Hi .I have a small 800 kg caravan with break away cable set up as legal in NZ.i have also fitted a caravan chain to car.Is it acceptable or safer to run with both set up together or not advisable or one but not the other.cheers.
Breakaway cable vs chain
- Thread starter radar5110
- Start date
I don’t know what your national regulations require but in UK/Europe only the breakaway cable is required and used. The chain could adversely affect the proper functioning of the breakaway cable.
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Also in the UK it is acceptable to loop the breakaway cable round the ball shaft, but in parts of Europe (e.g. NL) the breakaway must be attached to the towing vehicle. Many towbars now have some form of fixed eye onto which the carabiner of the breakaway cable can be hooked.
Thanks.My argument for having both is provided the chain is shorter than the cable for this 800 kg caravan that one could not affect the other .Safety of other road users would be enhanced . Damage to your own vehicle would increase though.But is that manageable? Or does it make your own situation dangerous? Or illegal?
IMHO the chain is a better option than the breakaway cable. If connected corrected the chain keeps the caravan attached to the vehicle and prevents the caravan nose from dripping on the floor. When we were in South Africa it was law for the caravan to be attached via a chain. Cannot see it making any difference if you connect both.
No idea of the legality as you should check with the NZ government regulations.
I really cannot see any benefit for your idea. Within Europe (inc UK) there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of caravans out travelling at speed of up to 60mph. All are or should be fitted with breakaway cables and do not have chains. Have we got it wrong. A common incident is failure to lock the caravan to the lowball when leaving site. The breakaway cable works immediately and brings the van to a halt without damage to car or caravan. apart possibly minor to the caravan under A frame area, depending on speed and surface. In your proposal it would be the chain that takes the strain first, thus preventing the breakaway cable from doing its job. So you could, depending on the strength of your chain, drag the van with its nose dragging along the road, before you intervene.
At higher speeds on road I really don't know what the dynamics would be, it depends where the unhitching occurs and at what speed. You could even be jeopardising other road users
I think you should drop your idea and stick to the breakaway cabe only.
However recently on this forum there was a video of a caravan that became detached and travel quite a distance on the wrong side of the road before it came to a halt.
Even if the brakes operated perfectly when the breakaway cable was activated, the caravan will still travel some distance before coming to a halt and in that distance it could veer into the oncoming traffic.
This should not happen with a chain however as you say the OP needs to follow the local regulations and not the EU regulations.
In that video the outfit were travelling at A road speed. It's naive to expect anything be it cable or chain to control and brake a free wheeling caravan under all circumstances. A loose caravan strongly attached by a chain can still veer into oncoming traffic and pull the tow car all over the place too.
I don't see the point of having both - if you have chains, they'll prevent the over-run cable from actuating - just go with whichever is legal in your country.
If using chains, they should be crossed under the hitch.
If using chains, they should be crossed under the hitch.
If attached by a chain it is highly unlikely to veer across the road as the car towing should keep it in a straight line. Also very unlikely it will pull the towing car all over the place as it is still attached to the car. Maybe a different story if the caravan is badly loaded, but we had a very active traffic force in SA at the time so not worth taking the chance.
Basically you could tow the caravan with the chain with the caravan not attached to the tow ball although I never tried it. We towed with a BMW 520. We draped the chain over the fixed tow ball, but this was back in the eighties so not sure if it has changed since.
ISTR that caravan was on a dual carriageway and came to a halt in a fairly straight line against the central armco?
No, it was a two lane A road. If I remember correctly the outfit had come around a roundabout and the van then shot off into the oncoming lane., as that where its forces took it. Had it been fully chained to the car it would probably have pulled the tow car sideways across the lanes. But that's conjecture as accident dynamics isn't my forte.
Is not the European logic that the situation is safer [with mechanical over run brakes] with an uncoupled caravan, that its brakes are applied and it is left to stop under their action?
Not that the uncoupled trailer's brakes are not applied, and it is uncontrolled behind a vehicle with the vehicle's brakes, the only device left to take the inertia out of the caravan; the big issue there being the dangerous situation we get there, the van is uncoupled but still attached and stuffing energy at the tow vehicle, its brakes are useless.
Arguments all change where other braking options are involved, but with overrun brakes they only work as the name implies, on over running.
I don't doubt like most things we can invent scenarios that don't stack in the intended way, like if the brakes are not set up right or are otherwise defective.
As the OP has over run brakes then the chain just negates the whole logic behind of the braking system's design basis.
Not that the uncoupled trailer's brakes are not applied, and it is uncontrolled behind a vehicle with the vehicle's brakes, the only device left to take the inertia out of the caravan; the big issue there being the dangerous situation we get there, the van is uncoupled but still attached and stuffing energy at the tow vehicle, its brakes are useless.
Arguments all change where other braking options are involved, but with overrun brakes they only work as the name implies, on over running.
I don't doubt like most things we can invent scenarios that don't stack in the intended way, like if the brakes are not set up right or are otherwise defective.
As the OP has over run brakes then the chain just negates the whole logic behind of the braking system's design basis.
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It possibly depends on when the cable or chain is needed. The breakaway chain will put the brakes on and at low speed can often stop the caravan without causing any accident, I know from experience. A chain would mean the caravan carried on and it would be difficult to stop without the caravan at best hitting the car.
At speed a breakaway chain would stop the caravan but it is going to take longer and it could veer off anywhere so the outcome is indeterminable. With a chain it should stay behind the car but whilst that might prevent it getting in the way of others or running into the side or central barrier or even oncoming traffic it will almost inevitably hit the tow car or without the control of the tow bar turn over. There is no right answer, it all depends on when you need it and the circumstances surrounding you at the time and possibly luck.
At speed a breakaway chain would stop the caravan but it is going to take longer and it could veer off anywhere so the outcome is indeterminable. With a chain it should stay behind the car but whilst that might prevent it getting in the way of others or running into the side or central barrier or even oncoming traffic it will almost inevitably hit the tow car or without the control of the tow bar turn over. There is no right answer, it all depends on when you need it and the circumstances surrounding you at the time and possibly luck.
Spot on. Rather the back of my car damaged than someone being injured. I have since found out that the chain is not longer required in SA and many trailers are now fitted with the electric brake which is supposed to be more efficient all round, but no idea how it would help in the event of a trailer becoming detached.
Possibly if it lost electrical power the brakes would activate. But that would need careful design as you don’t want the brakes to activate if for some reason electrics failed when towing. But it’s doable.
In Australia they use electric brakes and chains - seems strange to remove the need for chains in SA if not replaced by a breakaway cable.
I think that with modern cars if you lost power, the braking on the caravan would be the least of your worries especially if on the motorway i.e. very heavy steering etc.
I actually said “ electrical power”I think that with modern cars if you lost power, the braking on the caravan would be the least of your worries especially if on the motorway i.e. very heavy steering etc.
They may now use a breakaway cable plus chains as Swift imported caravans into SA. I did find this;
5.2.2.9. The braking systems shall be such that the trailer is stopped automatically if the coupling separates while the trailer is in motion. However, this provision shall not apply to trailers with a maximum mass not exceeding 1.5 tonnes, on the condition that the trailers are equipped with, in addition to the coupling device, a secondary coupling (chain, wire rope, etc.) capable, in the event of separation of the main coupling, of preventing the drawbar from touching the ground and providing some residual steering action on the trailer.
Ours was a large 6 berth trailer caravan.
Thankyou. For all the replies.i will have to check with NZ rules when I can find them .Unfortunately photo was too large to send .
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