Hitch Failure Can Happen to You
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Like many of you we are avid RVer’s who take off down the road with our RV happily towed behind us off to seek fun and adventure. What happens though when fun and adventure turns into disaster?
This post is about a safety concern that affects any motorist that hauls a trailer. Doesn’t matter if the trailer is a hundred pounds or thousands of pounds, it can happen to you. At the start I would like to state this post is not about bad mouthing a car manufacture or dealer rather it is about making motorists aware of a potential problem. In fact we are pleased with the responses we are getting from the powers that be. So what is the problem?
Hitch failure!
Our family owns a 2007 GMC Sierra 1500 pick up truck with tow package. We recently purchased an 2011 KZ Spree Travel Trailer (RV) to tow behind it. We did all the research into making sure we tow as safe as we can with the vehicle and trailer. We confirmed the trucks towing ability with GM and we do scale the unit several times to make sure weight creep doesn’t happen. We have also scaled the tongue weight. We are within specs and not over weight. We do understand we are reaching our trucks towing ability with the trailer selected. We use an Equalizer Hitch System which offers us weight distribution and sway control and made sure we tuned it in carefully. We also check and adjust the hitch assembly frequently. When doing our research we discovered a potential issue with factory installed hitches on GM trucks so we were looking out for possible problems.
In September of 2011 we took our family vacation down to Pottsville PA. Along the way we noticed the trailer squirmed more than normal but we chalked it up to higher wind conditions through the mountains. The terrain was a little different then we normally travel though in Southern Ontario. We had dealt with stronger winds before so we were not all that alarmed, we just noticed it. We had hitched and unhitched several times during the week-long vacation and we always look at the hitch giving it a once over. The squirming issue seemed to increase slightly and we noticed the EQ hitch assembly on the trailer “walked” and had to be adjusted back into place a few times. The walking issue of the EQ hitch system we had noticed for a few trips but chalked it up to trading trailers and we were looking for a solution to the problem already. Finally arriving home we parked the trailer and was just getting ready to unhitch and BANG! The trailer crashed down on the jack and the truck dropped! Not good!!
GM Hitch Failure
What happened was the hitch receiver pulled away from the truck and bent down, it was basically attached to the truck by a thread. Had it happened not 10 minutes before we would have be driving down the 403 at highway speeds. If that was not scary enough the loops to attach the chains are part of the piece that pulled away and our emergency break away cable was hooked to one of the loops. On the highway the force of the trailer dropping would have pulled everything away, chains, break away cable and all. This means the break away cable would not have engaged. We would have been looking at a 7000 lb RV rolling down the highway!
Hitch is off the truck, looking at the top of the assembly. Damaged areas would be under the bed of the truck and not seen.
It is in hindsight we are able to reflect on what happened. The trailer squirm was possibly caused by the weakened structure holding the receiver to the actual hitch. We also believe this caused some of the walking we noticed with the EQ Hitch. Once the hitch was removed we were able to clearly see the rust that had developed but was hidden behind the bumper and the truck. The designed of the whole hitch is also pretty suspect. The hitch bowed, the frame bubbled and there is puncture (see picture) that no one can explain. We have now upgraded to a good aftermarket hitch and find it’s design and structure far more robust. We have also changed where the break away cable attaches to the truck, our bumper will pull off but at least the brakes will engage.
Hitch is off the truck and looking straight at the receiver
We took the time to contact several people about this failure. Transport Canada, GM and our local dealer. I have to say, the local service manager at our dealer really did go the mile. He was as shocked as we were, took pictures and started the ball rolling in investigating the problem. He stated he has seen failures before but normally it would be caused by a load shifting and is quite rare. We though pull a RV so loads did not shift. Transport Canada was in contact with us within days as was GM Engineering. We have sent pictures and the specs of our combined unit for analysis by GM Engineering. All in all we are thankful no one got hurt and steps are being taken to find out why and how to fix the problem.
Our words of wisdom to those who pull trailers. Inspect inspect and inspect again. Don’t assume. The slightest bubbling of paint, unusual handling or performance should be investigated. In our case most of the warning signs on the hitch was hidden from view but there was enough for us to look deeper now that we know better. Depending on hitch design break away cables should be independent of the hitch to insure activation. Close inspection of your equipment should be done regularly.
Good enough might not actually be good enough.
We are not advocating going out and changing hitches, nor are we saying GM factory hitches are a risk. What we are saying is pay attention and look after your equipment. Safety is something we should not take for granted. Yes when we look at the pictures, we still get chills down our spine thinking, if it was just a few moments earlier….
