Flying tow hitch caught on dashcam

The Dashcam Owners Australia footage is frightening; a tow hitch works its way out of the towbar on a Toyota HiLux driving on a South Australian freeway, causing a puff of smoke as it hits the road before cartwheeling along, for a moment as if suspended above the road, then smashing violently through the dashcam vehicle’s windscreen.

While thankfully the occupant in the dashcam vehicle was unharmed, this raises some questions: What are the safety rules about towbars, and what do you need to do to ensure you are not risking other people’s lives with a loose tow hitch? Do you need to remove the tow hitch when not in use?

Mixed messaging

The Federal Government’s vehicle safety rules (Australian Design Rule 62/03) does not have the scope to answer this question, except to note that the towbar structure must be engineered to withstand certain loads, have certain measurements, and have certain markings to show it complies with the regulations.

It goes without saying, of course, that a towbar must be secured properly – if it’s the common 50mm towing hitch-receiver, it must be located with a pin and clip and, if fitted, an anti-rattle bolt tightened.

Obviously the tow hitch in the video was not properly secured in the hitch.

We discussed a similar issue recently with solar panels coming off the top of caravans when in transit. As with the solar panels, there's no clear legislation that says you're supposed to have the tow hitch secured, except that the vehicle must be "in roadworthy condition".

The removal of road debris is in the road rules; for example in NSW it's covered under regulation 293. In summary, it says:

“This rule applies to a driver if (a) something falls onto the road from the driver's vehicle or the driver, or a passenger in or on the driver's vehicle puts something on the road and...

(b) there is a possibility that the thing, if left on the road may injure a person, obstruct the path of other drivers or pedestrians, or damage a vehicle or anything else (for example, the road surface). The driver must remove the thing, or take action to have the thing removed, from the road as soon as the driver can do so safely.”

State and territory legislation is more specific about the practicalities of towbar use than Federal Australian Design Rules. This includes, for example, the requirement that the towbar cannot impede the view of the registration plate or its lighting.

As to the legalities when a tow tongue is fitted when not towing, some state/territory legislation raises more questions than it answers.

For example, NSW’s RMS says that towbars "must not protrude dangerously when there is no trailer connected”.

For Victoria, VicRoads gets more specific, with:

“...the towbar tongue should be removed when not towing if it protrudes from the vehicle or obscures the number plate”. Given that almost all towbar tongues are bound to protrude from the vehicle, it suggests that the tongue should always be removed when not towing.

The Queensland Government has a little more clarity in its rules:

”Towbars, including towbar tongues, must not overhang dangerously when a trailer isn’t connected. You can use a removable trailer ball mount, protective guard on protruding sections or recessed towbar to prevent this”.

Expert opinion

We approached RV safety expert Colin Young, from the Caravan Council of Australia for his take on the matter.

"'Dangerous' and 'reasonable' can only be precisely defined by a court, it would seem, and 1000 judges may possibly give 1000 different opinions," Young surmised.

"Vehicle manufacturers are not permitted to have protrusions on the vehicles that may cause injury.  (So) do owners, who affix additional equipment have the same duty-of-care?"

Young also questioned whether it was "reasonable to expect a driver to remove a tow-bar tongue every time a caravan, trailer or horse-float is disconnected... just in case a person walks by, and close to, the rear of the vehicle, and injures their leg on the tow-bar extension? 

"A close-fitting soft rubber sleeve around the protrusion may well reduce the seriousness of any injury to a pedestrian, but it reasonable to require this?

"Should a pedestrian be expected to be aware that a towbar assembly would extend from a vehicle, and thus not walk close to the rear of the vehicle?" he said. 

For further insight, we also reached out to some of the biggest players in the Australian towbar market, including AL-KO, Cruisemaster and Hayman Reese, with only Queensland-based Cruisemaster (best known for its popular DO-35 off-road coupling) responding in time for our deadline.

"In relation to our products we provide a bright red cover for the DO-35 tow pin fitted to the receiver for when not in use," Cruisemaster sales and marketing manager Nathan Smith said.

"This cover is designed to both protect the pin from the elements and create awareness of the potential hazard, reducing the risk of injury or damage due to someone being unaware of its presence."

Online forums are full of reports of people returning to the boat ramp and finding that someone has tampered with their trailer while they've been out on the water.

In a worst-case scenario, boaters have had wheel nuts loosened on their trailers. But while that's an extreme example of tampering, one of the easy ways that someone can mess around with you is to remove the spring clip holding the pin used to secure the tow hitch on the towbar.

Depending on how well bedded-in the pin is, you may travel all the way home and even unhook the trailer without realising something is amiss.

However, a tow hitch with no load on it is bound to move around more than one that's loaded up, creating better conditions for the pin holding it in to work its way out.

Either get a locking pin for your tow hitch, or check it each time before you jump in the car to retrieve your boat from the water.

Final thoughts

Whether you keep your tow hitch in or decide to slip it out when not towing, the recent dashcam footage appears to confirm this simple principle; always run through a pre-trip safety checklist both when hitching up and decoupling your boat.

Ultimately, you’re responsible for making sure everything is secure, and that you’re not putting others’ lives at risk.