This week is Trailer Safety Week, utilized nationwide to raise awareness and educate individuals, businesses, and manufacturers on trailer safety. Trailer safety starts long before getting on the road with a trailer attached. It is important to properly prepare your vehicle before towing a trailer.
Pay Load vs. Towing Capacity
Before planning to tow anything, it is important to understand, calculate, and check your vehicles curb weight, payload, towing capacity, and gross vehicle weight. Curb weight refers to the weight of the vehicle without anything in it. Payload refers to what the truck can carry, for example passengers, luggage or sand in the bed of a truck. Towing capacity refers to what a vehicle is able to tow behind it. The gross vehicle weight is the payload, towing capacity and curb weight all added together. Understanding the differences helps drivers know what their vehicle can handle so they don’t get in a bind while on the road.
To reach the maximum capacity to carry a load, it is important to ensure that tire air pressure is set to the manufacturer’s recommendation. Manufacturer specifications can be found on the driver side of the vehicle on the doorjamb or on the driver’s door. Additionally, check the vehicles manual for manufacturer recommendations.
Hitch / Ball Combination
There are five classes of hitches. The higher the class, the higher the towing capacity. Most cars and crossovers have lower class hitches while larger SUVs and trucks may have higher class hitches. The traditional hitch and ball setup have a max towing capacity of 12,000 pounds. For heavier trailers, a gooseneck or fifth wheel setup may be necessary. A gooseneck trailer is a traditional ball setup but reinforced. A fifth wheel setup goes over the tailgate and requires a mount connection in the bed of the truck.
The height of the hitch should be adjusted each time you connect a new trailer to your vehicle. Trailers should ride parallel to the ground.
Hooking Up A Trailer / Testing Lights
Hooking up the trailer is not difficult but there are a few things to do to ensure the safety of yourself, your property and others. After connecting the vehicle to the trailer, link chains in a crisscross pattern from the trailer to the truck in case the hitch or ball malfunction. Ensure that old items are discarded of so that they do not fail while traveling down the road. In Alaska, trailers must have taillights, brake lights, license plate lights, turn signals, 2 clearance lights, 2 side markers, and 2 reflectors. Ensure that all lights configurations are present and working properly before driving down the road.
Towing safety starts with understanding the vehicle’s ability. It’s up to those towing items to ensure their vehicle can handle the load so the roads are safer for everyone.
If you suffer serious injuries due to an accident involving someone towing behind a vehicle, it is important to make sure negligence was not involved on their part. If negligence was involved, it is important to hold the other driver liable for their actions.
The Merdes Law Firm has been helping injured Alaskans for more than 30 years. It’s who we are. And while we hope you never need us … We’re here if you do. ~ Ward Merdes
Source: Road Show, “Towing a trailer: Everything you need to know” | Photo
