Instability factors.
I'd be interested in your thoughts.
We had an unfortunate accident (thank God no injury and nobody else involved) with our van turning over after a snake became uncontrollable and of course I need to think it all through before replacing the van. The van was within legal limits for the car on paper; at the time of the accident the car was fairly heavily loaded (awning, chairs, 2 humans etc) and the van was lightly laden with load distributed properly so its actual towing ratio was slightly more favourable. The only thing I don't know was the noseweight but it can't have been far out. Our speed and driving were described by the lorry-driver witness who'd been following us for a while as "safe and reasonable for conditions". It was windy and we were on a motorway's inside lane being regularly overtaken by lorries because we were keeping down to 45-50mph. The accident seemed to result from 3 factors coinciding... emerging from a cutting so catching a side wind, a lorry passing and it starting to go downhill. The HA guys said it was their 3rd overturned van in the same place in a week 
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I need to satisfy myself over contributory factors before replacing the van (car is being repaired and CC insurance is paying out on the van).
Athough we have a good number of towing miles under both our belts, this was our first experience of towing a newish van (2007), our previous ones having been 1980s/early 90s models. We were told we'd be really impressed with the stability, it having a modern BPW Winterhoff stabiliising hitch. Well to be honest it felt LESS stable and far more susceptible to wind/lorries. Is it possible the hitch wasn't functioning properly? How would we know? (It was bought from a dealer so had full PDI etc). What difference would you expect to feel compared with a "traditional" older hitch without any stabiliser?
Our older vans both had very noticeable brakes...you would put the car brakes on then feel a jolt as the van braked. We never felt anything like that on the new van. Should we? We assumed newer=smoother operation. Is there any chance they weren't working properly? Would you expect them to operate as you start to travel downhill if the caravan tries to push the car because you've eased off the power? Again how do you test they're working?
Do you feel van layout has a bearing? Our van was an end washroom and I feel even empty of belongings its fitments were darned heavy (semi-circular shower door screen, wardrobe/drawers, cupboards right along the back wall, vanity unit, loo). This seems to lead to a likely tail-heavy situation? The water heater was in the front o/s corner - wouldn't it be better near the axle?
We are thinking now of going for a very lightweight van - but the choice of 4-berths suited to a Mondeo 2.0 Tdci 130 seems remarkably small. We are thinking possibly a Bailey Ranger with fixed bed as to be honest we found ourselves leaving the bed made up in the front all day and living in the awning/side-dinette. We have had the mover recovered from the wrecked van and will have that fitted. Does that have any stability issues? - logic says it should be beneficial as it is very low and central.
We also are torn between buying private or dealer but that is another story!
Comments
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Landlubber, you’re being blatant with your advertising now. Give it a rest, eh. I’m rather sick of it. Obviously if your system was any good it would be used by cvan manufacturers.
You’ll only be Deleted User when the mods catch up with you because you’ve breached the T&Cs so you might as well save your energy.
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The "Differential Stability system" is the cure for drunken staggers, warts, and dyspepsia JVB. And like all snake oils is guaranteed to prevent snakes.
Same spam on many sites today. I don't know about curing snaking he's all over the place
caravan guard, practical caravan and others
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you seem to be contradicting yourself here. you say the loading was ok but then seem to think the rear was to heavy. that is the hole point of weighing the hitch and if to light might be the back end to heavy. this could have been the cause of the accident. If you felt a thud when breaking in old van then breaks probably not working as hitting on the damper to quickly or brakes not adjusted correctly. if going down hill and in a high gear then the caravan breaks may not come on as the car may not slow down enough to activate the van breaking system.
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I find it difficult to understand how a snake can be described as being uncontrollable. I have experienced a snake where the caravan took up two full lanes of motorway and others which were intentionally provoked on wide open spaces off public roads and yet in each case they were was brought under control.
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As this thread is old and the original contributions have been Deleted User I will close to avoid confusion!!!
David
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