Breakaway Tether Connection Point

We have been told by VICROADS but have never seen it in writing. Had a mate have the whole center section of his towbar separate. The idiot had the clip hooked onto the chain

I didn’t need legal to tell me not to attach it to a part of the tow system that might come off. You can’t legislate common sense.

I had this issue when I was rejigging my trailer. However I can remember that I did some researching and I know common sense and responsibility said do not attach to towbar. Unsure if I found the actual law around it or not. Ended up mounting to chassis via stainless cable. Connected it to the house batteries in the camper rather than relying on a small wet cell battery that came with the unit..

Vehicle Standards Bulletin VSB1, which covers the technical requirements stipulated by the Federal Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, says that:

Every trailer over two tonnes GTM must have brakes operating on all wheels.
The brake system must cause immediate application of the trailer brakes in the event of the trailer becoming detached from the towing vehicle.
Under these circumstances, the brakes must remain applied for at least 15 minutes.

Some states (ACT, VIC) add that the brakes must “be able to hold the trailer on a 12 per cent grade while in operation after a breakaway”.

"""" The brake system must cause immediate application of the trailer brakes in the event of the trailer becoming detached from the towing vehicle.""""" If your safety wire was attached to the tow bar and the tow bar fell off, the unit would not activate as the van is still connected to the tow bar via safety chains. Pretty simple really. In this scenario the brake system would not be capable of applying trailer brakes so if this is the case you have mounted the brakeaway wire illegally/incorrectly..

I have actually seen a toyota ute towing a boat loose its towbar. Luckily it was on a country road and I was following. Driver was only doing about 80kph and although it came close the trailer did not flip. Illegal or recommended there is no way I,d be stupid enough to fit the brake away cable to a towbar. It's not about the legality for me...it's about being smart and preventing a possible catastrophic accident when there is no need for one. My vehicle and rigs all get pro active maintenance and preparartion.

Whole towbar. The bolts holding it on were badly worn as was well as the holes well elongated...obviously never checked it. He was lucky it was a rural setting. Mind you it was a farm vehicle that looked like it had seen better days. Lot of rust. Very lucky though. Tow bar didn't brake the chain and got tangled under draw bar...possibly helping to stop the whole rig quickly. Was only a 750kg atm trailer with no brakes as not required by law. Just shows what a little bit of maintenance can prevent.

I saw a towbar almost come off, stayed on by one bolt each side luckily. It dropped and dragged along the Princes Highway, vehicle was towing a large camper trailer in the wet and doing about 120Kms/Hour just before this happened.

Everyone was very lucky that day.
Lloyd Mac

Discussion here

https://rvdaily.com.au/guide-breakaway-brakes-everything-you-wanted-to-know-and-more/

This may be the actual laws, have a browse and see if it in there

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L00692

HTH

We recently purchased a new 4WD wagon vehicle and had in the package a brand new factory fitted towbar . I was a little amazed when I first went to hook up to the caravan , with the attachment lugs for the safety chains . Coming from a background in welder fabricator . Although it must have been signed off by an engineer. ( 1 inch of weld will hold 1 tonne they say ?? ) I thought it was far from over engineered and had to drill out the holes to take the correct size rated shackles , towing capacity of the vehicle is 3.1 tonne .
The lugs are approximately 35 mm wide by 8 mm thick .welded only on one side and a very small tack on the other side . There is no real simple place to attach the Breakaway cable without attaching to the lugs under the station wagons
If the requirements in some of the links above for the safety cable to be activated when the caravan is detached from the tow ball while hanging on the safe chains this will take some executing



I recently had a situation where inadvertently hadn't locked the towball on to a fairly heavy tandem trailer in a precarious location and had done a bit of damage almost tearing the safety chain welding from the chassis when it detached from the ball and only travelling a few metres surprisingly

I think it was the previous model Pathfinder that had a bad habit of letting go of the complete towbar, it was bad enough for them to be recalled so don't think that the towbar is a good spot to use.

On my old Challenger I used the rear door latch.



It only needs to pull the plastic bit out of the breakaway switch, not support the 2,500kg van.

Hi Beatle bBayly, I have a 3.5 tonne tandem tipper work trailer, and I have place an eyebolt on the chasis of the utes and not the towbars for the reason many have stated that should the towbar break loose. In that situation, the breakaway wire would still be attached to vechile until it is released from vechile, hence stopping quickly. That is my theory, but many may disagree.

