kaydeejay wrote:
All vehicle manufacturers are required to certify to the Federal Government that their vehicles comply with all Safety and Emission standards on the date of manufacture (read the label on your door).
GVWR is the MAXIMUM weight at which the manufacturer will stand behind the vehicle in meeting those regs.
If you go over GVWR your truck is NOT going to fall apart but be aware of the following possible (but unlikely) scenarios:
- You may wear out driveline components faster than their designed life
- Your dealer could void your drivetrain & suspension warranty
- If you were involved in an accident you could be cited for overloading
- Following such an accident you insurance company could terminate coverage
Bearing all of the above in mind, I would not get too excited about 200-400# overweight.
Where I would start to get concerned would be at 1000# or more over.
Many years ago I was involved in a couple of court cases where drivers involved in accidents WERE prosecuted for being 1000# and 1500# over. They were charged with negligence.
Just be careful!
I generally agree with the above and it represents a good common sense view of the problem.
The dirty little secret that the Lawyers and MFG,s dont want out is that in almost all engineering where human life is in interaction, Like cars, manned space flight etc...there is a safety factor of somewhere between 1.5 times and 5 times (NASA Manned space flight req's)of the stated capacity.
This means that in all reality you probably can exceed those limits with NO harmful or dangerous effects. But you need to be acutely aware of the weakest link in the chain which I believe is the tires.
However even in tires there is a built in safety factor (prob. 1.5 times the stated load capacity)
The Lawyers will never allow anyone to admit this for obvious reasons. But you can bet on it when it comes to court the first of many questions to the MFG regarding design will be " What was the Design Safety Factor?"
I am not giving legal advice nor am I advocating exceeding stated design limits. I am just shining a light on an oft neglected part of the equation.
