Talk to any mechanic that has had to deal with the engineers and they will tell you they know very little. I'm dealing with them right now due to a fan clutch issue in my Ram and have to say I haven't found one engineer that can understand simple english but after having dealt with engineers off and on through my life I didn't expect anything different.
Always gets me when guys say follow the manual but then turn around and don't follow the manual when it suits them, reminds me of the Glock pistol manual saying to not shoot reloads or cast lead bullets but hardly anyone follows that warning.
I would do the 500 mile break in without towing then drive it like a stole it which has worked just fine for me so far.