Towing Legality

Towing Legality

It must be mentioned that this particular tow bar is for “off-road use only”. The smart 450, 451, 452 Roadster and 453 weren’t homologated to tow anything so can’t legally tow.

I’ll say it again. It is not legal to tow in any country that the smart was sold in.

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.

If you don’t believe the V5C (or regional owner’s document for your country), look at the VIN plate.

3 Weight Numbers = No Towing

Just below the VIN code are 3 sets of numbers.

The first number is the GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight). In this case 1150kg.
The next number is the maximum load for the front axle. In this example 505kg.
The final number is the maximum weight for the rear axle. On this car it’s 660kg.

The fact that there is only 3 numbers tells you that the car is not legally homologated to tow.

4 Weight Numbers = Yes Towing

If your car is legally homologated to tow, it would have 4 numbers.
Gross Vehicle Weight.
Gross Train Weight. (vehicle + trailer)
Maximum front axle load
Maximum rear axle load.

On these vehicles, Gross Train Weight – Gross Vehicle Weight = Maximum Trailer Weight.

So, the:

Total maximum weight of this car is 1700kg
Total maximum train weight is 2500kg
Maximum front axle weight is 895kg
Maximum rear axle weight is 865kg

Therefore, if you take the maximum train weight and minus the vehicle weight, you get 800kg So, for this particular car, you can tow a trailer with contents weighing up to 800kg.

It’s Legal In My Country/State

It’s clear that you aren’t actually interested in the truth and you are going to do your own thing anyway. So why the hell are you even reading the facts if you aren’t going to believe them? Substituting facts with your bullshit isn’t going to suddenly make it true.

Ah Yeah, But…

Let me stop you there. It even says in the user’s manual.

The Chances Of Being Caught

Slim to none. You have to remember that the police who enforce this rule are generally ignorant of the rules, even more so than you, and that’s saying something. The people who do know the rules are the insurance company. If you tow, you are breaking their terms and conditions knowingly so you aren’t actually insured. If you have a crash, you won’t be covered and you can be prosecuted.

But The UK Government Have Change The Law On…

I know what you’re going to say but you’re wrong. The Government changed the laws on towing on December 16th 2021. That is correct but they changed the law for the drivers, they did not change the law for the vehicles.

If you got your licence before 1st of January 1997 you could tow a trailer and vehicle with a combined mass of up to 8,250kg.
If you got your licence after 1st of January 1997 you could tow a trailer with a total mass of up to 3,500kg.

However, just because you can, doesn’t mean your car can. The Government website states:

“You’ll need to know the weight of both the vehicle and trailer – also known as the ‘maximum authorised mass’ (MAM). The MAM is listed in the owner’s manual and is normally shown on a plate or sticker fitted to the vehicle or trailer.”
This is the plate mentioned earlier on the page that contains load load rating for towing on a fortwo or Roadster.

Conclusion

You know the rules so it’s up to you. You are taking the risk. Very few burglars get caught but that doesn’t mean it’s OK to do.