Car in tow disconnecting from motorhome

[deciccocpa]

Originally Posted by Landorhope

Looking at your photo, the bangs you heard were the tow hitch connections to your car breaking, without looking closer, the welds snapped due to the welds being inferior quality, when you buy your next towing sub frame buy one that integrates into your car and uses a number of connection points so no one point of failure can cause a disconnection. Plus you need a breakaway brake system other wise use a trailer for your car .

That wasn't my coach, the photo was posted my someone else. Both my tow bar and base plate were destroyed along with damage to the rear of my coach and front of my car. It was nothing short of a miracle that my car stayed attached to my coach.

The insurance company had their pro Shop replace my base plate when they did the collision repair.

The pro shop went one extra step for safety. My base plate was bolted in place as usual and it was also cabled to the frame. The entire system could fail and the safety cables on my coach would still be connected to the frame of my car.

That extra safety step should be mandatory for all base plate inbstallations. Unfortunately, it's not.

[BehindBars]

Originally Posted by deciccocpa

That wasn't my coach, the photo was posted my someone else. Both my tow bar and base plate were destroyed along with damage to the rear of my coach and front of my car. It was nothing short of a miracle that my car stayed attached to my coach.

The insurance company had their pro Shop replace my base plate when they did the collision repair.

The pro shop went one extra step for safety. My base plate was bolted in place as usual and it was also cabled to the frame. The entire system could fail and the safety cables on my coach would still be connected to the frame of my car.

That extra safety step should be mandatory for all base plate inbstallations. Unfortunately, it's not.

Good tip on the safety cables.

The Blue Ox base plate I installed myself on a Ford Fiesta came supplied with safety cables to wrap around the baseplate and the car frame. It was part of the normal installation and I installed those safety cables per the instructions. Whether these safety cables are supplied with a baseplate is something to consider when deciding on which brand baseplate to buy. Also, if you have someone else install the baseplate, you’d need to ensure that they actually installed the cables, not just threw them away.

[FranksLife]

So the braking system I have is the RVi. It works great and the customer service is outstanding. Not sure if you could have done anything different except pull of at the first sound to inspect the damage. Wish you well.

[Franksontheroad]

We had a base plate failure several years ago. Luckily it happened in a Walmart parking lot and not on I-80!

It could have been avoided by faithfully inspecting the entire system, but I couldn't have imagined how bad the base plate had deteriorated.

The pictures say it all.

Final word...inspect your systems!

[deciccocpa]

Originally Posted by BehindBars

Good tip on the safety cables.

The Blue Ox base plate I installed myself on a Ford Fiesta came supplied with safety cables to wrap around the baseplate and the car frame. It was part of the normal installation and I installed those safety cables per the instructions. Whether these safety cables are supplied with a baseplate is something to consider when deciding on which brand baseplate to buy. Also, if you have someone else install the baseplate, you’d need to ensure that they actually installed the cables, not just threw them away.

Good advice that could save lives. Those safety cables should be mandatory and people should have them installed if they don't have them already.

[emm-dee]

The safety cables came with my Blue Ox baseplate. I’m pretty sure they are always included. Now, if you let someone else install the plate I think it’s your responsibility to verify they are installed correctly.

[deciccocpa]

Originally Posted by Wouldithelp

We had a base plate failure several years ago. Luckily it happened in a Walmart parking lot and not on I-80!

It could have been avoided by faithfully inspecting the entire system, but I couldn't have imagined how bad the base plate had deteriorated.

The pictures say it all.

Final word...inspect your systems!

You make a good point with inspecting your towing equipment. I'd like to add one thing to that, my towing equipment was inspected by a mechanic a week before the accident and yet, I almost lost my car. Be prepared, have an auxiliary braking system. I've met some people over the years that believe they're not really needed. They can safe lives.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by deciccocpa

You make a good point with inspecting your towing equipment. I'd like to add one thing to that, my towing equipment was inspected by a mechanic a week before the accident and yet, I almost lost my car. Be prepared, have an auxiliary braking system. I've met some people over the years that believe they're not really needed. They can safe lives.

Just like a truck driver is responsible for the load on his truck not the person who loaded it , One can not count on had a mechanic inspect it one must do it them selves .

[deciccocpa]

Originally Posted by MR.M

Just like a truck driver is responsible for the load on his truck not the person who loaded it , One can not count on had a mechanic inspect it one must do it them selves .

I agree with the inspection, which you can do yourself or trust a professional to do it. That's a personal decision.

My point was be prepared for the freak accident and have an auxiliary braking system in your toad.

