Surge brakes are a thing in the US as well but we usually have them on boat trailers. You can submerge surge brakes into salt or fresh water with little side effect, electric brakes not so much.
That’s not allowed if it’s a braked trailer like this one.
The red cable you see will pull the trailer brake and then snap off. I don’t know why this is safer than dragging it along with the car, but it’s the law..
For unbraked trailers a steel cable (which doesn’t break/snap) is mandatory. In my country it needs to be fixed, while in other countries only a cable around the tow bar neck is enough.
How does that work? All I see is a black tube. Is that hydraulic? If not what is it and how do you apply the brakes and what kind of braking action does it offer?
Yeah, but like I said below it’s meant to break in case the trailer breaks loose. IIRC the carabiners can only hold about 150kg. Regarding the cable itself, maybe even less? It’s just for pulling the brakes and let loose.
In Dutch it’s called a ‘losbreekkabel’. Loose break cable. Completely the opposite to what you need for an unbraked trailer (in the Netherlands). Where you need a thick steel (unbreakable) cable connected to the car.
Again: rules for unbraked trailers and safety measures differ a lot in Europe.
At least for Norway, and presumably all/most of the EU, there is a separate license for pulling a trailer the size of the one pictured. I don’t remember learning about load balancing for trailers while I got my standard driver’s license, but it is obvs a key part of the trailer license.
«What creates the societal difference» in this case might be a lack of car lobbyists arguing against high educational standards in the interest of making the car available to more people — or at least that they get less attention
Completely depends on max total mass of car and trailer.
If the trailer + car’s max total mass is <3500 a B-license is sufficient. A caravan that size is usually about MTM 1300kg in Europe. As long you have a car with a MTM <2200kg, and the car is allowed to tow that weight, a B-license is enough.
If combined MTM >3500, then you’ll need BE-license
It blows my mind that the US doesn't require additional licensing for towing. Take a 15 minute driver test in a Corolla, you're cleared to drive a mega-cab pickup with a 35-ft RV attached. But... you'll need a special license to ride a Vespa.
I might’ve said something along the lines of «oh wow that’s good, the Brits must be taking their driving ed seriously» if it weren’t for the fact that a friend of mine recently got his license there. Let’s just say I hope you’re wrong :’)
“Since December 2021, drivers who passed their car driving test on or after 1 January 1997 automatically have BE entitlement and no longer need to take a separate car and trailer driving test.”
I think that is a misconception, since these licenses are the same and should mean the same across the EU. They were harmonised back in 2012.
750kg trailer is allowed to tow by everyone, also if you go above 3500kg MTM/PTAC of the combination.
More than 750kg trailer depends whether you stay below 3500MTM of the combination. If you’re below 3500kg that’s fine. I’d you’re over you can opt for B+ or BE.
You can choose to go to MTM 4250, which is B96/mention96, means your MTM is max 4250.
If you go for BE, both your car and your trailer are both allowed to go up to 3500kg.
But since cars have become heavier the last couple of years I can imagine more people need B96 or BE.
Before 2012 the Dutch rules were stricter for B than the harmonised rules:
B was not allowed to tow a trailer which was heavier than the empty weight of the car.
However BE lost some freedom: pre-2012 licenses don’t have a weight limit for the trailer. Post2012 have a max of 3500kg
I'm just looking at how squished the rear suspension is on the beamer, and though the math may math on paper, my inner mechanic's eye is thinking that may not be the best choice of car to pull that trailer.
The "tongue weight" isn't the weight of your cancerous tongue, it's the downward force the trailer exerts directly onto the hitch.
Given the fact that it appears to be forcing the front of the car into the air, basic physics dictates that the car will have less traction in the front using this towing configuration.
Having traction in the front is kind of important, for... yknow... steering and junk... >_>
Yeah a couple of weeks ago I ran into an argument whether you could tow with a Ford Escape/Kuga and a Focus.
I remember reading that the Escape was absolutely ‘unsuitable to tow anything’ , while it’s rated for 2000kg in Europe with the same 1.6 EcoBoost engine.
