Towing capacity vs max cargo weight rating

ronharmless wrote:
Let's get back to the practical instead of the hyperbole. A Lawyer ain't going to sue you for exceeding your GVWR because he can't prove his case. Lacking real numbers from a real scale, all he has is speculation. But if he wants to sue you, he will. He'll sue you for failing to stop in time, running the red light, speeding, whatever he comes up with that has some witnesses or provable facts behind it.

Exactly. In a wreck, debris is scattered everywhere. Sorry, there is no chance that the police will be able to definitively prove that this particular pile of debris was absolutely from your vehicle. In some wrecks, that can be hundreds of pounds of debris, spread over large areas.

Its MUCH easier to prove negligence due to speed, distraction or failure to properly maintain a vehicle. Tires a little bald, or maybe starting to get dry rotted? Are your pads low, or maybe your rotors are warped which prevented you from slowing as efficiently? How's that brake fluid, is it dirty and thus able to be compressed slightly, causing you to brake slightly slower? When was the last time you changed your rubber brake lines, is it possible that they stretched slightly and caused your braking time to suffer?

Lets check your cell phone history, did you send or receive a text/phone call while you were driving? Maybe you adjusted your GPS settings while going down the road? "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, clearly the driver was prone to fiddling with electronics rather than paying full time and attention to driving..."

Did you stop at a food establishment shortly before the wreck? Did you have a partial bottle of soda in your truck at the time of wreck? "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, clearly the driver was distracted by eating/drinking while moving down the road in excess of a safe speed, causing a momentary distraction that led to this collision".

Even if you are below the speed limit, you can still be traveling too fast for road conditions.

All of those arguments are easier to make than trying to convince a jury that maybe the vehicle was overloaded...