ON Monday on a busy main road in Cochester, we had a caravan detach itself from a Ford Focus, just after leaving a caravan site, it carried down the road hitting a white contractors van which was forced of the road collided with a casualy reduction sign marked, No Excuse For Poor Driving, nobody hurt only the ford driver suffering from shock.
Caravan detached from car
- Thread starter Royston
- Start date
Saw one come off this September just leaving a CL. The tow car must have gone 50m before the driver realised it. Luckily it was on soft grass but the underside of the very new van did suffer some damage. Fortunately they weren't on the public road or it would have been lots worse.
It sounds as if there was no breakaway cable used or the tow bar came away if the caravan did not stop. Not something I would want to happen to me but having dealt with insurance claims most of my life I can say they are very rare events. You should tow with the jockey wheel forward and just low enough to stop the caravan grounding if this happens but not so low that it might ground or so my handbook says.
Parksy
Moderator
AlKo hitches can sometimes give false indications which is why I never rely solely on the green button indicator being visible as proof of the hitch being fully engaged. The problem is compounded because the hitch stabiliser grips the towball even if the hitch hasn't engaged properly and caravans have become detached as a result.
The safest policy to make absolutely that the hitch is engaged is to hitch to the towball and then to wind the jockey wheel down to the ground until the tow hitch begins to lift the towcar suspension before rewinding and lifting it and driving off.
The safest policy to make absolutely that the hitch is engaged is to hitch to the towball and then to wind the jockey wheel down to the ground until the tow hitch begins to lift the towcar suspension before rewinding and lifting it and driving off.
Parksy said:
On leaving our storage unit and before you get near any road, you have to transverse several "speed humps" which wil test the hitch on any car.
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