9-16Technical and consumer information
Towing your vehicle with all four wheels on the
ground is sometimes called flat towing. This
method is sometimes used when towing a
vehicle behind a recreational vehicle, such as a
motor home.
CAUTION
.Failure to follow these guidelines
can result in severe transmission
damage.
. Whenever flat towing your vehicle,
always tow forward, never back-
ward.
. DO NOT tow any Continuously Vari-
able Transmission (CVT) vehicle
with all four wheels on the ground
(flat towing) . Doing so WILL DA-
MAGE internal transmission parts
due to lack of transmission lubrica-
tion.
. For emergency towing procedures
refer to “Towing your vehicle” (P.6-
12) of this manual.
CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANS-
MISSION (CVT)
To tow a vehicle equipped with a Continuously
Variable Transmission (CVT) , an appropriate
vehicle dolly MUSTbe placed under the towed
vehicle’s driving wheels. Alwaysfollow the dolly
manufacturer’s recommendations when using
their product.
MANUAL TRANSMISSION
. Always tow with the manual transmission in
Neutral.
. Your vehicle speed should never exceed 60
MPH (96 km/h) when flat towing your
vehicle.
. After towing 500 miles, start and idle the
engine with the transmission in Neutral for
two minutes. Failure to idle the engine after
every 500 miles of towing may cause
damage to the transmission’s internal parts. DOT (Department Of Transportation) Quality
Grades: All passenger car tires must conform to
federal safety requirements in addition to these
grades.
Quality grades can be found where applicable
on the tire sidewall between tread shoulder and
maximum section width. For example:
Treadwear 200 Traction AA Temperature A
TREADWEAR
The treadwear grade is a comparative rating
based on the wear rate of the tire when tested
under controlled conditions on a specified
government test course. For example, a tire
graded 150 would wear one and one-half (1
1/2) times as well on the government course as
a tire graded 100. The relative performance of
tires depends upon actual conditions of their
use, however, and may depart significantly from
the norm due to variations in driving habits,
service practices and differences in road char-
acteristics and climate.
TRACTION AA, A, B AND C
The traction grades, from highest to lowest, are
AA, A, B and C. Those grades represent the
tire’s ability to stop on wet pavement as
measured under controlled conditions on spe-
cified government test surfaces of asphalt and
concrete. A tire marked C may have poor
traction performance.
FLAT TOWING
UNIFORM TIRE QUALITY GRADING
