This reminds me of my business partner who borrowed my 1956 VW Beetle to tow his 24' outboard pleasure boat. My VW *DID* have a trailer hitch - and a 36 HP horizontally-opposed 4-cyl air-cooled engine. Fortunately, he stopped after about ½ block. Possible, perhaps, but definitely not advisable.

:!: 2004 Owner's Manual - Page 234-235

"Toyota does not recommend towing a trailer with your Toyota. It is not designed for trailer towing."

Might be a good idea to search the forum on "Towing" or "Trailer" to see other Prius owners' experiences.

 

The total weight capacity of the Prius is alittle over 800 lbs. So unless you weight 100 pounds, you are overloading the car, independent of the towing issue.

I would choose to tow up to about 500 lbs for short, low speed drives, with my 2" Coastal hitch, but no more. I have only used it for a bike rack so far.

 

trailer towing

I am quite satisfied that my '04 can pull a trailer, although I don't think I'll max out the 2,000lb. capacity of my U-Haul installed receiver hitch (can't remember the part #). In any case, 1,500 lbs is not at all unreasonable for a 3,000 lb. car, and more is possible with trailer brakes. By the way, any Idea where I can buy a wiring kit for the prius? U-haul said to get it from toyota, but I don't think they'll have one.
:idea:

 

Re: trailer towing

I am quite satisfied that my '04 can pull a trailer, although I don't think I'll max out the 2,000lb. capacity of my U-Haul installed receiver hitch (can't remember the part #). In any case, 1,500 lbs is not at all unreasonable for a 3,000 lb. car, and more is possible with trailer brakes. By the way, any Idea where I can buy a wiring kit for the prius? U-haul said to get it from toyota, but I don't think they'll have one.
:idea:

I would not be so sure about that. I think the fact that the Prius is front wheel drive will have an effect too. Also, I suppose it might be possible to get a weight distributing hitch, which would theoretically help. The manual says not to tow with the Prius, so that is what I would follow. There are so many items which need to be set up to tow, from the transmission to the rear springs. Will the Prius electric motors be able to withstand it?

Now, I did tow a 20' trailer with a Ford F150 with a 302. The trailer hitch was dragging on the ground until I put a small block engine in at the very back of the trailer. That raised it up by 1/4". I drove that way for 1300 miles, very slowly. In Alabama I could only go up the hills at 5 mph. And I went that way instead of through Tennessee and Georgia to avoid the Appalachians. The needle was also pegged at H, with the heater going full blast. It got about 6 mpg on that trip, but the truck made it.

But after that I got a bigger truck and made sure I would be able to tow safely.

It is funny because I needed to pull my 20' trailer while my truck was worked on. I drove in the Prius to a place that rents trucks. As I was leaving another guy came in, and when he thought I was out of hearing range said, "I guess he didn't come in here to rent a trailer."

 

I believe the weak link in the Prius and the reason for the caution note in the owners manual is the Power Transfer Unit. It is no way near the transmission you would need for towing, and probably one of the most expensive parts on the car to have repaired.

 

Doesnt the Escape use same drivetrain?

As the Prius? Because that one can tow.I could be wrong but I heard one of the SUV Hybrids were useing the same basic package right from Toyota.And I mean the Ford products,NOT the Lexus which may or may not be an improved version.The Escape Hybrids are priced reasonable and are supposed to tow,I believe 3500 lbs.I too would find it very handy to use the hitch for towing but I havent dared, besides we have a jeep.But I've been eyeing the posts here seeing if anyone ever dared to tow with their Prius.But so far I dont think anyone has.

Anyway,let us know if you do!

Regards ,Ed

 

An old post of mine, but usually good for a bit of a laugh:

If rpm thought his Prius was a bit overloaded at 1.6 times the weight limit, I thought people might like to see somebody who didn't stop there.

Check out: http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Workshop/Overload.htm

My friend Candace also managed to snap a rear axle by overloading her little pickup truck, but she didn't worry much because it had about 300,000 miles on it.

 

Well, the court of public opinion doesn't look too fondly at the whole trailer idea, but, I'm doing it anyway... maximum tongue weight of 150# won't crush my springs, I don't think. I've put 7 or 800 lbs. in the back of the car before, traversed 90 miles of desert at 80 mph, and nothing blew up. done this many times. The other factor is past history. I have been beating and abusing Toyotas since I bought my first Hi-lux pickup in '77. used it for roofing for 10 years, 250,000 miles and sold it to a roofer. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how the car performs, I have to make a run to Phoenix sometime in july for car parts. Should be a good test.
AND, by the way, thanks to all for the input..
Drac.

 

Well, the court of public opinion doesn't look too fondly at the whole trailer idea, but, I'm doing it anyway... maximum tongue weight of 150# won't crush my springs, I don't think. I've put 7 or 800 lbs. in the back of the car before, traversed 90 miles of desert at 80 mph, and nothing blew up. done this many times. The other factor is past history. I have been beating and abusing Toyotas since I bought my first Hi-lux pickup in '77. used it for roofing for 10 years, 250,000 miles and sold it to a roofer. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how the car performs, I have to make a run to Phoenix sometime in july for car parts. Should be a good test.
AND, by the way, thanks to all for the input..
Drac.

Good luck with that. If you don't see the damage right away, you will later.

If you need to tow, get a vehicle that tows. How hard is that to figure out? And the manual even says you shouldn't. But you know, warning labels are forever getting ignored by people. Like that one on the side of cigarettes, you know, the one that says smoking can cause cancer.

Constantly ignored. So why should this be any different?

 

If you are planning on towing in Arizona in the summer be prepared to have all the towing gear removed before the car goes in for Power Transfer Unit work. This could be VERY expensive if you have voided the warranty.

 

The problem with towing using a Prius is that you can overheat the HSD. If you actually need to do this consider adding a transmission oil cooler to it as has been discussed for a 2001 Prius (the earlier model runs hotter) in another forum.

JeffD

 

Towing and other Prius abuse

The tow hitch is in, looks like a nice clean job; 1 hour total at the U-Haul place.
I am going to upload some scary off-roading pictures of my prius on the remote fire roads of the Central Nevada mountains. This car is as good as any 2-wheel drive I've seen off road. And I'll load a few of the monstrous loads I've put in the car, too. a 24-foot extension ladder only hangs out 2 feet or so when properly loaded!
Somebody has to do this stuff, even if it makes some of us want to have me put in the nut house. I bought this car to have fun with it, and I'm certainly getting my money's worth.
It's interesting how protective the group is in general of the well-being of our car. Kind of like the Corvair Club (yes, I'm a member.. Toyotas and Corvairs are all I drive). Good to see this kind of passion, as it can only serve to improve the car in the long run... I might have to look into the trans cooler, good idea there.
Oh, by the way, T-J, I gave up smoking four years ago, and drinking seven years ago. Only took 25 years to get the message....... :shock:

 

Re: trailer towing

By the way, any Idea where I can buy a wiring kit for the prius? U-haul said to get it from toyota, but I don't think they'll have one.
:idea:

Only Toyota NL (Netherlands) offers a tow bar and wiring kit. Check with the Prius-Europe, Prius-UK (they're trying to get a group buy going part numbers were recently listed there), or prius-nl on yahoogroups for more info.

recent fitting: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Pri ... ssage/7395