Tow rating help!

[justinc]

Hi,

If a vehicle is sold new, but is a previous year model with a lesser tow rating ON PAPER, but the dealer fits the current model vehicles tow hitch before delivery to the older one, is this legal??? Will the insutrance company refuse to payout? The chassis etc is the same, it is purely down to model years and actual marketing . Just the tow bar is 'upgraded'.

Any ideas?

JC

[33chinacars]

Sorry Justin But from what I remember of this issue regarding cars you have to go with what it says on paper. Pajero's had this problem. No actual changes but tow ball limit increased. Couldn't be back dated. ( cost way too much) Unless the manufacturer is willing to fix this problem your stuck with it.

This is one of the reasons I moved on from my P38. Only 120 -150 kg ball weight . Still bit was this was increased to 250 kgs if it didn't have ABS & anti locking brakes. ;)

Gary

[harlie]

The towing limit of a car is the lesser of:

*towing capacity stated by the manufacturer – easily found in the supplied owners’ handbook to settle any arguments
*capacity stated on the towbar compliance plate
*capacity of tounge - also usually on compliance plate
*capacity of ball - stamped on top or collar

All of these items (by ADR) need to have a capacity specified on them. For your car the lowest number stated is the legal limit for both towing capacity and towball weight (downforce)

It is common for the towbar, tounge and ball to be rated above what the car specs allow, there is nothing wrong with this but you are still limited by the cars specs

[justinc]

Thanks guys, I rang dept of transport engineer today. He confirmed what I had suspected, and you had said. If a vehicle of a particular model year has a tow rating of X, and the next year it is upped to Y, then even if the chassis etc is identical, and the bar is just uprated slightly, you still can't retrofit it to 'make' the earlier one legally tow more without a letter/ directive from the manufacturer stating thus.

Horses mouth and all that :)

JC