Wow!
Yes not likely the spring clip (I presume) came out on its own. Possible I suppose, but there’s millions of trailer hitches doing millions of miles with the spring clip in tact.
That said, one bad experience like that calls for more peace of mind.
Locking hitch pin is the easy solution.
Frequent inspections is the other solution.
I tow all those of trailers frequently and randomly (in construction). Hooked up an air compressor at one of my project sites last night, late evening, got interrupted during hooking up with a phone call. Pulled out of our yard and stopped under a light to double check as I thought I may have missed something. Sure nuff, didn’t latch the pintle down.
I’m not ocd about checking tire pressures daily and things of the like, but when towing/hauling, always give a 360 walk around visual inspection every stop. And that is why.
