452 Roadster Towing

Mod Details

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Where Is The Towing Eye?

Open the passenger door and pull back the carpet in the footwell, in the polystyrene footrest block you will see the towing eye. Pull it from the polystyrene block.

Where Does It Go?

Being Towed

Go to the front of the car and look to the left of the number plate, you will see a plastic cap. Lever this out carefully and keep it safe. Screw the towing eye all the way into this hole.

Towing Another Car

Go to the back of the car and you will notice two plastic caps, one on each side of the rear bumper panel. Lever out the side that corresponds to the towing point of the thing you are towing. Screw the eye in all the way. Common sense should tell you that you shouldn’t be attempting to tow another vehicle that is heavier than your own, this limits the type of cars you can tow. Remember the smart clutch isn’t that good.

If you have a rear carrying accessory like the bike rack, these holes will be used already.

Towing A Trailer

The fortwo and Roadster are not legally allowed to tow anything in any country. However, it is not illegal to have a tow bar fitted and it will pass the MOT without issue. Although the smart is not rated to tow any weight, many people use them to pull light trailers. You have to fit an adapted crash bar with a tow ball on it, these aren’t cheap.

Be sensible when it comes to towing, you aren’t going to be able to tow even a small caravan unless it is one of those 2 person teardrop style ones that are barely big enough to get in. Keep trailers small and light, no longer than the smart and try to keep the weight down to under 100kg to save the clutch.

You can mechanically get away with towing very light loads simply because the smart is rated to carry 2 people and a maximum of 100kg in the boot. If you have no passenger you can tow about 180Kg but that includes the weight of the trailer. With a passenger you can tow 100Kg but again this includes the weight of the trailer.

However, it is not recommended that you tow up to this weight very often as it reduces the operational life of the clutch severely.

The clutch is a dry system like in most cars and lugging excessive loads causes it to slip which increases wear and causes the clutch plate to glaze, glazing will cause it to slip even more. If you tow, make sure you have at least £600 put aside for a new clutch (including fitting).

Where Can I Get A Tow Bar?

Towing Behind A Motorhome

The Americans love towing a fleet of fuel efficient cars behind their ‘gas guzzling’ motorhomes, it wasn’t long until the question appeared and the arguments began. Read on, this is the truth.

The smart manual states you should NOT tow for more than 30 miles at a maximum of 30mph they are just covering themselves as the manufacturer of the gearbox (Getrag) impose no such limits.

As long as you have the car in neutral (N) you can tow as far as you like up to the legal towing speed limit with no problems at all. You can tow front up or back up on a trailer or tow flat (all 4 wheels on the floor) with an A-frame. With the ignition off, the mileage will not increase. If the gross weight of a car is more than 750kg, it is classed as a trailer.

Once a car is being towed with an A-frame, it is classed as a trailer and UK law states that, if a trailer has brakes, they must work in conjunction with the towing vehicle. A good A-Frame supplier will be able to offer you either a wire operated, electrical operated or vacuum assisted trailer braking systems.

This may be different in other countries so check your local laws (I know you won’t bother).

Where Can I Buy An A-Frame

Smarts (Bullshit) Towing Information

• Ideally you should only tow if you have experience.
• The ignition must be on when being towed.*
• The gear selector must be in neutral N when being towed.
• Towing speed shouldn’t exceed 30mph. (according to smart)
• Towing distance should be less than 30 miles. (according to smart)
• A tow bar is better than a tow rope.
• The towing eyes of the two vehicles should be on the same side.
• Only use the towing lug to tow.
• The towed vehicle must not be heavier than the vehicle towing.

*Although smart recommend towing with the ignition on this is quite clearly unnecessary as long as the gearbox is in neutral and the car can free wheel. If it wasn’t the case, you wouldn’t be able to tow a smart that had a flat battery. I believe that smart have put this so the mileage increases as you tow, of course, you don’t want that.Towing Legality

It must be mentioned that this particular towbar is for “offroad use only”. The smart 450, 451 and 452 Roadster weren’t homologated to tow anything so can’t legally tow. Check your owner’s document. Technical permissible maximum towable mass of the trailer will either show zero or the field will be left empty. Both of with indicate that it has no legal towing capacity.

You can still legally use the tow bar for tow bar mounted bicycle racks etc. You just can’t tow anything.