TonyWilliams
Well-known member
SeattleRav4 said:1 )Toyota does not recommend towing....
My guess, and this is just a guess, is that if the car shuts down due to low charge, it puts the circutry in either a high regen mode or even automatically engages PARK. If that happens, towing would be a bad idea.
That doesn't happen; it's actually the opposite. When the charge state gets so low that the main contactors open, the car goes to NEUTRAL, not Park.
The reason they don't recommend towing is simple; it was neither designed nor tested for the additional weight of a towed trailer. The cooling systems, suspension, braking, etc are all based on the gross vehicle weight, and they didn't include trailer weight in this design. Why would they? For an extremely limited market vehicle with limited range and a short development period, built for one purpose (CARB ZEV credits), it would be nutty to waste time and money on this type of testing.
That doesn't mean it can't tow, as I do regularly. Clearly, if I overheated the inverter climbing a hill with 10,000 pounds, Toyota likely wouldn't cover that by warranty. The practical issue is that electric drive trains generate very little heat compared to a gas or diesel, therefore my concerns are small with pulling the 3500 pounds that the same chassis is approved for with a gas engine.
Braking is always a huge concern with towing, and again, as long as I have regen I will be mostly comfortable down a long hill. I would not be comfortable with just brakes on the Rav4 with no regen down certain hills with 3500 pounds behind me however. Naturally, it's wise to have trailer brakes.
The suspension has certainly been robust enough, and there's plenty of power.