Caravan Tyres – Obsolescence

Last year, on the 21st December, the Gütersloh police force released a press statement concerning their intervention concerning a car-and-trailer combination which had become stranded. The trailer had broken down due to overloading and one of its tyres was flat. According to its documents, the trailer had a maximum total loading capacity of 200 kg, but a weight check showed the load it carried weighed no less than 2000 kg.

Granted – this example is extreme. However, practice shows that many car-and-trailer drivers are oblivious to the danger of overloading. Not only are tyres being put under unnecessary strain, but at the same time, the driving performance is bound to be greatly impaired by trailer overloading also.

As far as the tyres are concerned, the problems become even more acute due to the fact that drivers tend to worry about the round black rubber things on their trailers even less than they do about the ones on their cars. Caravans represent a big potential danger. For most of the year, they are left in some parking lot, only to be loaded up to the full at the beginning of the holidays, then hooked up behind a car, and out they go for long journeys on the motorway.