Max Accord towing weight

[dorsetjon]

Hi,

Buying a new boat and trailer which will weigh around 600kg all-in. Law states that unbraked trailers may have a max gross weight of 750kg and should be now more than 50% of car's kerb weight. My Accord Tourer (2005, 2.2CDTi) has a kerb weight of 1575kg, so I should be fine to tow unbraked trailers up to 750kg. However, the Accord's manual states a limit of 500kg for unbraked trailers. Surely the Accord could safely tow more than 500kg so is this just Honda being very conservative or what's the story here?

My wife's Renault Scenic has 100bhp and weighs 1460kg and Renault reckons this can tow 650kg unbraked. I guess that if I tow more than 500kg unbraked in the Accord then I may not be insured (because this exceeds Honda's spec) but I am sure the Accord would be a better and safer tow vehicle than the Renault (and is far more like to get to its destination without breaking down)! To stay legal I need either to use the Renault or get a braked trailer, neither of which I wanted to do! Any thoughts?!

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Dan Robinson]

would too much weightaffect the stability ***ist? why not get braked trailer?

 

[dorsetjon]

would too much weightaffect the stability ***ist? why not get braked trailer?

Too much weight will definitely affect stability at some point, but I was just surprised that Honda's limit seems low compared to other cars. I just looked at limits for comparable cars, i.e. family diesel estates, and many manufacturers allow the full 750kg and the lowest I found is 650kg.

A braked trailer is an option but it shouldn't be necessary and I would have rather avoided it. Apart from the upfront cost the brakes are just one more thing to maintain, esp. as the trailer will be launching in to salt water.

Jon

 

[vile]

that does seem low as a tow a caravan but its braked.all i will say is Honda has put this limit for a reason so its your choice really.

 

[Dan Robinson]

by stability ***ist, i meant the special bit of the vsa... i did wonder about salt water, but you could get one of those launch trailer doodahs (trailer on trailer action )

 

[vile]

Dan i have an alco stabilizer that is attached to the van its a great bit of kit and stops snakeing

 

[Dan Robinson]

so what does the vsa bit do? have wondered about that before, but i ain't licensed to tow so never bothered to find out.

 

[dorsetjon]

that does seem low as a tow a caravan but its braked.all i will say is Honda has put this limit for a reason so its your choice really.

You're absolutely right and I'm not comfortable with exceeding Honda's limit. A braked trailer also seems to mean a bigger trailer so prob won't go for that and will instead use wifey's car....just a shame to have to use the lighter, lower powered car for towing!

Jon