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CARAVANS BECOMING DETACHED FROM TOWCARS

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Patricia,

Regardless of the convoluted comments (me included) that have arisen as a result of this. Can you give any further information as to what may have been the cause? Did any failure appear? Was anything broken? I assume when this all did occur an examination of all the components was made, what were the conclusions? Was the towcar/caravan examined by a reputable dealer, what were his comments?

I think we all need to know a lot more, even only to make us all sleep a bit easier.
 
I think there can only be three reasons for this occurence. Either the hitch has not been locked, the towball is worn, or the locking button has failed. Since most people check their hitch religously before setting off and I would guess most of us don't do enough towing to wear a towball to it's limit, I'd say the locking button is the most likely cause. Perhaps a small piece of grit could prevent it fully locking, allowing it to ease off gradually during a journey.
 
Agreed.

Surely this would be a VERY useful bit of research for PC Mag to cover.

The comments from all (especially W(JohnG) and JTQ) are most thought provoking and helpful.

Only one question to John - why did you lend him a file if you knew what the silly plonker was going to do?

Having had Land Rover factory fitted tow bar and hitch for the last decade now seems a bit of a relief following what JTQ says.

When I had a trailer come loose it was when using a Citroen BX with a goodness knows what spec aftermarket tow bar and hitch.

Time to get the micrometer out methinks!

Many thanks JTQ.
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That is a question I anticipated and often ask myself with hindsight!,

We subsequently met a friend of his who assured us that he arrived home safely.Proof that the devil looks after his own and Scousers!!
 
I drove 60 miles, yes 60 miles and my caravan unhitched! I drove over a range of surfaces including speed bumps at speeds up to 55mph (not over the speed bumps!) and at about 10mph while accelerating from standstill at traffic lights the van unhitched. I had checked the hitch 3 miles from setting off and everything was fine, there is no doubt in my mind that it wasn't hitched up correctly, if wasn't the van would have come off at the first speed bump or any of the bumps ridges potholes that are called roads.

Alko sent out a technician who examinded the towball and hitch, there were no scrapes, gouges marks on the towball or pads, he said he had no idea why it unhitched and stated that the ball and pads were fine, so it must be user error.

A temporary 2004 was supplied while alko investigated my 2004.

Alko replied by sending me photo's of a ball which had deep gouges in it which mean't that it had been incorrectly hitched. What a load of rubbish! Now I am not the sort to accept down right lies and false evidence especially as i took my own photo's of the ball (sneaky heh!) I have been in contact with the editor of a caravan magazine (not pc, they ignored me when I wrote to the ed) who has been investigating this area and some very interesting things were said. It seems that some couplings may develop hairline cracks (found through xray analysis) which could allow the van to become unhitched. I do not have a 2004 anymore but the latest 3004 which has a much higher weight limit, supplied free of charge and fitment at my home address! I was not given my 2004 or ball back. Why is it that that the 3004 has a weight limit of 3 tons when the 2004 is 2 tons and caravans weight much less that that even when loaded. I leave you to make your own mind up about this, but take a good look at your 2004.

Everyone always assumes user error, this should not be the case. PC magazine will not be interested in exposing this as it might hurt advertising revenues. Alko and other manufacturers will always say user error, it is not in their interest to say otherwise.
 
Very wise to check the size of the ball hitch, when servicing vans if the car is available i always check the ball hitch for size, being mobile easier for me to than at a dealer,although the mechanic could check at pick-up.
 
Patricia,

Regardless of the convoluted comments (me included) that have arisen as a result of this. Can you give any further information as to what may have been the cause? Did any failure appear? Was anything broken? I assume when this all did occur an examination of all the components was made, what were the conclusions? Was the towcar/caravan examined by a reputable dealer, what were his comments?

I think we all need to know a lot more, even only to make us all sleep a bit easier.
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We don't know the exact cause yet but suspect the hitchlock. The dealer is contacting Alko, the car is being picked up today. The van is possibly a write offdue to internal and external damage. My husband spent 2 nights in hospital due to whiplash and back problems. He had already had an operation on his back. Will post more when have more details.
 
I think there can only be three reasons for this occurence. Either the hitch has not been locked, the towball is worn, or the locking button has failed. Since most people check their hitch religously before setting off and I would guess most of us don't do enough towing to wear a towball to it's limit, I'd say the locking button is the most likely cause. Perhaps a small piece of grit could prevent it fully locking, allowing it to ease off gradually during a journey.
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The hitch (2004) was locked, the button up showing green. Don't know about grit but it had only been driven from dealer forecourt to our home. No obvious gouges/scratches on towball.
 
