Foldable Car Door Step Pedal - Multifunction Universal Latch Hook

A foot up to your own roof

Anyone with a roof box, a roof rack or a tall SUV knows the routine: one foot on the sill, one hand on the door frame, and a stretch that works right up until the day it doesn't.

This hooks into the latch striker on your door frame and gives you a proper step to stand on, at a height where you can actually reach the roof and see what you are doing up there.

It hooks the latch, not the door

The hook drops over the U-shaped metal striker on the door frame — the loop the door latches onto — so your weight goes into the body of the car, not into the door or its hinges. Open the door, hook it on, fold the platform down, step up. It comes off just as fast.

It is also a window breaker and a belt cutter

There is a hardened point at one end for breaking side glass, and a recessed blade for cutting a jammed seat belt. That is the reason it earns its place in the door pocket rather than the boot — it is a step ninety-nine days out of a hundred, and on the hundredth it is the tool you cannot go and fetch.

Folds to about the size of a phone

Closed, it sits flat in a door pocket or a glovebox. A step that lives in the garage is a step you do not have when you need it, which is the entire argument for one that folds.

Check your door frame before you order

It needs an exposed U-shaped latch striker to hook onto. Most cars, vans and SUVs have one — open a front door and look at the pillar where the door closes. If yours is flush or fully shrouded in plastic, this will not sit on it. Rated to 400 lb, so it takes a heavier person and a bag together.

Four colours

Black, silver, orange or white. Orange is worth a thought if it is going to live loose in a door pocket — you can find it in the dark.

Specifications

• Fits: vehicles with an exposed U-shaped door latch striker
• Weight capacity: 400 lb
• Also does: window breaker point and seat belt cutter
• Folds: flat, to roughly phone size
• Colours: black, silver, orange or white
• In the box: one folding door step

Stand on it square, with the door held open and your weight straight down through the platform — do not push sideways or bounce on it. Check the hook is fully seated on the striker before you put weight on it. The blade and the breaker point are sharp; keep it away from children.