Breakaway car

[deereone]

Saw this on the local news last night: LINK

[teddyu]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
It would be interesting to know if Demco added the reinforcing gussets to the base plate kit after several weld failures were reported.

Looked at the three different models baseplates for the different years of Equinoxes. They all seem to have them, but may be the early years were re-designed. JM2¢...

[Dutch_12078]

It would be interesting to know if Demco added the reinforcing gussets to the base plate kit after several weld failures were reported.

[j-d]

I wouldn't rule out an installer skipping anything that had to be drilled and do only a bolt/on job. If I'm a DIY and what I'm doing calls for say a drill, I'll go buy one. Bought a $30 bit from a specialty shop to drill one hole in each of two leaf springs. First went well. Drill was shot by the time we finished the second. Cost of being a DIY. But I digress, chances are this was a "professional installation."

[teddyu]

Just read this article for the second time. I own a Chevy product with a Demco baseplate, so I was concerned to see if this was a generic issue with Chevy or Demco. Can't tell for sure if the baseplate is Demco or not, but I went to the Demco website and downloaded the installation manual for the Equinox. Looking at the photos, it seems as though the spot welds attaching the bumper mounting plate to the sub-frame are broken. If this is a Demco baseplate, upper and lower brackets are provided to bolt extra support gussets behind the spot-welded bumper mounting plate to the frame. These appear to be missing on the subject vehicle. I have not checked other baseplate manufacturers installation plans, but spot-welded components should not be placed under this type of stress without re-enforcement. It looks to me that the installation was done improperly or incompletely if this was a Demco.

I'm not defending Demco but I am trying to apply the lessons learned so that this type of occurrence does not happen to me. I witnessed an incident where the hitch receiver became unbolted from a MH's frame. I now annually sound my receiver's mounting bolts. By the way, I verified my installation and noted that my baseplate is re-enforced by additional bolting into the sub-frame channels. The best use of any forum is to understand the actions and inter-actions of components and learn from other's experiences. JM2¢...

[BPoland858]

I always had my trailers set up, that in the event of a disconnect, before the saftey cables got to their full length, the breakaway switch would be activated.

In setting up our '15 Jeep Cherokee, there will be cables tying the baseplate back to the frame, and the breakaway will be anchored to the frame with a cable that ends at the bumber for easy attachment. I will also have the brealaway cable from the motorhome long enough not to be activated during normal turns, but if the towbar lets go, the breakaway will be activated before the saftey cables reach full length.

Hopefully, that allows for just about everything. I also plan on using 10K lbs saftey cables. Overkill, Yup. I have been accused of over building and over thinking on many occasions. This is one area, that demands the extra care.

[dodge_guy]

And some aux brake systems will actuate the brakes in the case of a complete circuit disconnect. There is also another system that is cable operated that will actuate the brakes.

This is also why any brake away switch should be attached to the frame of the car and not the bumper.

[WyoTraveler]

rjstractor wrote:
Everyone seems to be assuming that there was no brake system or breakaway cable. Well, if the portion of the car that the breakaway cable is attached to completely breaks off, a breakaway system does no good. It looks as though the whole front subframe of the car came loose, not just the baseplate. As for the talk of lawsuits, no one was hurt and some bushes got run over. Once the guys car is fixed, who is going to sue whom for what? Some flattened bushes?

My Blue Ox has a cable through the frame in case the rest breaks loose.

[robatthelake]

I reported on a similar incident that occurred three Years ago. The Car was an Equinox the Tow a Bar and Baseplate were Demco!
The Owners got a decent settlement for the damage to their Vehicles!

Basically the. front Facia fell off the Car! Poor design of both Vehicle and the Base Plate !

Incidentally their Auxilliary Braking System did not activate !

Fortunately they were on a divided Highway and at the first Hill the Car stopped then rolled backwards into the divider!

Traffic was light at the time of the incident so no one was injured .

[navegator]

My C has as window in the rear and I can see it with the inside mirror, I have a plastic fressnel lens that allows me to see the toad, I also installed two small LED's on the corners of the windshield that turn on when I turn the driving lights on this permits me to see the toad at night, some times out in the desert at night I can hardly see the toad, the LED's are pointing down to the front of the hood so that my night vision is not impaired.

Having a visual on the toad is important, specially units with no windows and no line no sight, I would have a monitoring system on while driving.

navegator

[dodge_guy]

Janss wrote:
The driver said "I heard a funny noise and I put on my rear view camera and the car was gone."

I always drive with my rear view camera ON all the time. Do you?

Yes. it`s there as a rear view mirror. it should always be on, even when not towing something!

[Janss]

The driver said "I heard a funny noise and I put on my rear view camera and the car was gone."

I always drive with my rear view camera ON all the time. Do you?

[Jagtech]

Looks like those Chevy's are just crimped together. Glad no one was hurt.

[navegator]

Base plates should be attached to at least some part of a frame, as in the engine supports or the front end steering stations, many tow packages are also installed by persons that do not follow the complete instructions and do not install all of the components, therefore creating situations that are beyond the owners control.

My two toads have base plates attached to frames welded and bolted, also have a brake away independent from the tow plate and cables that go to the frame.

I am glad no one was hurt, we can all learn a lesson from this check your tow package, and try to be safe for every ones sake.

My guess is that the base plate was not installed with all the components that the base plate originally had, and some components where missing, no manufacturer of base plates is going to open himself to that kind of liability.

navegator

[traveylin]

Root cause is failure of the unibody construction and secondary braking systems may have stopped the vehicle to the right side of the mv safely or may have stopped the vehicle to the left side of the mh into an oncoming car.

I would not tow a vehicle that did not have the base plate properly attached to the vehicle frame and back up safety cables also properly attached to the frame. I would not tow a unibody do to workhardening of the thin shell


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