Lightening tongue weight
It has occurred to us that if we just camp alone, with nothing in the TV but ourselves and a bag of potato chips, we're good with the tongue weight. But after subtracting it from our payload, we don'...
Forum Discussion
spoon059 wrote:
No... manufacturers stamp the ratings that they will stand behind for WARRANTY work....
These ratings are for warranty work ONLY.
Gdetrailer is right on this one. The ratings have more to do with liability, longevity, and certification than warranty claims. The manufacturer's engineers know what the absolute limits are for a vehicle and know what's the safe operating limits are for each component. That's something that you cannot say with any certainty. Whatever number they decide has legal ramifications for them. If you snap an axle and take out a school bus of children then it's the manufacturers duty to explain why the design failed while within the safe operating limits. Warranty work is nothing when you compare it to the hundreds of millions of dollars that has to be paid out in a wrongful death suits. Not to mention how bad they would look in the court of public opinion.
If you're in the same situation while overloaded then it's your duty to explain why you can exceed those limits. T plaintiff will call the manufacturer's engineers as an expert witness and they'll gladly show up. They don't want anyone thinking they are to blame. They'll show up with real numbers and actual data setting you up for a big "oops" moment. Even if you somehow come out victorious, you're still on the hook for thousands of dollars in legal fees to just defend yourself.
The manufacturer still has to build a vehicle that will comply with FMVSS. You may be able to overload your vehicle by a ton, but good luck trying to get it to pass FMVSS.
They also have to specify limits that will account for vehicle longevity to it. What good is setting high limits if the vehicle is toast as soon as the warranty is up? Seeing tons of their trucks parked on the side of the road doesn't make them look.
Those limits are in no way absolute physical limits. However they are limits that the manufacturer has deemed as safe. Once you exceed those limits then you've taken on all the risk yourself. I have ran grossly overloaded several times in the past, but I completely understand the potential consequences for doing so.
