Tow-Trust tow bars bending under normal use

[Harry Bloomfield]

In a certain web forum, a thread was started where a caravanner had a
Tow-Trust tow bar newly installed and on his first outing had found the
tow bar had bent under the apparently normal load of towing. The thread
was then posted to by a second owner who had exactly the same happen to
his new bar from the same manufacturer. The post included photos which
showed damage to his car's chassis. Two of us suggested that it needed
to be reported as a matter of extreme urgency to VOSA, for them to deal
with. As near as I could tell from the photos and descriptions, what
had happened was that the bars had bent down, by the weight of the van
- which simply should not happen. Obviously a design flaw, or an
installation flaw.

That thread was promptly deleted by the mods, without explanation
before a conclusion was arrived at. So if you have such a bracket
fitted, it might be worth checking it out before your caravan becomes
detatched.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

[Roy]

Harry Bloomfield said the following on 19/10/2013 15:17:

Censorship - The downside of forums

Roy

[Tim+]

If they're type approved it seems quite plausible to me that the reason
that they bent and damaged a car's chassis was because they were grossly
overloaded. I don't think we're in a position to know one way or another.

Tim

[bert]

In message
<243264410403896618.167087timdow...@news.eter
nal-september.org>, Tim+ <timdow...@nospampleaseyahoo.co.uk> writes

Unusual occurrence and for two owners to report the same tow-bar? Was it
a swan neck?
--
bert

[Harry Bloomfield]

bert used his keyboard to write :

> Unusual occurrence and for two owners to report the same tow-bar? Was it a
> swan neck?

Very unusual for any tow bar to bend, I have certainly never heard of
such happening before. The type wasn't mentioned, but the photos showed
obvious signs of the bar itself having bent at the attachment points to
the chassis. If you imagine the entire bar rotating on its support
points at either side of the of the car, as if they didn't have enough
support to prevent the rotation. Both noticed their tow ball height
from the ground had reduced.

As said, the entire thred was deleted, before any definate conclusion
was arrived at as to why it happened - so it might have been dues to
improper design, improper installation or weak steel. If you have one,
best have a good look at it.

[Tunku]

Harry Bloomfield <harry...@NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk> wrote in
news:mn.a5407dda0c...@NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk:

If you know the website, maybe the Wayback Machine still has it.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Harry Bloomfield submitted this idea :

I have now had a responce from the agency which tests towbars. They are
saying the problem arose due to poor installion by the installer.
Basically the installer ignored the instructions and left out the crash
bar, on the two affected vehicles hence the bar was not adequately
supported.

If I get permission to post the reply from the agency, I will post it
in it in its entirety.

So the warning still applies, but rather than the tow bar design being
at fault it is probably poor installation on the part of a tow bar
fitter.

[Tim+]

So the forum was probably right to remove a potentially libellous message.

Tim

[Harry Bloomfield]

Tim+ formulated the question :

There is nothing libellious in raising concerns which are so very
serious as to have a caravan rip off a tow bar. It needed to be
investigated as a matter of extreme urgency, which it has been, rather
than swept under the carpet. There was a genuine issue and it still
needs to be addressed.

[Tim+]

Well without the original message I am somewhat in the dark about what was
said but I could well imagine that someone might have jumped the gun and
blamed Tow Trust bars for the problem before any investigation and the mods
might not have liked that.

Tim

[Harry Bloomfield]

Tim+ presented the following explanation :

It doesn't really matter who is to blame for the issue, an issue with a
tow bar is just about as safety critical an item on a vehcile can get..

The basics of it were that someone had a new bar fitted and on their
first trip out, the bar bent down towards the ground under the loading
of nose weight. The company wrongly blamed the owner, suggesting it
might have been hit by another vehicle or reversed in something solid.
The post was followed by a great deal of speculation as to why a tow
bar might be so weak. The company then replied in the thread,
suggesting their tow bar met all of the relevant standards.

Then someone else posted photos of a second one, which suggested it had
bent under load. I and another, suggested the correct thing to do was
contact the authorites as a matter of urgency and as no one did, I took
it upon myself to do so and informed both VOSA and the VCA.

At which point the thread was deleted, before I could add to it the
result of the VCA's investigation.

I did the entirely correct thing and got the autorities involved and
hopefully before there was a serious accident.

I have since opened another thread, where I have made as clear as I
could, with the limited information available to me, what the actual
issue was - bad installation and again that thread has been locked.

I have never believed in hiding serious issues and deleting threads is
in my opinion entirely the wrong this to do. In this case, had the
thread been allowed to contued Tow Trust would have been entirely
absolved of any blame.

[bert]

In message <mn.bc187ddad2...@NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk>, Harry
Bloomfield <harry...@NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk> writes

All of which amply demonstrates the dangers of barrack room lawyers as
moderators. Stick to usenet and say what the f**** you like. A bit of
abuse now and then is a small price to pay for freedom of speech.
--
bert

[kevad...@gmail.com]

i fitted a tow with trust tow bar yesterday coupled up to my caravan i only travelled 100 foot as i was moving it from my back garden to the front and it has twisted the towbar not very happy

[bert]

In article <3729e5f3-6104-47bf...@googlegroups.com>,
kevad...@gmail.com writes

Don't all towbars now have to be approved by the vehicle manufacturer?
--
bert