting snow chains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyuirPPzyrk

The start signal of the record-setting attempt was given directly by the Guinness World Record judge, Lorenzo Veltri, and right away the team of 12 started the quick, yet accurate assembly of each chain. The chains were positioned beforehand at a distance of 1 metre from the wheel. When the whistle was blown, all the record men began the assembly in a great hurry, driven by an extraordinary spirit of competition.

Surrounded by stadium-like cheers, the 12 record men assembled an average of 6.75 chains per person. Thus proving that in order to assemble each Thule Easy-fit chain, you need less than 9 seconds - TRULY A GUINNESS WORLD RECORD TIME!

Thule Guiness World Record

Why set a Guinness World Record with a snow chain?

Because at Thule we love putting ourselves to the test. In addition, we felt that the Guinness World Record would be an innovative and consumer-friendly way to communicate, precisely in line with our new Thule Easy-fit snow chain model.

We have launched the challenge to our commercial partners and to our company's more than 250 employees, and have received many requests to participate. So we accepted the challenge, which was also supported by the GWR organization, who immediately believed in our record idea.

The first step consisted in selecting the record men, who include blue and white collars, people who have been working for Thule for few months or for years, from all parts of Italy.

They were all shown the Thule Easy-fit for the first time in July 2012, and everyone fell immediately in love with the product due to its easy use: "with this chain, setting an unbeatable record will be child's play" that was everybody's comment.

Peter Barker, UK Business Manager at Thule comments:

"The name says it all: "THULE Easy-fit" brings the traditional passenger cars snow chains standard to the next level, with a huge step towards the easiness for the end consumer. This is a fantastic achievement which goes to further endorse both the quality of our products and the innovative designs that are internal development team are constantly striving to achieve".

How was Thule Easy-fit developed?

At Thule, product innovation is one of the basic elements of the company's strategy, and the focus on consumer needs is the main driver of all new products.

been working to develop the easiest, most user-friendly and fastest snow chain to be installed, and Thule Easy-fit is the exceptional result of such hard work. Thule Easy-fit leaves behind conventional snow chains. Thule Easy-fit means progress and innovation, and it present itself as novelty from both the technical and design standpoint.

*Thule Easy-fit has been awarded several times for being an innovative product:

- In October 2011, Thule Easy-fit won the prestigious Innovation Award in the Aftermarket category at the Paris EquipAuto Tradeshow

- In February 2012, the British magazine CAT chose our product as the Technical & Safety Innovation of the Year

- In September of 2012, at the Innovation Award of the Automechanika international event in Frankfurt, Thule Easy-fit was selected as one of the top 5 innovative products in the accessories category.

"And now we are proud of the fact that Thule Easy-fit has become a true record chain comments Alberto Guidotti, Managing Director Thule Snow Chains It is a one-of-a-kind product that has no equals on the market and that makes our company the unobjectionable leader in terms of innovation and customer focus."

Thule Easy-fit technical features

Why Thule Easy-fit is so easy, intuitive and quick:

1. Only 3 operations to get ready to drive:

- Extend rigid arch

- Lay the chain on the tyre starting from the top

- Open up the pedal and push down with your foot to tension the chain

2. Effortless

- No physical strength is needed to fit or to remove the chain

from the car

- The tensioning system is foot-activated

3. Accessibility.

- No need to work behind or above the wheel, where it is difficult to see what you are doing. Your hands must be placed at the bottom of the wheel, where there is more room.

Technical innovations:

Aluminium central bar: it represents a unique solution to tensioning the chain. It contains an integrated tensioning pre-set pedal, safety device and release buttons

Special internal rigid arch: it allows the chain to be fit starting from the top of the wheel, which is a more user-friendly way compared to traditional chains.

Design innovation:

Design is one of the distinctive Thule values, and of course it is also one of the distinctive elements of THULE Easy-fit.

The use of selected materials, as the aluminium for the central bar, offers a unique visual fusion between alloy wheel and snow chain, improving the appearance of the wheel when the chain is mounted.

Packaging innovation:

Thule believes that the concept of innovation should not be limited to the product, but that packaging plays its part too. The Thule Easy-fit snow chains are packed in a practical nylon bag that can be turned inside out and used as a mat that carries instructions. This ensures unprecedented comfort during assembly/disassembly operations, and avoids the typical problem of losing the assembly instructions.