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It is important to be aware that many manufacturers have specific conditions for their vehicles when used for towing. You need to refer to your vehicle manufacturer’s handbook, before towing – and even before buying a vehicle as the cost of additional or mandatory vehicle equipment may influence your buying decision. Always adhere to the conditions set by the manufacturer for towing with your vehicle – as failure to do so may void your warranty, cause mechanical damage or even result in an accident where you may possibly not be covered by your insurance.

Loading your vehicle

Unladen (empty) weight : This is how much your vehicle weighs when empty, referred to as kerb weight and tare weight depending on the manufacturer. ’Tare’ means empty but with water in the radiator, all of the lubricants on board and a token amount of fuel. ‘Kerb’ means all the fuel on board and sometimes 75kg added for the driver – although some manufacturers use their own definitions for this weight, and there is no universal standard. For all practical purposes both terms refer to an empty vehicle.

Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) : This is the total allowed weight of the vehicle – including all the passengers, fluids, equipment – everything except the weight of the trailer, and is specified by the manufacturer.

So – for your vehicle, get the GVM and subtract the unladen weight, and the difference will be the amount of weight that you can load into your vehicle (payload capacity).

Trailers have tare weights and gross weights as do vehicles. Tow capacity is the GVM or gross weight of the trailer.

Towing and Loads

If you are towing a trailer without brakes, the maximum tow capacity of your vehicle as per your manufacturer’s handbook will refer to the GVM of the vehicle plus the GVM of the trailer – ie the weight of your vehicle fully loaded including passengers plus the weight of your loaded trailer.

If you are towing a trailer with brakes such as a caravan, the maximum tow capacity specified will refer to the heavier of the GVM of your vehicle and the GVM of the item being towed.

Obviously, it is probably not a good idea to load your vehicle to maximum payload, and then hook up a trailer that is at the upper limit of the tow capacity. A specification called Gross Combination Mass (GCM) deals with this risk – this should be defined in your vehicle handbook.

Towball download is the download limit specified by your vehicle manufacturer – this is the actual load that is imposed by the trailer in its most heavily loaded state. Specialist tow places or public weighbridges can measure this for you. This is important especially in Australia, where we generally get trailers designed for a 10% download, which may mean that fully loaded, trailer may exceed your vehicle manufacturer’s limit.

Most of us only look at speed and fuel – and when anything else lights up on the dashboard of our cars, we either ignore it, hoping it will go away, or panic.

These days, the dashboard indicators can be complex – more expensive models with added features have even more indicators on the dashboard – so it’s no wonder that it appears confusing. The average car has around 25 dashboard indicators – while more expensive models such as Mercedes Benz can have more than 40. The more complex the vehicle, the more potential there is for serious mechanical or electronic damage.

The first thing to know is that the colour of the indicator will indicate the seriousness of the issue – red, orange, blue/white/green. If the indicator is red or orange – pull over immediately and consult your car’s manual. Red will indicate a problem that might cause damage to your vehicle if you continue to drive – and you will need to obtain immediate assistance. Orange is a warning indicator that means that you can continue to drive but need to seek assistance at the earliest opportunity. Blue/white or green indicators are informational, and may indicate when something is either switched on or functioning automatically.

Here is a list of common car warning lights:

• Front Fog light on (can also be green)
• Power steering fluid low
• Rear fog light on
• Windscreen washer fluid low
• Brake pad warning
• Cruise control on
• Direction indicators
• Rain and light sensor problem
• Winter driving mode
• Information indicator
• Glow plug/diesel pre heat warning
• Frost warning
• Ignition switch warning
• Key not in vehicle
• Key fob battery low
• Distance warning (to car in front)
• Press clutch pedal to start car
• Press brake pedal
• Steering lock warning
• Highbeam headlights on

If, at any time, you are not sure what the problem is, call roadside assistance or your NRMA car service centre, or your car manufacturer for advice.

With all of the technological advances that have been made in safety systems for vehicles, we still don’t have anything that could possibly assist in cases where drivers are alerted to children forgotten or left in car seats in cars – especially in hot conditions.

World wide, there are an average of 37 child deaths per year after having been left in hot cars for lengthy periods of time – of which 54% are the result of forgetful caregivers. In Victoria, Australia, 22-month old Noah Zunde died of heatstroke after having been left in a car all day by a mother suffering from “forgotten baby syndrome” – one of five children to have died in Australia in the past 10 years after being left in cars. The coroner’s report into this sad event has noted the lack of design standards in cars and called for the introduction of sensory technology to be used to alter parents when their children are left in the car.

Examples of these types of design features could include specialist mirrors which give parents a line of sight to the child once the car is locked, and video monitoring systems that beam a video of the child in the back seat to the driver – a reminder to the parents that they still have a child in the car. Some manufacturers in the USA are looking at including a logic sensor that can tell when a trip has begun, and can detect whether the rear door has been opened at the start of the trip, but not opened once the trip has ended. The car then provides a warning in the form of a beeping sound or warning light. Nissan is launching their version as “rear door alert” starting in the 2018 edition of the Pathfinder, and GM has “rear seat reminder” starting in the 2017 Holden Arcadia. Both of these systems use similar logic – and will sound the alert is anything is put on the rear seat at the start of the trip (not necessarily a child).

The busy working nature of many parent’s lives has made them more susceptible to accidentally forgetting their children. While the use of technology would not be a certain way of preventing such tragedies – anything that could help to reduce such incidents would save lives.