Caravan and Colorado 7 on there side on the M1 NSW today.

Submitted: Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 19:20
ThreadID: 133112 Views:5518 Replies:9 FollowUps:11
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Down hill straight road, no other vehicles involved, It was a large Tandem van ,makes you wonder whether all these later suvs need a review on there towing specifications,this set up looked wrong in the tug to van size!

Cheers Axle.
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Reply By: Member - shane r1 - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 19:53

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 19:53
And how do people get the training/experience to tow, a lot of us have been towing since we were not much more than kids, imagine having a trailer or van get the big wobble up at a lot later stage in your life and never towed anything before.
I Sh..t myself years ago , might be a heart attack nowdays
There is no easy answer to any driving/ traffic issues.
Cheers Robbo
AnswerID: 602919

Follow Up By: Ken - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:12

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:12
The OP was not making any comment or judgement on the training or experience related to this accident. He is quite correctly in my view commenting on the suitability of these modern over rated utes to tow large vans. If you have read any of Mr Rivers' posts relating to large vans you would know that if there is instability the transition to being out of control is so rapid that no amount of training/experience can equip the driver to control the situation. Sure these utes are rated to tow heavy loads but what sort of loads? I don't think the rating is appropriate to large, high centre of gravity vans with pivot points well behind the rear axle.
Ken
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FollowupID: 872551

Follow Up By: Sigmund - Saturday, Jul 30, 2016 at 05:03

Saturday, Jul 30, 2016 at 05:03
The Colorado 7 is an IS wagon by the way.
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FollowupID: 872562

Reply By: Member - William B (The Shire) - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:28

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:28
Hi, Where in the original post does he make mention of Utes.
SUV relates to a lot of vehicles on the road these days.
I myself have never had a issue with anything getting out of control, would I know how to react when everything gets a bit hectic, I would like to think so.
Heaven forbid I have to put my lack of "training" into use to save myself and family.
William
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AnswerID: 602922

Follow Up By: steved58 - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:34

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:34
I think the heading definitely says colorado

Catch ya steve
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FollowupID: 872552

Follow Up By: TomH - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:49

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:49
Maybe it was one of these

https://www.holden.com.au/cars/colorado-7
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FollowupID: 872554

Follow Up By: 508 - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:53

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:53
Colorado 7 is not a ute, but a shorter wheelbase suv version of the ute. In addition to that it has a towing mass of 3000kgs.
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FollowupID: 872556

Reply By: Member - William B (The Shire) - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:36

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 21:36
True, my apologies.
William
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AnswerID: 602924

Reply By: Paul E6 - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 23:33

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 23:33
Could be distraction, or any reason. A blowout. Falling asleep.
AnswerID: 602930

Follow Up By: gbc - Sunday, Jul 31, 2016 at 07:00

Sunday, Jul 31, 2016 at 07:00
Cow, roo, getting cut off by a young girl in a festiva......

Nowhere near enough info in this instance to draw any conclusion.
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FollowupID: 872605

Reply By: splits - Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 23:48

Friday, Jul 29, 2016 at 23:48
"this set up looked wrong in the tug to van size!"

You see it so often Axle. Many owners forget that it is the engine that does the towing but it is the weight and dimensions of the car that does the controlling. Many cars will easily tow a 3 to 3.5t trailer of some description but a caravan that size is a completely different story.
AnswerID: 602932

Reply By: Ozhumvee - Saturday, Jul 30, 2016 at 07:59

Saturday, Jul 30, 2016 at 07:59
On that particular hill you gain speed just rolling quite quickly, the southern side is a good climb and the hill down the northern side is sort of an elongated S shape so you have a downhill with curves, not much wind yesterday but around hills and mountains like that there are often gusts.
The resultant friday afternoon traffic jam heading north went for quite a few k's and wasn't moving as the van was blocking both lanes when I went past southbound.
I think many people forget basic towing as we were taught, the towing vehicle must always exceed the weight of the towed vehicle, in an emergency situation the heavier one will always do the steering.
The other thing that also worries me is people travelling faster than 100kph with a van on the back which is the maximum speed once GCM exceeds 4.5t.
100kph also just happens to be the point at which according to research many rigs become unstable.
AnswerID: 602937