Regarding the further info fron Patricia, with regards to the very serious injuries to her Husband and to the probability of

there brand new van being a write of due to inter/external

damage sustained at a road speed of 20mph.

I have always been led to believe that the breakaway cable

automatically applied the van brakes to bring it to a stop , which at 20mph would be very quick. is this not the case.

Roy.
 
Hello folks, it's me en route.

Years ago, I had my caravan depart from the car in a bend soon after setting off (it went straight on although we didn't). Fortunately, there was no major damage but I must admit it was my own mistake. The coupling had been sitting on the towbar but wasn't properly engaged in the first place. I had been interrupted during the job of hitching up and when I came back, I failed to go through the obvious safety check to see that the tell-tale button was showing. Needless to say, it's not a mistake, one does a second time.

If that sort of silly oversight doesn't apply to the case in question here, I can only imagine that something was wrong with the coupling. I cannot imagine that any steel ball would be worn to such an extent that this could cause the trailer to become detached. The tolerances on ball diameter are relatively large (as I'm on holiday, I haven't got the actual figures with me) so towball size is unlikely to be critical.

I gather that the caravan in question was being towed with a hitchlock in place. Just a thought, but could it be that the hitchlock could have caught the release handle of the coupling when braking? I have reservations about towing with a hitchlock.
 
Wear on the tow ball seems a remote chance to me in these partings. Damage is somewhat different.

If the hitch was of the Al-ko stabiliser type, I have to say that the principals of that set-up do not inspire me.

Putting friction on such a small area that has to tow the trailer seems a little strange to me.

At least the old scott style job has a nice big friction pad and helps keep the tow head down on the ball!

I know thousands tow with them, but to me it does not seem a good idea all though its easy to use.
 
Hello folks, it's me en route.

Years ago, I had my caravan depart from the car in a bend soon after setting off (it went straight on although we didn't). Fortunately, there was no major damage but I must admit it was my own mistake. The coupling had been sitting on the towbar but wasn't properly engaged in the first place. I had been interrupted during the job of hitching up and when I came back, I failed to go through the obvious safety check to see that the tell-tale button was showing. Needless to say, it's not a mistake, one does a second time.

If that sort of silly oversight doesn't apply to the case in question here, I can only imagine that something was wrong with the coupling. I cannot imagine that any steel ball would be worn to such an extent that this could cause the trailer to become detached. The tolerances on ball diameter are relatively large (as I'm on holiday, I haven't got the actual figures with me) so towball size is unlikely to be critical.

I gather that the caravan in question was being towed with a hitchlock in place. Just a thought, but could it be that the hitchlock could have caught the release handle of the coupling when braking? I have reservations about towing with a hitchlock.
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Sorry I shouldn't have stated that we suspect the hitchlock, I should have put 'the coupling system'. We didn't have a safety cover device over the coupling handle.
 
Hello folks, it's me en route.

Years ago, I had my caravan depart from the car in a bend soon after setting off (it went straight on although we didn't). Fortunately, there was no major damage but I must admit it was my own mistake. The coupling had been sitting on the towbar but wasn't properly engaged in the first place. I had been interrupted during the job of hitching up and when I came back, I failed to go through the obvious safety check to see that the tell-tale button was showing. Needless to say, it's not a mistake, one does a second time.

If that sort of silly oversight doesn't apply to the case in question here, I can only imagine that something was wrong with the coupling. I cannot imagine that any steel ball would be worn to such an extent that this could cause the trailer to become detached. The tolerances on ball diameter are relatively large (as I'm on holiday, I haven't got the actual figures with me) so towball size is unlikely to be critical.

I gather that the caravan in question was being towed with a hitchlock in place. Just a thought, but could it be that the hitchlock could have caught the release handle of the coupling when braking? I have reservations about towing with a hitchlock.
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Hope you have a nice holiday in UK Lutz .We are near to M6 junction 16/17 should you wish to call!!!

Towbar will be removed prior to car change so you won't need the tape measure.

Regards John
 
I haven't given it much thought but now that you bring it up the Alko hitch must wear the towball in a very odd manner, to the point where it'll be almost egg shaped.
 
The wear on the towball due to the friction pads of an Alko coupling is absolutely negligible. You can probably tow regularly for a 100 years before there is any appreciable wear. The pads are softer than the ball.
 
With all the interest and concern on this subject I wondered if there are any insurance statistics on ball and hitch partings.

May be CliveV has some contact that could inform.

How do the insurance boys treat these cases. If there is no apparent damage are you considered to be negligent and loose out on claiming.

How many such accidents are attributed to failure and how many to owner mistakes?

May be we could learn a little more on the chances of hitch failures against user failure!