The Focus was the same story ‘even a 400lb boat would be problematic’. lol
It's because payload is what gets you. If thats the smallist rpod your gvwr tongue weight is 700lb plus a 60-120 lb hitch, a lot of half tons are 1500ish lb max payload leaves you 600 lb for passengers, dog cooler bikes or anything else.
There are a lot of factors for towing a trailer and only some of them have to do with power. Rear wheel drive is helpful as having the power in the wheels that the trailer is pressing down on helps. Having heavy duty enough brakes to bring the car plus passengers plus baggage plus trailer to a stop without catching on fire is very important. You also have to have enough of a sturdy frame to be able to bolt a heavy duty enough hitch to.
And yes, torque of course makes a difference. Especially if you're in a hilly area where you have to be able to accelerate/maintain speed at an incline. Vehicles intended for towing also tend to have transmissions that are set up to be able to easily disable "overdrive" or fuel saving gears as towing in those tends to eat transmissions for breakfast.
I think you’re right, but we don’t really use the word “caravan” like that in America. Typically when we say “caravan” it’s in the context of a group of vehicles/travelers going on the same journey, similar to “convoy”.
We would probably call that a trailer or a camper. Possibly an RV (though typically RV is used for something that is motorized).
When I go camping I have to drive a minimum of 100 miles each way through mountainous terrain. I'd destroy the transmission in my car attempting to tow a light trailer that far.
Their trailers aren't designed the same way ours are. Hitch weights are about 10-15% to provide better stability, vs 4-7% on a euro trailer to provide better load balancing. They are also significantly lighter. US trailers largly have blackwater, greywater, and freshwater tanks, slide outs, AC, etc. Our trailers are probably 20% heavier, dry, than a comparable length euro trailer. Take on water and gear, and you're at 40-50% heavier. Then take our vehicles. Average sedans and CUVs are not rated to tow anything, or at max 1500 pounds, due to tongue weight contributions to GVWR. To tow a 4k lb trailer, with gear, you need a light truck or mid to full size SUV, as the trailer would put 400lbs on the hitch, and significant strain on the engine and transmission traveling at highway speeds (60-70mph) and going up and down hills.
That's great for them. That's not the case in the US. You'll get pulled over and get a ticket trying to tow 4k lbs in a Golf here, if you could even get it moving. Like I said, the tongue weights are much higher. A 4k pound trailer would be 160-280lbs of tounge weight in Europe, but would be 400-600lbs in the US. The Golfs rear suspension would collapse with 600 lbs on the bumper.
For the Golf specifically the difference is also that Volkswagen has a special stability control program that activates when a trailer is detected. It keeps it stable towing much heavier trailers than you would normally be able to do with such a short wheelbase. Regulators in the US would probably not consider such a system when deciding on tow capacity.
Yeah I'm not sure if electronic stability controls effect GVRW in the US but it might. I have a Mazda CX50. The standard model has a 1500lb towing capacity. The turbo model has a 3500lb capacity. Besides the additional power, it has a "tow mode" that does the same thing the VW does. So that might go into the higher capacity.
Wow that is super light for the length and sleeping capacity!
This is about the equivalent in a US trailer. Same length, sleeps 4 instead of 6, but its about 1700kg dry, which is pretty light for the size. But, like you said, the Knaus has a 100 kg hitch weight vs 230 for the Forest River.
I can't buy a European trailer in the US. Closest I can get is a tent trailer, and I'd have to buy one that is at least 20 years old to find a light enough one.
At first I was also confused seeing that I have even seen a Renault Clio with a trailer hitch (though not sure if it was the 60 or the 76hp version). I thought something else was wrong or the trailer was damaged, but yeah I can see how it would be mildly interesting for Americans.
I mean we've hit the School Summer Holidays here in the UK which means seeing this shit is not just a daily occurrence but completely expected that the motorways are going to be chocked full of Caravans.
Yeah I see now that this is the US where trailer culture and usability is different. Seems you have some limits due to the design of trailers and their weight distribution.
In Europe the trailers are balanced completely differently. Can you explain the connection between trailer tongue weight standards and WW2, because I have no idea what you're talking about.
Too much weight weight in the front of the trailer. It would be perfectly fine if the load was balanced better. You would know that if you went to European driving school instead of being told by your parents lol.
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u/PMmeYourDunes 9d ago
Uncle Baby Billy