The load stop brackets have greatly enhanced stability when I carry a 16' canoe on my Subaru. The product was shipped promptly and arrived in perfect shape in the original packaging, which was a tad shopworn, but... so what? I was after the contents, and they're fine. The missing star is to indicate my general dissatisfaction with Yakima load bars, which are (a) round, so the point of contact is tiny and (b) too slippery. That's why I needed these gadgets. I'd have stayed with Thule, but they don't make a mount that grips my Subaru's siderails.