Been using Dakine harnesses for 4 years, and used to work in a shop, first time Ive heard of it. Could have been one batch of bad welds that went somewhere???? Check your welds if its a new harness and if theres no cracks, no problem.
You could pm Ryland as he is a dakine sponsored rider and he might know more, but him personally, hes hardly ever hooked in.

I've not heard of problems with the "normal" Dakine spreader bars but there's been quite a few cases of the Dakine hammerhead pivot spreader bars failing in my area (including my own spreader bar).




The tube encasing the pivoting section splits open. Just stick to the normal spreader bars - the pivot idea seems like a marketing gimmick.

I think it was a bad batch. We've sold a lot of Dakines and have not had a broken stainless spreader bar returned.
I've seen the old alloy ones break but I think they are long gone now.

Mine snapped last season after a couple of seasons right at the weld.

Rich

My Dakine harness ripped in half during a kiteloop, and I dropped like a stone. Now I use a mystic and it's way more solid.

mine just broke at one weld, I was able to fix it up temporarily with an automotive hose clamp - been using it for just about a year....

My problems with the Dakine fusion seat harness on you tube

My Dakine Fusion seat harness cracked and broke one side of the hook while I was at cape range national park.
Scott from the kite shop pointed me towards a good welder in Exmouth who repaired it and saved me a good few sessions.

I purchased from Kitepower. Hook seems to hold together until just out of warranty.

And fails sooner if you kite more frequently than average. And if you stress it more often with jumps and loops.

The metal becomes hardened and brittle at the boundary of the weld. Maybe work hardened with use or quenched when welded.

I have had 3 Dakine Standard spreader bars break on me, all have broken at the welds. One went mid flight and left me hanging on to the bar, and the other two went whilst out in the surf. I do ride at every opportunity regardless of the conditions so lots of edging hard in the winter and daily use in the summer. Still happy with the Dakine harnesses and all have been replaced under warranty.

I measured the rod diameter used to make my various spreader bars.
And the forward projection from weld to end of hook. (leverage length)

Dakine 5.9 mm 75 mm
Mystic 6.3 mm 50 mm
North 6.3 mm 65 mm
Dynabar 7.8 mm Pivots

Come on Dakine. Fix it.

have had 2 dakine harnesses . very tough but both broke through weld on same side , thought it was me . have a mystic waist now and it is good but not as comfortable(usually if they are comfortable they are about stuffed)

I have used Dakines bars on and off for 20 years or more, I only use the standard one that comes with the Pyro waist harness, I used to windsurf every day it was windy and now kite every day it's windy, go pretty hard and have never had one fail.....

I am really surprised to see these reports on Dakine failures.
Ive used 2 x Dakine harnesses in 10 years and havent had a problem.
Been selling them for the past 3 seasons & havent seen a broken bar or hook come back - even once.
The couple of warranties we have serviced (3) have been for minor random wear issues of straps (1) material (2).
Dakine have replaced each of these with new without question.

From the feedback we get in the shop from all sorts of kiters on all sorts of brands I rate the Dakine right at the top re build quality & durability.In saying that there are quite a few brands that do the job well and even if they dont last the best harness is always the one thats most comfortable for you.
Its all about the cut & the moulding and your own body shape. Better a comfy harness that falls apart in 2 years than un uncomfortable one that will last 5 or 6.

So why does the hook fail for some and not others?
I think it depends on what type of kiting you like to do when you ride and maybe how tight you have your harness.

I ride flat water only and do lots of stuff with good boost, spins and loops.
On average, each tack includes one to two boost tricks and ends most times with a backroll transition.
200 hours kiting per year.
1.5 ? minutes per tack.
That's a fair bit of the hook with my weight hanging off the the chicken loop.
And is not just a static load. Quite some impulse load as well.
I figure that's at least 20,000 load / unload cycles per year.

I wear my harness quite tight so hanging from my kite applies a mostly bending load to the hook / weld.
If I allowed the spreader to twist up a bit it would load the hook rod up more in tension and I guess be less damaging to the hook.

With that workload my hook lasted a bit over 18 months.

Am I expecting to much?
There is still plenty of good service left in the harness itself. A testament to the rest of the build quality

I snapped 3 hooks clean break on one side of hook in 3 years using dakine fusion seat harness.Two of these where when I was jumping and turning the kite hard back to where I came from therefore putting heaps of upwards and sideways force at the same time on the hook.Those hooks didnt have the rod across that braces both sides,they do now.Havent had this hook fail for a couple of years now,but then again I have eased up a bit on what broke the other hooks.I do think they should increase their rod diameters and meet the standards that others have.