To another point. Royston mentioned the breakaway cable. Over the years Iv'e hear tell of breakway cable parting with a jerk before the brakes come on, and pulled away from a trailer thinking a guy had detached the cable as well as the hitch. The cable broke with out applying the brakes!

Even at twenty MPH if the van was to turn or the a frame or anything else up front dug into the road I wouldn't give the van a lot of chance!
 
When I did a propper job I designed and manufactured disability aids, one of which was a small trailer with a body Pivot for transporting heavy power wheelchairs and mobility scooters.(www.delcane.co.uk for those with nothing better to do) The point is that a very common cause of trailer and therefor one would asume caravan disconection is the Jocky Wheel dropping and under resulting upward force causing pressure on the hitch and disconection. As the safty chain rules are different for light trailers ( the trailer should remain connected) were as the caravan safety link meeds to apply the brake and then break away from the car. This can mean that the trailer retains the evidence were as the caravan looses its evidence of cause. Just a thought.

ttfn

Mike
 
I would suggest that in the interests of commonsense we allow this matter to rest until Patricia has received more details she feels able to pass on. I would also like to wish her husband a speedy recovery and that the insurance company do not make 'crisis' out of this incident so she and her husband can resume their leisure pursuits as soon as possible.
 
I would suggest that in the interests of commonsense we allow this matter to rest until Patricia has received more details she feels able to pass on. I would also like to wish her husband a speedy recovery and that the insurance company do not make 'crisis' out of this incident so she and her husband can resume their leisure pursuits as soon as possible.
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Thank you. Yes we are OK now, still bewildered though. Car insurance have been fantastic and kept us informed frequently re: repairs etc. Likewise caravan insurance, assessor came this morning, now we must wait. We went to the caravan show at the NEC this week and spoke to both Bailey and Alko. Both were supportive and helpful. Alko are sending an engineer next week to investigate. Hopefully we will know more soon.
 
Patricia, following on from SL's comments.

It is great to hear that you are both OK now, your story has opened quite a debate and hopefully as well as you both coming through this we can all learn something from it.

I guess we all have the dread of losing the van in the back of our minds, anything learned to lessen the chances of this happening has to be good for us all.

As you are very experienced vanners you should be able to put this behind you and enjoy many more trouble free years!

Good luck.
 
Never liked the idea of these breakaway cables- once these jam on the van`s brakes & snap, bearing in mind I reckon no van has perfectly balanced brakes, the van will just swerve violently to one side & hit something or flip over.

I have used trailers in the past where I have wrapped a piece of chain around the hitch head, then around the towing bracket(not the ball) & padlocked- pulled tight but then loosened a link or two for full articulation but so as not to be allowed to depart from the ball

Never tried it yet on my van, but my trailer came off just the other day.I noticed a clattering from the back of the car after a short while into my journey when the radio went quiet- the hitch was sat on top of the ball & had scratched the bumper protector plate. It may not look too cool,but I guess it also means the van would be locked to the vehicle when parked.Any thoughts on this method (welded link chain & a medium padlock or shackle ring would cost about the same as a cable....)
 
I agree Steve, the breakaway cable method seems a bit like locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. I appreciate it's only the last line of defense, but there should maybe something else first.
 
The thing that concerns me is that the cable jams the anchors on without any brake lights, so anyone behind is going to get a bit of a shock.
 
As I mentioned before, we had our caravan part company with the car while negotiating a bend once (through a stupid fault of my own early on in my caravanning career). From that experience, I can assure you that that the brakes on the caravan are nothing nearly as good as those on the car (no ABS, for example) and the probability of following traffic running into the caravan is therefore relatively low. Besides, one should weigh the chances against what damage the caravan could do if allowed to continue on its own without being slowed down by its brakes. The coupling dropped down and skidded along the road until the caravan came to a stop. The only damage was a severed cable and two of the four bolts holding the coupling to the A-frame were bent due to the front end of the caravan skidding on the road surface. After repairing the cable, we were able to continue our journey and caught the ferry on time.
 
Hi Lutz ,hope you had a nice holiday

Your last posting makes me wonder why caravans (UK anyway) no longer have that bracket below the A-frame that would meet the ground first thus saving damage to the retracted jockey wheel etc.
 
Hi Lutz ,hope you had a nice holiday

Your last posting makes me wonder why caravans (UK anyway) no longer have that bracket below the A-frame that would meet the ground first thus saving damage to the retracted jockey wheel etc.
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Although our caravan hasn't got the bracket you're referring to either, the jockey wheel didn't come in contact with the ground (it was retracted high enough).

ps. Hope to be able to continue our holiday soon. Car and caravan are therefore still over in England.
 
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