Stuff happens. Something fell off a passing vehicle, hit the rear of my coach, fell down on the tow bar, hit the front of my car damaging the tow bar and then underneath my car damaging the front tires. I saw only damage to my car's grill in the mirror.

All the inspections in the world would not have disclosed that a passing vehicle would severly damage my tow system. It's the same as driving a car down I-95 and having something fly into the side of their car. Inspecting the side of your car before starting the trip would not have prevented a freak accident.

Having an auxiliary braking system on your toad could save the life of person driving behind you. Too many people believe they don't need a braking system because their safety cables will always keep their toad attached and that's not true.

[emm-dee]

I’m firmly convinced the NSA breakaway system is the most reliable one available, mainly because it’s 100% mechanical and requires no electricity or other sensors to operate.

It’s a single steel cable running from the front of the toad directly to the brake pedal. Simple to install and hook up. If the toad departs the cable pulls through a one way block and locks the pedal down with approximately 400 pounds of force. It will not release until you deactivate it at the one way block.

https://www.readybrake.com/store/p5/..._Away_Kit.html

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by deciccocpa

I agree with the inspection, which you can do yourself or trust a professional to do it. That's a personal decision.

My point was be prepared for the freak accident and have an auxiliary braking system in your toad.

Stuff happens. Something fell off a passing vehicle, hit the rear of my coach, fell down on the tow bar, hit the front of my car damaging the tow bar and then underneath my car damaging the front tires. I saw only damage to my car's grill in the mirror.

All the inspections in the world would not have disclosed that a passing vehicle would severly damage my tow system. It's the same as driving a car down I-95 and having something fly into the side of their car. Inspecting the side of your car before starting the trip would not have prevented a freak accident.

Having an auxiliary braking system on your toad could save the life of person driving behind you. Too many people believe they don't need a braking system because their safety cables will always keep their toad attached and that's not true.

Don't want to beat a dead horse but apparently you can't trust the professional . Judge Judy would tear your story apart .
you don't know if your hitch had any damage before you hit the road or not . first things first . check your hitch set up yourself or do you go to a professional every time you hook up ? I know i Check everything myself every time i hook up my TH . second it goes along with the first is check your safety chains , aux brake operations before hitting the road . your wanting to put the blame of some mysterious object that came off a passing vehicle instead of taking responsibility for not pre checking everything yourself ? to me that's the real lesson learned here . but I just call it how i see it and sometimes it ruffles feathers

[deciccocpa]

Originally Posted by MR.M

Don't want to beat a dead horse but apparently you can't trust the professional . Judge Judy would tear your story apart .
you don't know if your hitch had any damage before you hit the road or not . first things first . check your hitch set up yourself or do you go to a professional every time you hook up ? I know i Check everything myself every time i hook up my TH . second it goes along with the first is check your safety chains , aux brake operations before hitting the road . your wanting to put the blame of some mysterious object that came off a passing vehicle instead of taking responsibility for not pre checking everything yourself ? to me that's the real lesson learned here . but I just call it how i see it and sometimes it ruffles feathers

I understand and no feathers ruffled.

The cause of my damage was obvious to the car repair shop, the motorhome repair shop and the insurance company. Don't believe insurance companies pay invalid claim.

All the inspections in the world can't protect you from a third party. It can't prevent a flying object hitting your vehicle.

Inspecting your tires won't keep a nail you can't see from making it go flat.

Inspecting your brakes can't stop another driver from running a stop sign and crashing into your car.

My question is, do you trust a professional to do anything for you or do you do everything yourself?

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by deciccocpa

I understand and no feathers ruffled.

The cause of my damage was obvious to the car repair shop, the motorhome repair shop and the insurance company. Don't believe insurance companies pay invalid claim.

All the inspections in the world can't protect you from a third party. It can't prevent a flying object hitting your vehicle.

Inspecting your tires won't keep a nail you can't see from making it go flat.

Inspecting your brakes can't stop another driver from running a stop sign and crashing into your car.

My question is, do you trust a professional to do anything for you or do you do everything yourself?

I can't speak for Mr. M, but quite frankly I don't trust any "professional." I've had wheels nearly fall off because nuts weren't torqued or were torqued with one of those bogus "torque sticks" instead of hand-torqued. This thread has stories of base plates improperly installed or installed without safety cables. Most of the threads on Forest River Forums discuss trailers assembled at the factory by "professionals" or repaired at the dealer by "professionals."

