NO TOWING

[Slagiatt]

From Page 74 of the F3 owners Manual:

"No Towing
Do not tow anything with the vehicle.The VSS will not be effective, and youwill be more likely to lose control."

I'm only posting this because I've seen so much discussion about fabricating a hitch of some type or encouraging the after market suppliers to do so.

This doesn't seem like a suggestion...seems more like a warning (and an invitation to void your warranty?)

[Chupaca]

thanks for the heads up. Those in line should keep this in mind...

[petegtsv10]

[QUOTE=Slagiatt;908457]From Page 74 of the F3 owners Manual:

"No Towing
Do not tow anything with the vehicle.The VSS will not be effective, and youwill be more likely to lose control."

I'm only posting this because I've seen so much discussion about fabricating a hitch of some type or encouraging the after market suppliers to do so.

This doesn't seem like a suggestion...seems more like a warning (and an invitation to void your warranty?)



Nothing you do to your vehicle can VOID your warranty. You can lose the coverage on things that can be directly linked to your mods, but the rest of your coverage remains. The Moss-Magnusson Act (spelling?) insures this. In the 70s, people would put an aftermarket stereo in their car and the dealer would refuse to cover the transmission that was faulty. They claimed the stereo mod voided the warranty for everything!! The dealers got away with that a whole lot and that misconception about warranties still exists.

[Bob Denman]

Nothing you do to your vehicle can VOID your warranty. You can lose the coverage on things that can be directly linked to your mods, but the rest of your coverage remains. The Moss-Magnusson Act (spelling?) insures this. In the 70s, people would put an aftermarket stereo in their car and the dealer would refuse to cover the transmission that was faulty. They claimed the stereo mod voided the warranty for everything!! The dealers got away with that a whole lot and that misconception about warranties still exists.

Adding a cupholder that didn't come from BRP, won't void the warranty if the electrical system decides to deep-fry itself...
...Unless, you drilled through a wire somewhere!

[MisterP]

[QUOTE=petegtsv10;908495]

From Page 74 of the F3 owners Manual:

"No Towing
Do not tow anything with the vehicle.The VSS will not be effective, and youwill be more likely to lose control."

I'm only posting this because I've seen so much discussion about fabricating a hitch of some type or encouraging the after market suppliers to do so.

This doesn't seem like a suggestion...seems more like a warning (and an invitation to void your warranty?)



Nothing you do to your vehicle can VOID your warranty. You can lose the coverage on things that can be directly linked to your mods, but the rest of your coverage remains. The Moss-Magnusson Act (spelling?) insures this. In the 70s, people would put an aftermarket stereo in their car and the dealer would refuse to cover the transmission that was faulty. They claimed the stereo mod voided the warranty for everything!! The dealers got away with that a whole lot and that misconception about warranties still exists.

This is true, but towing affects the engine and drive train (and in theory the suspension as well). The manufacturer can claim loss of warranty repair for those items directly related to towing. It's a bit different than adding an aftermarket radio or a cupholder.

As a separate topic, if you overload any vehicle with a trailer, and create an accident, you can lose insurance coverage if proven you exceeded manufacturers' limits. I said "can", I am not stating it will happen in all cases. But, insurance companies will try to prove you were outside of their limits.

[PrairieSpyder]

I may have to wait till they come out with a touring version of the F3 - I mean more than the puny saddlebags they currently want you to buy.

But then, I'll be waiting, anyway, since I love my still new 2014 RTS! Maybe I'll just wait till I can afford to have 2 Spyders.

[Bob Denman]

[jaherbst]

​Last I heard Lamont was working on a hitch for the F3 ??? Am I missing something here ?

[Slagiatt]

Although I never used it, I seem to remember that my '12 RT had a setting where you told the system that you were towing a trailer so that the VSS could alter its performance. That option is not on the F3. Don't know how Lamont is going to pull this off.

[Bob Denman]

Tow-Mode was there to protect the clutches on the 998s.
The 1330s don't have it; it's no longer necessary.

[Olddood]

Hi: Didn't someone in here say they spoke to a BRP rep and he said there was a hitch to be introduced for the F3. Seems to be a lot of confusion about something hardly anyone has actual facts on. Just saying.. The modules for the hitch do more than control lights, they interact with the onboard computer telling it you have something in tow. That's what I was led to believe from "in the know sources". Time will tell.

