Speed for towing

[Gamecock7483]

I have a Saturn ION and owners manual says the vehicle can be towed, but max of 65 miles per hour. Is this particular to the Saturn or is this common to other towed vehicles? Not that I plan to do a lot of driving over 65, but just curious. Thanks.

[becker]

X2 on the safety issue.

[J-Rooster]

To me it's a safety issue! Why would you want to drive over 65 MPH while towing in combination?

[bshpilot]

are these AUTOMATIC transmission toad's ???

I mean they'll run faster than 65 & the manufacture doesnt "restrict" your speed if you're DRIVING it down the interstate - why are they claiming a slower TOAD speed ???

As for distance - the owners manual doesnt (usually) say you must not exceed XXX miles per day or some amount hours ?

[tatest]

Most vehicles have a maximum safe towing speed. 65 is pretty high, speeds as low as 25-30 mph are much more common if towing is at all permitted. Usually a maximum safe towing speed of 55 mph is enough to get a vehicle into a four-down towable list, if the range is also 200 miles or more.

Part of what determines this speed is the manufacturers assessment of stability under tow. FWD steering geometry particularly gets set for the front end pulling, rather than it being in trail. That the now ubiquitous power steering system is not running is also a factor here. Toow fast, the front end can wobble, wobbling leading to excess wear or more serious handling problems that can lead to sway and roll. Obviously, there has to be a safety factor, so a limit of 65 doesn't mean it is going to roll over at 66 mph. It might even be stable in a straight line at 80 mph but dangerous in a lane change at that speed.

Other factor for speed is heat generated by friction in moving parts. This is why you will have limits on distance as well as speed, with guidelines for period operation or periodic lubrication procedures.

Impact of handling problems on combined rig is hard for towed vehicle manufacturers to predict. A 40,000 pound coach pulling a 2000 toad is a quite different problem from a 6000 pound toad behind a 8000 pound van, with respect to tail wagging the dog problems. Thus they try to set speed limits so that the tail won't be wagging at all.

[hershey]

My new Chevy Equinox also states 65 and my old Suzuki Grand Vitrara, the same. I cruise at about 62 so it doesn't factor but there are times that I would drive over 70 mph for brief periods of time. Usually to keep from being a part of a covey of vehicles. Never had a problem.

[Mr_Mark1]

Gamecock... our Honda has the same restriction but I have coasted many times to over 70 mph.

I have even driven with my cruise set at 70 mph. When the speed limit in Texas is 80 mph, I don't want to be going too slow. This is our second Honda. We drove the first to almost 70,000 miles of driving plus another 57,000 miles of towing. No problems with exceeding 65 mph (on occasion).

As I mentioned, we will go over 65 mph but not too often. I think it's just a 'safety reason' for Honda to list that. I wonder how they would know if a car is towed at higher speeds?

MM.