Warning for those using A-Frames
I have towed my current car, a Suzuki Celerio, on an A-Frame since purchased new in 2016. Yesterday, having towed it for 7 years this happened when executing a hill start from a site onto a busy road. Fortunately I had waited until the road was completely clear. The car broke loose from the frame. The crash bar pulled completly off as I turned right onto the road and the car carried on straight across the road, up the opposite kerb and unfortunately came to a halt against a telegraph pole rather than in the bushes. Fortunately it all occurred at very slow speed and no other parties were involved. I strongly suspect the cause was metal fatigue, the crash bar literally being torn from the chassis and with it the front bumper by the strain of the start on an incline compounded by the right turn.
This is not the first incident of this kind. A couple of years ago a very similar incident was reported on anther forum although in that one the car was older.
I am posting this so that others are made aware of the potential problem and suggest that they have their A-Frame attachments annually checked, especially on older vehicles. Mine was checked two years ago, but clearly this interval was too long. I was lucky, no other parties were involved and no one was hurt.
peedee
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Hard luck, PD.
I’ve always had doubts about A-frames and their safety.
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Having an additional crossmember as anchorage for the A-frame amounts to a structural modification to the car which makes the vehicle type approval null and void, requiring an IVA to legalise the modification. At that point any weakness in the durability of the design should be picked up. No matter how old, this sort of thing should never happen. Someone should be held responsible for the outcome and pay for the consequences and it shouldn’t be the insurance.
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I think to pick it up at the MOT which was only done in July, you would have to remove the front bumper to inspect the mounts. Not something garages do during MOTs
Lutz it was not an additional crossmember. The cars original one had just had mounts added to it. I have used A-Frames for over 20 years and this is the first time I have had any problems.
peedee
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Do I understand you correctly that the crash bar that was ripped out was a Suzuki component to which the A-frame mounts were attached? If that is so I presume Suzuki never approved the attachment of A-frame mounts, so it would have been up to the A-frame manufacturer to provide data confirming that the crash bar on that car was capable of coping with expected loads.
Considering the possible implications of a failure (you were lucky that no-one was injured in this case) I think this is a case that should be reported to the DVLA for possible recall action, regardless of whether corrosion or a fault in the design was the cause. The seriousness of the failure should not be underestimated.
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You do indeed understand me correctly Lutz. FYI the Suzuki handbook explains how to tow it behind a motorhome but it is a while since I read it so cannot remember if it specifically applied to A-Frames. I would have thought this was the case although I am also aware dollies can be used in some countries.
I do consider myself very lucky it happened where it did but I would have thought recalls only apply to mass production vehicles, not perhaps a handful equipped for towing.
peedee
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Don't forget that this is a specific incident involving a Suzuki Celerio and an A-frame manufactured by a particular company. An A-frame from another source or a different car may not be affected. It would be up to the DVSA to investigate the extent of the problem and whether it is a generic issue affecting all A-frame/car combinations.
Any item may be the subject of a recall, no matter how few produced. The manufacturer must always be in a position to demonstrate product liability.
If this sort of thing had happened on the Continent, the vehicle and the A-frame would be impounded and submitted to state prosecution for further investigation to establish who can be held responsible before release back to its owner.
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😂😂 I do get your point! However I appreciate this is quite a serious situation and had it involved injury (or worse) to someone I am sure the Police Accident investigators and the OP’s insurer's would be all over this. It does need following up and if that results in recommendations for annual or mileage related checks it might be a good outcome.
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I agree. Unfortunately unless PeeDee reports the incident I suspect it will fall through the cracks. Also, having been deeply involved with DVSA when it was VOSA, over the FIAT Ducato fuel filter debacle I know it takes many incidents before they will act, or sadly if there are deaths or serious injury.
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A sorry state. What braking effort was applied to the car once it broke free?
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None that I observed. The safety brake cable did not part because the whole front came off. I think one can argue it should have still worked but even if it had there would still have been considerable damage to the front of the car. It is something I intend to discuss with the fitters when I see them and show them the photos.
peedee
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Insurance covered me fully for the car which they wrote off. Money was in my account 8 days after the incident. Full marks to LV, I could not fault them at all over the handling of the claim.
For the time being I have decided not to replace the car. Age is not on our side for continued touring so for the time being we are going to tour without towing a car. We will just have to be more choosy about where we tour and with picking sites. If necessary we can always hire a car but there is only one place we frequent where we might do that.....Cornwall
peedee
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Glad it was all sorted without any loss to you. Still wondering about the whole situation as it may well apply to many other cars being towed. Have you any comment from the fitters?
One thing I would querry is using the crash bar for attachment. It is desiged to resist forces coming towards the front of the vehicle, not away from it. The retaining bolts are parallel to the length of the vehicle so are put into tension when towing but are not high tensile bolts. They would work better if parallel to axle as they would be in sheer, but that was not envisaged by the vehicle designer.
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Did they also deal fairly with the payout?
I think it was a fair market valuation and I was happy with it.
I did speak to one of their sales staff at the Malvern Western Motorhome Show, the business owner was not around. I intend to email him for a response. He did take copies of my photos and claimed that they did not do Suzukis any more. He also claimed that for each model they do, the fixing method is put on a test frame and stress tested by a company in Liverpool. Hard to believe that was done for my Suzuki.
I did look at an alternative supplier's offering but although apparently a stonger method of attachment, (they didn't use the crash bar) it was mechanical rather than electronic braking and was very heavy to carry around and attach. His lighter electronic version would break the bank and I think it would be cheaper to buy a trailer even if inconvenient to use!
peedee
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