Let this be a lesson to those of you who might, one day, need to tow an errant Lexus ES 300 out of a river for a Russian-speaking friend: be very careful about your attachment points for the tow straps.

It turns out that various small fixtures on the underside of the rear crash structure are not ideal for supporting the full weight of the car. As this video illustrates, they can fail under stress and lead to your buddy's car taking yet another refreshing swim.

Or you could always get some friends that don't drive their cars into rivers in the first place.