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TRAILER TOWING
✽ ✽
NOTICEPulling a trailer improperly can
damage your vehicle and result in
costly repairs not covered by your
warranty. To pull a trailer correctly,
follow the advice in this section. Your vehicle can tow a trailer. To
identify what the vehicle trailering
capacity is for your vehicle, you
should read the information in
“Weight of the Trailer” that appears
later in this section.
Remember that trailering is different
than just driving your vehicle by itself.
Trailering means changes in han-
dling, durability, and fuel economy.
Successful, safe trailering requires
correct equipment, and it has to be
used properly.This section contains many time-
tested, important trailering tips and
safety rules. Many of these are
important for your safety and that of
your passengers. Please read this
section carefully before you pull a
trailer.
Load-pulling components such as
the engine, transaxle, wheel assem-
blies, and tires are forced to work
harder against the load of the added
weight. The engine is required to
operate at relatively higher speeds
and under greater loads. This addi-
tional burden generates extra heat.
The trailer also adds considerably to
wind resistance, increasing the
pulling requirements.
If you do decide to pull a trailerHere are some important points if
you decide to pull a trailer:
State, provincial, county and
municipal government have vary-
ing trailering laws. Make sure your
hitch, mirrors, lights and wiring
arrangements are legal, not only
where you live, but also where
you’ll be driving. A good source for
this information is provincial or
local law enforcement agencies.
Consider using a sway control. You
can ask a hitch dealer about sway
control.
After your odometer indicates 800
km (500 miles) or more, you can
tow a trailer. For the first 800 km
(500 miles) that you tow a trailer,
don’t drive over 80 km/h (50 mph)
and don’t make starts at full throt-
tle. This helps your engine and
other parts of your vehicle “wear” in
at the heavier loads.
Always drive your vehicle at a mod-
erate speed (less than 100 km/h).
The important considerations have
to do with weight:
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VEHICLE LOAD LIMITTire and loading information
labelThe tire label located on the driver's
door sill gives the original tire size,
cold tire pressures recommended for
your vehicle, the number of people
that can be in your vehicle and vehi-
cle capacity weight.
Steps for determining correct
load limit1. Locate the statement "The com-
bined weight of occupants and
cargo should never exceed XXX
kg or XXX lbs.'' on your vehicle's
placard.
2. Determine the combined weight of
the driver and passengers that will
be riding in your vehicle.
3. Subtract the combined weight of
the driver and passengers from
XXX kg or XXX lbs.
4. The resulting figure equals the
available amount of cargo and lug-
gage load capacity. For example, if
the "XXX" amount equals 640 kg
(1400 lbs.), and there will be five
70 kg (150 lbs.). passengers in
your vehicle, the amount of avail-
able cargo and luggage load
capacity is 290 kg (650 lbs.).
(640-350 (5 x 70) = 290 kg or
1400-750 (5 x 150) = 650 lbs.)5. Determine the combined weight of
luggage and cargo being loaded
on the vehicle. That weight may
not safely exceed the available
cargo and luggage load capacity
calculated in Step 4.
6. If your vehicle will be towing a
trailer, load from your trailer will be
transferred to your vehicle. Consult
this manual to determine how this
reduces the available cargo and
luggage load capacity of your
vehicle.
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