Towing with a non-tow rated vehicle

[sagebrush]

I know this has been beat to death here but.......

I got to attend a FMVSA/DOT compliance workshop for work. During a break I asked the "Feddot" about towing a utility (Teardrop) trailer with a vehicle that is "not recomended for towing"
His words "Would void manufactures warranty and be in violation of Federal statutes as vehicle is not rated to tow. And could be cited at local law enforcement's discretion."


Don't like it , not one little bit but there is the "Official "word. (For what it's worth) Next Feddi will probably have a different opinion.

Asked about same vehicle being rated to tow in Canada. "Canada is a different country and has different rules"

[canned o minimum]

Reason enuff to stay within the speed limit and not draw too much attention to yer rig...As I tow my teardrop with my vintage VW Bug !! I guess all ya can hope fer is that the cop thinks yer rig is "cool"

[PKCSPT]

Volkswagen told me it would void my warranty but I was at the end anyway.
As for the law, they haven't seemed to be too worried about it.

[Treeview]

Ford Transits aren't tow rated in the US...but they can be purchased with factory hitches in the rest of the world. Same vehicle...weird.

Besides what the Feds have to say ask how you plan on defending yourself in court if you have an accident. Negligence is pretty indefensible.

Tom

[canned o minimum]

Jus fer the record.. I like to cruise at 70 mph, even tho the "legal" speed is 55 ! Now I have a "standie" and it has 10 inch wheels..60 will be my new MAX !

[Shadow Catcher]

My speculation! Many non tow rated vehicles are in the EU because they require brakes. When I took my Subaru in for service with the dealership under warranty and they saw the hitch there were questions. I proved I had the brake controller and they could not say anything. This dealership BTW is one of the less scrupulous and I felt they were looking for an out.

[bobhenry]

Some of my fellow forum members just told me I would die

[Treeview]

In the closing scene of 'Jurassic Park' the survivors are sitting in the helicopter flying away from the island.

Jeff Goldblum says:

"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should"

How many scientists are towing with non-rated or under-rated vehicles?

The courts will sort out fault if there is ever an accident. What if there is an injury?

Tom

[Treeview]

Rated for towing... and it uses three trailer hitches

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17755597

[mckenney56]

I guess the DOT will have to crack down on the trailer hitch makers. Why is it I can buy a trailer hitch for a car that is "not recomended for towing". Maybe my hitch is only for a bike rack. I've decided to limit my trailer, gear, and passengers to the gross cargo weight for the car which is 849 lbs. That includes the passengers and anything else in the car. Curb weight of the car is only 2396 lbs. Where I tend to worry the most about weight is wearing out the brakes on the car that were designed to stop 849 lbs of cargo. My hitch, receiver, and ball from etrailer.com had a shipping weight of 48lbs, so I guess I can only load it up with 801lbs of stuff now. My fear is that my build is going to be to heavy for my self imposed restriction.

[angib]

Maybe you will end up in the US with the same system we have in Yurp - here you can only legally fit a hitch to a vehicle whose manufacturer has (1) approved it for towing and (2) specified the mounting points that must be used to attach the hitch. And the rule is about fitting a hitch, not using it, so applies even if you only want to attach a bike carrier.

The other side of the rule is that US trailer hitch manufacturers can decide where to fit a hitch and some of them do seem to get it wrong occasionally - I've heard of some VWs having the hitch torn out of them because they are bolted to the sheetmetal of the spare wheel well and not to the frame members (even unibodies have frame members!) that must be used in the Yurpeen hitch on the same model. But then are these maybe VW users who are trying to use the much higher Yurpeen tow rating for their vehicle?

My understanding is that US hitch manufacturers must only test that their hitch is strong enough when bolted to a rigid test rig - whereas I think Yurpeen manufacturers must do the test with the hitch mounted on a vehicle.

This law does mean that for some oddball cars, the manufacturer can't be bothered to approve the hitch - for example, a Mazda Miata cannot tow at all, when it would be perfectly big enough to tow a small sailboat.

[Catherine+twins]

by Treeview » Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:29 am

In the closing scene of 'Jurassic Park' the survivors are sitting in the helicopter flying away from the island.

Jeff Goldblum says:

"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should"

How many scientists are towing with non-rated or under-rated vehicles?

I live in a company town, and the town employer is a national laboratory employing lots and lots of scientists. I would have to say, after watching the summer boats and travel trailers come out, that lots of scientists tow with under-rated vehicles. Lots of geniuses don't have any common sense.

Of course, the trailer manufacturers don't help when they claim that their trailer's "dry weight" is 1500# (yeah, before they installed the beds and canvas and a thousand pounds of appliances, et al), and that they can be towed by "most passenger vehicles," sometimes even lumping "small cars" into that description. What they really mean is that it can be towed by a Ford Extinction or anything larger.

Catherine