Detachable Tow Bar

[ester]

The thought of one scares me! the pictures even more so! Fwiw I never attach our break away cable to the tow bar itself as I figure if the trailer unhitched it could come loose without activating, it is attached to the truck chassis.

 

[AandK]

What an awful thing to happen, thank god your horses weren't inside and no one was hurt.

I have a detachable tow bar on my Jeep, it came with the car. Fortunately the bracket that is permanently attached to the car has a slot for the breakaway cable to clip onto, so I don't have to loop it round the swan neck.

 

[LizzieWizzie]

Just a couple of points, as previously mentioned it sounds as if I have an identical towbar fitted to my jeep - however, I am able to attached the breakaway brake cable to another part of the towbar - I have always been advised never to put the cable around the ball section. I have spoken to my mechanic on the phone - his response is that it must have been a faulty component and that he will check mine to put my mind at ease, however he has said that this is the first time he personally has heard of this happening. The reasons why I have never detached it is a) I can't get the damn thing off, b) when hit from behind once before the other car tried to reverse only to rip his bumper off as it had jammed onto the towbar. However I agree it mucks up the parking sensors which is my excuse for reversing into the garage door (twice).

I shall still have mine professionally checked as I expect, god forbid, if I ever had an accident the insurance company might use it as an excuse not to pay. (Not that I am cynical or anything)

Perhaps this may be one thing for ROG's advice

The breakaway chain on this old rice trailer is a heavy chain with a 'hoop' on the end, it is specifically designed to pop over the ball of the swan neck and could not be attached to anything else. We have a more modern breakaway cable also, but there is nowhere else on the car/tow bar that it will go around/through to attach safely.

Think the point here is a verified safe to use towbar which is double locked and securely fitted should NOT just detach from the car.

Clannad48 when I was shown the locking mechanism and how it worked I could never remove it either, couldn't even unlock it and I am by no means a wimp. It seemed to be fixed hard and fast.

Apparently not though! I would suggest definitely getting yours checked carefully especially if the two bar has suffered impact damage from something smashing into it.

 

[BlackRider]

With some cars you don't have a choice you have to have a detachable towbar (I was always nervous of the idea though!).

My Dad's car is the Honda CRV, and you can't open the back door with a normal tow bar attached. You'd think this would be taken into account when designing a 4x4!

PS - OP this was awful, so glad nobody got hurt x

 

[Tiddlypom]

Second reaction - what is the point of a detachable tow bar? I can't damage anyone's vehicle reversing into it, because the spare wheel on the back door protrudes further than the tow bar. I suppose it means thieves can't use your car to steal the trailer.... but besides that, genuine question, could someone enlighten me as to the idea behind a detachable towbar?.

We fitted a conventional fixed towbar to our 8 year old, then, nearly new, Mondeo estate. Unfortunately it kept grounding on sharp inclines eg speed humps, ferry ramps, multistory car parks etc. We changed to a Westphalia detachable tow bar for this reason.

OH is going to double check that we have a fixed point to attach the breakaway cable to. We normally put a tow bar mounted bike rack on it, and rarely, if ever, the horse trailer.

I am neurotic about correctly fitting the breakaway cable on the fixed tow bar on our 4x4. It has separate eyes designed for this as part of the main structure as bolted to the chassis, not the tow hook. It didn't stop the guys at the IW main service centre hooking up my IW 510 and waving me off as ready for a 50 mile journey down the M6, with the breakaway cable around the neck of the hook :eek3:! Luckily, I did my normal pre flight checks and put it right.

I may, possibly, have had a bit of a rant at the service guys... Who were remarkably unbothered by their error. "Oh, you attach there, do you, ok then'.

 

[Devonshire dumpling]

We fitted a conventional fixed towbar to our 8 year old, then, nearly new, Mondeo estate. Unfortunately it kept grounding on sharp inclines eg speed humps, ferry ramps, multistory car parks etc. We changed to a Westphalia detachable tow bar for this reason.

OH is going to double check that we have a fixed point to attach the breakaway cable to. We normally put a tow bar mounted bike rack on it, and rarely, if ever, the horse trailer.

I am neurotic about correctly fitting the breakaway cable on the fixed tow bar on our 4x4. It has separate eyes designed for this as part of the main structure as bolted to the chassis, not the tow hook. It didn't stop the guys at the IW main service centre hooking up my IW 510 and waving me off as ready for a 50 mile journey down the M6, with the breakaway cable around the neck of the hook :eek3:! Luckily, I did my normal pre flight checks and put it right.

I may, possibly, have had a bit of a rant at the service guys... Who were remarkably unbothered by their error. "Oh, you attach there, do you, ok then'.

Good for you ...
I am glad lizzie whizzie went to get the spAre trailer, I am glad it fell off and went through the hedge, I am glad I didn't pick up the trailer as I was going to with my Kia sorento ( fixed towbar) had I gone .. It would then have been fixed to the jeep with our precious cargo and towed up very steep hills to exmoor.... With massive drops to the river Exe below...... We she all never tow with a detachable hitch, and lizzie will never tow a trailer again as haunted .... My big boy climbed the breast bar last sat and nearly went through the roof of my trailer before he came stuck, I think a 7.5 tonne lorry is the only safe (r) option for us with big neds.