[Mike,P]

From Page 74 of the F3 owners Manual:

"No Towing
Do not tow anything with the vehicle.The VSS will not be effective, and youwill be more likely to lose control."

I'm only posting this because I've seen so much discussion about fabricating a hitch of some type or encouraging the after market suppliers to do so.

This doesn't seem like a suggestion...seems more like a warning (and an invitation to void your warranty?)

I have no doubt there will be hitches available and from a number of suppliers.. The F3 will pull a trailer just fine,, but the party line from BRP is saying what it's always gonna say " We don't offer it as an option so we can't recommend it on our product".. I'm sure there's going to be some Darwin contestant who will do something like come up with a hillbilly fab hitch ,, overload a Sanford n Son trailer and try to kill himself,, but you'll always have one or two of those.. I seem to recall some clown a while back wanting an opinion on pulling a pop up camper with his RT and I don't think he got any positive feedback.. I could be wrong but my opinion is:: BRP wanted to relax the nanny on the F 3,, but they couldn't do that and provide enough intervention while pulling a trailer... Maybe we'll see a trailer mode on an F3 in the future.. I'm pretty sure I'm going forward with my hitch project but won't know for sure till I can take some measurements of an actual F3,,, mine's not gonna be here till February..

[GunDoctor]

Every now and then BRP pops their head in here and interacts. Now would be a good time.


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[Bob Denman]

".. I'm sure there's going to be some Darwin contestant who will do something like come up with a hillbilly fab hitch ,, overload a Sanford n Son trailer and try to kill himself,, but you'll always have one or two of those.. .. I could be wrong but my opinion is: BRP wanted to relax the nanny on the F 3,, but they couldn't do that and provide enough intervention while pulling a trailer... Maybe we'll see a trailer mode on an F3 in the future.

Your reasoning is pretty sound...

[Art Mann]

An aftermarket hitch that the manufacturer specifically warned against using for engineering reasons will almost certainly void the warranty for suspension and power train components. However, the dealer is motivated to please the customer. It is a simple matter for them to submit a warranty claim that doesn't mention the use of an after market hitch. When I bought my RT-S, I mentioned having the OEM hitch installed at a later date and pulling a trailer that I already owned. The dealer initially told me that pulling a trailer other than the BRP one would void the warranty. That turned out not to be true but the guy told me he wouldn't mention anything to BRP about an alternative brand trailer anyway if something went wrong with the hitch or suspension.

[Bob Denman]

I believe that's called, "Circumventing the rules"...
It can be done; as long as you can look yourself in the mirror each morning with a clear conscience!

[billybovine]

The modules for the hitch do more than control lights, they interact with the onboard computer telling it you have something in tow. That's what I was led to believe from "in the know sources". Time will tell.

Sorry what you have been told is incorrect. Trailer mode is selected manually. There is no interaction or communication between the trailer wiring module and the VSS, ECM or TCM modules.

[Bob Denman]

Thank you, for clearing that up.

[Mike,P]

These conversations are so amusing sometimes... We aren't goin to the moon here,, I personally think it will be easy to modify an RT hitch to work on a F3 with zero negative effects..

[Mike,P]

The Nanny whether at the maximum setting or scaled back has a primary purpose which is to keep things idiot proof as much as possible.. I've learned long ago that towing anything requires a heightened sense of awareness and caution.. We've all seen vacation trailer catastrophes on the side of the road and no doubt a high percentage of those accidents involved excessive speed.. My successful towing strategy involves only one mindset,,, SLOW N STEADY😎

[Slagiatt]

I never thought for a minute that some people wouldn't fabricate something, or modify the Rt hitch, etc.
The only purpose of the thread was to alert people (who don't read owners' manuals) that BRP has made a straight-forward statement saying, "Don't do it!" ...for whatever that's worth...

Whether or not you want to ignore that is another issue all together. Just wanted people to make an informed decision instead of a knee-jerk one. Perhaps some further research into why they are so adamant about this would be useful.

For those of you who do figure out a hitch for the F3, I hope it works great and doesn't cause you any problems.