Follow Up By: Mogul - Monday, Aug 01, 2016 at 21:07

Monday, Aug 01, 2016 at 21:07
100kmh limit is for vehicles over 4.5 tonne GVM and not GCM.
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FollowupID: 872675

Follow Up By: Ozhumvee - Monday, Aug 01, 2016 at 21:42

Monday, Aug 01, 2016 at 21:42
Mogul that is where you are wrong see this article http://www.caravanworld.com.au/features/1204/state-by-state-towing-rules

In fact if the GCM is over 4.5t than 100kph is the limit.
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FollowupID: 872677

Follow Up By: Mogul - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2016 at 18:52

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2016 at 18:52
I stand corrected. The fact sheet put out by the RMS (nsw) states over 4.5 tonne GVM. The legislation states over 4.5 tonne GVM or GCM.
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FollowupID: 872697

Reply By: mike39 - Saturday, Jul 30, 2016 at 17:15

Saturday, Jul 30, 2016 at 17:15
I believe that in the UK/Europe a van must be no more than 80% of the weight of the towing vehicle.
It seems that here in Aus., the towing vehicle should be no more than 80% of the van's weight.
We are travelling (not as I write!) at the moment and see these all out of balance situations every day.
Quite scary, some of them.
mike
AnswerID: 602960

Reply By: Nomadic Navara - Sunday, Jul 31, 2016 at 08:23

Sunday, Jul 31, 2016 at 08:23
We would be able to see more if someone posts a link to a news report of the incident.
PeterD
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AnswerID: 602984

Follow Up By: Ron N - Sunday, Jul 31, 2016 at 12:38

Sunday, Jul 31, 2016 at 12:38
This episode is obviously such a common event, it doesn't even make the news any more.

The auction/salvage yards consistently have a wide variety of wrecked caravans and campers - thereby indicating that a lot of work still needs to be done, as regards ensuring drivers/caravan/camper owners, are better trained as to how to set up, load, and operate their rigs.

Too many caravans and campers are still being built to poor designs that encourage instability.
Add in owners who don't understand loading techniques that affect stability, and you have a regular recipe for disaster.

Saw a bloke yesterday with a fully loaded, full length roof-rack - with a tinny sitting upside down, on top of the fully loaded roof-rack! When I say fully loaded roof-rack, I mean fully loaded, too!

I hate to think what his stability was like, let alone the amount of loading on the gutters on rough roads.

Sighted another setup with a full length roof-rack mounted on the cabin one end, and mounted on a fibreglass canopy on the other end!
Obviously the owner is unaware of the massive amount of flexing between cabin and the tub over uneven ground - nor the design of fibreglass canopies that are not normally designed to take full length roof-racks!

Both the setups I sighted were doing off-road driving, too, when I sighted them, I might add!

Cheers, Ron.
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FollowupID: 872626

Reply By: Bob Y. - Qld - Sunday, Jul 31, 2016 at 13:44

Sunday, Jul 31, 2016 at 13:44
Followed a tandem axle 'van out of Winton the other day Axle, towed by a Prado. It was a Unicorn..........where do they get some of these names? :-)). Approaching the Boulia turnoff, it suddenly got the death wobbles, and these lasted for 3 or 4 cycles. I was in a truck with top speed of 89kph, so wasn't happy that I might have to pass him.

After a couple of aborted attempts, I managed to pass him, downhill with both boots on the loud pedal. I wasn't game to check how the Unicorn handled this manoeuvre but they were still upright once I did look back.

The Landsborough & Barkly highways are littered with the remains of many, many van rollovers, usually on dead straight sections of the highways.

Bob

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Can't remember most of it.

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AnswerID: 602991

Follow Up By: GREG T11 - Tuesday, Aug 02, 2016 at 20:38

Tuesday, Aug 02, 2016 at 20:38
It is so easy to lose a big unit. Back when 100 series were new my company director at the time headed off with a mid sized Bushtracker. He had a sahara v8 petrol with no outlandish accessories ( extra weight ) on either .
On their trip towards Darwin the wife was doing a stint at a the whee, a road train passed them and they got the sway, he wasn't quick enough ( his words ) to get to the brake controller the van rolled the vehicle stayed upright. So quick all over red rover.
No reflection on who was driving just pointing out it happens... so easily.
They bought the wreck and had it rebuilt by Bushtracker so all was not lost
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FollowupID: 872700

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