 

[Tiddlypom]

You have all had a dreadful shock. I am so sorry to hear what happened, and the tow hook should never have failed in this way.

I hope you do not think I was preaching or being smug. I did not intend to be at all. I was really just comparing fixed and detachable tow bars, having one of each, and explaining why someone might opt for a detachable.

Certainly I will never go have another detachable after what has happened to you and your friend.

 

[Devonshire dumpling]

No not at all ... My good for you comment was said sincerely not said sarcastically ... Trouble with text talk is there is no emotion. X

 

[case895]

Mine wore out and I had to replace it. As the trailer is heavy and my drive used to be tight (before I extended it), I had to do a lot of sharp angle turns and it wore the bar out.

 

[Tiddlypom]

No not at all ... My good for you comment was said sincerely not said sarcastically ... Trouble with text talk is there is no emotion. X

Phew, thanks for reassuring me .

 

[Devonshire dumpling]

Phew, thanks for reassuring me .

Lol .... It's always worth mentioning safety issues like where to put brake cable, lots of ppl also stand under ramps while closing doors, all worth bringing home to people, what happened yesterday just shouldn't happen, hopefully the manufacturers will take it seriously, if there is a flaw, it needs to be addressed , this bar us only 4 mths old x

 

[LizzieWizzie]

Phew, thanks for reassuring me .

Tiddlypom you should definitely rant! No witch hunts here, we're not like that at all

I just don't want the same, or god forbid worse, to happen to anyone else!

Keep wondering about the what ifs... What if the breakaway cable had been attached to the car elsewhere... With horses loaded I wonder still with the swan next detaching how catastrophic this would've been, as I was travelling around a slight corner at the time, speed was 35-40, I can only imagine the towing mechanism of trailer hitting road, yes wheels would break but where would the momentum and weight of two loaded large horses leave us all...?

Like Devonshire dumpling said earlier I am glad the turn of events were as they were, no people or animals were hurt thankfully, someone was looking down on us...

No one risk it! That's my advice... Not your horses safety or your own... I don't ever want to put my horses in a trailer again. Or pull one. And I am not remotely a nervous or inexperienced driver. I thought the loose trailer was going to kill the lady behind me, miraculously it didn't, and if loaded my horses would be dead. No doubt.

It should never have detached. It's just not worth it.

 

[sprite1978]

My Audi has a factory fitted detachable. They are only rated to take 80kg of downward force.

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

OMG, thank goodness you didn't have anything in the trailer. What heart stopping moments you all must have had.

 

[Flora]

Glad no one was hurt. When I bought my last Discovery, it came with a detachable towbar, but after reading lots of reviews and horror stories, I went for a fixed towbar. Would definately never trust a detachable one.

 

[YasandCrystal]

We have a detachable tow bar on our Outlander for boat and trailer (not horse) towing. I have to say I did wonder about whether these could fail. You can buy cheap ones but we opted for a well known brand fitted by a specialist company in order to be sure of safety.
What a nightmare accident - thank God no one was injured, but the shock will remain with you.

 

[EstherYoung]

Scary chickens :wibble:

The tow bar on my landie was detachable, most of the older ones are. It's not like the modern detachable ones though, it's very simple and strong - a bar and pin. I was worried about it when I got it, but every landy expert who I talked to assured me that part of the chassis would have to come off before the tow bar failed, which in a landie just wasn't going to happen. There were also plenty of fixed points to fix the breakaway cable to.

It was there so that you could either adjust the height of the tow bar (a useful feature that we used a lot) or so that you could swap it for an agricultural bar/ring fixing.

 

[meesha]

Omg, so so glad everyone is OK, horses and people, that in itself is a miracle. I had a BMW x5 and oh insisted on a detachable towbar and I towed an equitrek trailer with it with one and sometimes two horses loaded. Makes me shudder to think what could have happened, I now have a 3.5 tonne van conversion (pics in profile) and feel so much happier knowing they are in the same vehicle as me. The vans have as much room as the ifors and can be upgraded to 4 or 4.5 tonne in my understanding. They are not cheap to buy if correctly built but cheap to run.

 

[FfionWinnie]

A good reminder to anyone that the breakaway cable should be attached to the ring on the chassis if there is one, since let's face it any tow bar COULD fail and detach from the vehicle which would render the breakaway cable ineffective.

Very glad you had no horses on board. I have done 60000 miles towing a stock trailer (3.5T laden weight, much heavier than a horse box) on a detachable towbar with no issues.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I checked whether there was a fixed ring on our Westphalia detachable tow bar, after posting earlier on this thread.

There is, but it is positioned in such a way as I have to lie on my back and slither underneath the back of my 56 plate Mondeo estate to attach the breakaway cable. It is a good 2 feet in under the car, and simply can't be accessed by reaching a hand in underneath.

I imagine that a fixed ring is required for the tow bar to comply with safety standards, but in this case it is sited in a very impractical position, which will deter users from bothering with it.