I do just about everything myself. Plumbing, wiring, roofing, car repair (except alignment and tire work which I supervise or check). I can't put refrigerant in my heat pumps because I lack a license, but I supervise that.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by deciccocpa

I understand and no feathers ruffled.

The cause of my damage was obvious to the car repair shop, the motorhome repair shop and the insurance company. Don't believe insurance companies pay invalid claim.

All the inspections in the world can't protect you from a third party. It can't prevent a flying object hitting your vehicle.

Inspecting your tires won't keep a nail you can't see from making it go flat.

Inspecting your brakes can't stop another driver from running a stop sign and crashing into your car.

My question is, do you trust a professional to do anything for you or do you do everything yourself?

I do everything my self . What i can't do is replace tires . So i use one shop that allows me to help them and be in there with them when they do the tire swaps or alignments . lucky for me it's a small shop in a small town and friends with the owners . I found myself in Florida needing a rotation on my turck so took a chance at a firestone shop . Glad i was out there watching the professional cause he didn't know what he was doing only putting tires front to back not swapping like he should have and then the moron after telling him the torque specs for the wheels on my truck started to torque them to 155lbs not the 140 specs . caught him but had to retorque 2 wheels myself . so if you don't know learn or be at the mercy of the so called professionals . either way once you hook up or before get down and looks at all connections points of hitch carefully . no you can't prevent accidents but you can help cut the chances of things happening.

[deciccocpa]

Originally Posted by MR.M

Don't want to beat a dead horse but apparently you can't trust the professional . Judge Judy would tear your story apart .
you don't know if your hitch had any damage before you hit the road or not . first things first . check your hitch set up yourself or do you go to a professional every time you hook up ? I know i Check everything myself every time i hook up my TH . second it goes along with the first is check your safety chains , aux brake operations before hitting the road . your wanting to put the blame of some mysterious object that came off a passing vehicle instead of taking responsibility for not pre checking everything yourself ? to me that's the real lesson learned here . but I just call it how i see it and sometimes it ruffles feathers

First of all, it was definately a flying object. A busted tow bar or cracked base plate can't put a hole in the back of a motorhome 5 feet above the hitch.

Secondly, the fact that a flying object hit the back of my coach was confirmed by at least 4 professionals including 2 experts that worked for the insurance company, one that worked for the pro shop that repaired the car and another that worked for RV body shop. I can't understand why you would believe you could do a better job without seeing the vehicles involved.

Finally, I can and do inspect the visable parts of my towing system including the hitch, tow bar, cables and lights. I cannot inspect the entire base plate because it's directly behind the grill of my car. You might just a well say I should check the brake lines for cracking.

There is no way you or anyone else can check everything on your vehicle before leaving even if you had the expertise. You'd never have time to leave your house.

My wife and I built our first home with our own 2 hands when we were 20 and 21 so we know all about the mechanical systems in a home. We also understand complex real estate transactions. I can speed read complicated tax laws, understand contracts better then many attorneys and have done a great job of giving expert testimony on forensic accounting.

My point is, we need to understand what we know and don't know. We need to realize there are things we can and cannot do.. Everyone needs to rely on third parties for one thing or another and I'm sure you rely on other people yourself, just in different areas.

You are beating a dead horse that has already been cremated and its' ashes spread throughout the pasture.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by deciccocpa

First of all, it was definately a flying object. A busted tow bar or cracked base plate can't put a hole in the back of a motorhome 5 feet above the hitch.

Secondly, the fact that a flying object hit the back of my coach was confirmed by at least 4 professionals including 2 experts that worked for the insurance company, one that worked for the pro shop that repaired the car and another that worked for RV body shop. I can't understand why you would believe you could do a better job without seeing the vehicles involved.

Finally, I can and do inspect the visable parts of my towing system including the hitch, tow bar, cables and lights. I cannot inspect the entire base plate because it's directly behind the grill of my car. You might just a well say I should check the brake lines for cracking.

There is no way you or anyone else can check everything on your vehicle before leaving even if you had the expertise. You'd never have time to leave your house.

My wife and I built our first home with our own 2 hands when we were 20 and 21 so we know all about the mechanical systems in a home. We also understand complex real estate transactions. I can speed read complicated tax laws, understand contracts better then many attorneys and have done a great job of giving expert testimony on forensic accounting.

My point is, we need to understand what we know and don't know. We need to realize there are things we can and cannot do.. Everyone needs to rely on third parties for one thing or another and I'm sure you rely on other people yourself, just in different areas.

You are beating a dead horse that has already been cremated and its' ashes spread throughout the pasture.

Good Day and Good luck in the future

Watch out for those UFO's