As all the replies have shown…..no one has any links to any “proof” of where it should be attached.
Been plenty of discussions on different chat groups with the same answers….but no proof.
Something like the 200 series has a towbar as part of the chassis, so realistically the only thing that could depart is the tongue, in which case the chains would take over, rendering the breakaway unit not needed…..hence why I use the towbar as the point of attachment.
Realistically I can’t see where else you would attach it on most 4wd’s.

Hello Beatle,
I am much like you and like to see things written in black and white. As they say “A verbal agreement is not worth the paper it’s written on”. I don’t think anyone can find any legislation as there isn’t any. So many times, I have seen people posting online that you can’t own a vehicle registered in a different state than the state on your licence. Simply not true.
Having a look for anything “Legal”, all I could find was on Vehicle Inspection Bulletin, VIB 13 - Light Trailer Requirements – Compliance with VSB 1 was, 5.1 Tow couplings shall be attached in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and specifications, and c) Recommended attaching position.
While I take that section is most likely referring to tow hitch and chains, it did make me wonder what Australian Manufacturer’s/Suppliers of Break-away systems are stating in their installation instructions. Doing a quick search, they are saying, (with pictures), to attach it to the safety chain eyelet. One example “Position the Breakaway Switch on the drawbar of the trailer such that it allows the cable to reach the tow vehicle’s hitch chain safety eyelets.”
I am in no way advocating that this is the best or safest method but your question was about legality. Given there is no official documents specifying anything to the contrary, IMHO, it is “legal” to attach to the tow hitch. (I have no law qualifications)
On another note, I did notice that the Manufacturers say that the pull of the wire should as straight as possible, so if attaching to the car chassis it’s something to consider.
Tony

Thanks everyone for your considered responses. I trolled through ADRs again to no avail. They are after all DESIGN regulations. So they speak to component design/testing and not in-service use.

I posed the following question to the Caravan Industry of Australia-Technical Team who responded in under 24 hrs:
"I'm trying to find the LEGAL requirement (State or Federal) for attaching a trailer breakaway activation tether to the tow vehicle. Is there any document or reference which defines how this shall or shall not be achieved? I need something official, not just a pamphlet from a product manufacturer.
I've had many experts tell me the tether only needs to be attached to "a substantial part of the tow vehicle" while others say it must be attached to the 'chassis' (some vehicles don't have a chassis). Furthermore, people say the tether cannot be clipped to the 'towbar' because it might fall off...? I believe they are confusing 'towbar' with 'tow hitch'."

Response:
"Hi Paul
Thanks for contacting us.
You may refer to Australian Design Rule (ADR) 38. You can find it here:https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/design/adr_online.aspx. The Australian Design Rules (ADRs) are national standards for vehicle safety, anti-theft and emissions. However, ADR 38 does not mention any location requirements.
At first instance, we recommend for you to contact the towing vehicle manufacturer as they should be able to provide you with more guidance.
Alternatively, you may seek advice from your recreational vehicle (e.g., Caravan) manufacturer"

So as expected, I'm going to say there is no formally defined position to attach the tether. However, I will always strive to attach the tether on the vehicle side of the tow HITCH, as that is a reasonable potential trailer disconnection point. I just don't feel that the entire TOWBAR disconnecting from the vehicle can be considered a risk of any likelihood. Others may argue that point, but if you have been able to understand the conversation to date, you are unlikely to let your towbar/chassis connection get to the point where it might separate. Those who have loose towbars probably don't know what that blue tether is for anyway :-)

One more consideration: Try to attach the tether so as to minimise angular force on the pin within the switch unit. It needs to be as straight a pull as possible to ensure the pin will actually pull out smoothly, and to reduce wear from constant side-loading of the pin within the switch.

Cheers

When I had a Pajero with a monocoque frame there was nowhere substantial I could see to attach the breakaway cable to easily other than the Towbar.
When I moved to a Prado things didn't improve greatly at the rear of the vehicle.
So using wire cable and a Zenith brand swaging tool I made up a short bridle attached further under the vehicle to the chassis. It ends in a loop or large eye protruding above the tow bar. I attach the breakaway cable to that.
Whether it is a legal requirement or not, the breakaway cable is independent of the Towbar. I hope never to need it.