MFG Ratings what are the limiting factors

kaydeejay wrote:

john&bet wrote:
I think it better to ask the engineers at the OEM manufactures.

Manufacturers are required to certify vehicle safety and emission performance to comply with many Federal requirements before they can be offered for sale.
Compliance tests are performed on a loaded vehicle. Marketing sets a target vehicle capability. Engineers design the vehicle to meet those criteria when possible, which establishes the GVWR and other ratings.
This is the weight at which they are tested.
Will the truck fall apart if you exceed ratings by 5#? No, but they have to draw a line somewhere.
If the user loads the vehicle beyond those certified ratings, then it will likely let the Manufacturer off the hook for certain warranty and liability situations.
(BTW, many years ago I was responsible for those certification labels that go on the door of US sold vehicles for one of the "Big 3" so I know a little about what is behind the numbers).

I have a question for you. On my phone 2014 Town and Country the tire loading and payload sticker is totally bogus. I scaled it and found a huge discrepancy between GVWR and the available payload. I lost the weight slip so I can't provide that yet. I need to get it re-weighed. But it was hundreds of pounds difference iirc. I have 1100 ish lbs of payload per the door sticker and when we weighed the van we had the entire family in the van and some of our gear so 900 lbs total....I expected to see 200 ish lbs of payload but it was more like 5 or 600 lbs under GVWR

Curious, I started checking out other 2014 Town and Countries, across all trim levels and options I found the payload sticker was exactly the same.

This fact has led me to call the sticker 'silly' and sent me back to the Stone Age where to determine actual payload I will weigh the vehicle and subtract from the GVWR.

Thanks!

Jeremiah