Problems with VE Commodore as Tow Vehicle

Hi Bill- many thanks for your words of encouragement. cheers Brian

Bbuzz is correct. Despite your new car warrantee running out you have a holden with a holden tow pack that has failed in normal use. Above any supplier warrantee goods must be fit for their designed use. If you have not exceeded the tow and hitch weights then you have a good case. Contacting your motoring organizations legal department may help. The RAA helped me get a free new engine for my old Pajero when a reconditioned one spat the dummy 3 months after the warrantee expired.

Wrong.... the car left the factory without a towbar. The dealer fitted it. It's the dealer's responsibility to make good the situation.

Each dealer is privatley (or corporation) owned. None are owned by GM Holden. Holden engineering is responsible for the initial design of the towbar, BUT it's the dealer's responsibility to ensure that the towbar is fitted in accordance to the manufacturers specification and method. If this critical step is not followed, the buck stops with the fitting dealer.

For example...the OP mentions a caravan. If caravan company XYZ builds a caravan and it is sold by Joe Bloggs Caravan Sales and Service and the customer requests a XYZ awning be fitted by the dealer prior to pick up which then falls off, the onus is on Joe Bloggs to fix the problem.

It's easier to bash Holden though...right?

Fab.

Hi Lyn- yes, we were using a two bar wdh (not Hayman Reese) along with air shocks. The most critical measurement in towing is the tow ball weight, and this is calculated (as advised by "other commercial towbar retailers") at 10% of the towing vehicle's capacity (the tow pack fitted to my car was a genuine Holden 2100kg unit) thus my maximum tow ball weight should be 210kg. But this is actually not the case with Holden- their tow ball weight is (as advised by the local dealership) 165kg. I searched all my manuals and service booklets which came with the car and found no mention of a tow ball weight figure. I checked the weight of the tow ball andon my car and found it to be 160kg.

Brian

Are your air shocks a genuine Holden part? If not, and I am assuming you are using them to lift the rear end, then they could be contributing to your problem,

Shocks are not springs, they just move with your springs and dampen the oscillations. The air bag around them is a spring and an exponential one at that. They will get progressively harder as they compress just like your bump rubbers do. This is the opposite to the way you coil springs work. They could be severely restricting the downward movement of the car body well before it would normally reach the stock bump rubbers. This would mean the linear coil springs would not be able to compress to their maximum as they try and absorb the momentum built up by the heavy rear end of the car as it falls when the wheels go into depressions in the road. This could induce excessive stress into the tow bar mounting points.

There is also the issue of the wdh. They are notorious for damaging tow bars and their mouting points if the correct one is not used. The manufacturer of my car says to use one for ball weights above 90kg but does not list any specifications. I have heard some other manufacturers don't recommend them. I don't know what Holden says but you can always ring their customer information number and ask them.

This really needs the attention of a suitably qualified mechanical engineer with experience in suspension design and caravan dynamics to determine exactly what has happened. I very much doubt a mobile mechanic, or dealer mechanic, would have those qualifications. I suppose you could say the car needs the automotive equivalent of a coroners report before any blame could be laid on anyone.

You can bet if you take anyone to court, they will have people at that level to explain their case.

Hi splits- many thanks for your input. As far as I know, the air-shocks were fitted to the car when it was purchased by its original owner (who I personally know and hold with the highest of integrity). The shocks (I assume) to be genuine GMH as the tow pack was fitted by a GM Dealer.
What I am really wondering is if other VE owners have had the same or similar failure of the tow bar mounts. Cheers Brian

Brian

"What I am really wondering is if other VE owners have had the same or similar failure of the tow bar mounts. "

Try asking the members of this forum, you might get a lot more answers there.

http://www.caravanersforum.com/viewforum.php?f=2

I'm with Racey here.
I would imagine the damage began a long time before the failure and so still under warranty.
Careful CLOSE UP examination of the fractures will show if it was a progressive or sudden failure. ie, mostly rusted break surfaces and some bright and shiny, but also broken, which happened most recently.

The Bolts may never have been tightened sufficiently to prevent movement and fatigue of the surrounds ie A fitting fault.

The other problem may be any load spreading washer/s may not be big enough to distribute forces, so size does matter there. If too small then movement begins and a failure results.

Pictures of all fittings and fastening will be essential.

In fact, the only difference between the 1600kg and the 2100kg towbars is the tongue.
The rest of the structure is a common unit.
That is....if it is actually a genuine Holden bar. I say this because many dealers will fill Haymen Reese, Halls etc. and the customers assume it's a genuine item simply because it was fitted at the dealer, by the dealer.

Fab.

The spare wheel tub is made up of a composite material.
Not where the towbar mounts to.
Fab

This is true to a degree. The spare tyre is inside a composite material (I would describe it as a plastic) tub with a fibre-board cover over the tyre. The remainder of the floor of the boot is a very thin metal. And as Fab72 mentioned, the tow bar mounts are inside the chassis rails. Thanks for your input. Brian

If I want to tow 2100kg I would make sure that there were a couple of hefty chassis rails to bolt the towbar to.

This is becoming an NGE website, almost as much whinging about products & services as there is about travel & camping.