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If you have a light passenger
vehicle registered on or after 1 August 1998 in Great Britain
(20 April 1999 in Northern Ireland) then the towbar must meet
the requirements of EC directive 94/20/EC commonly refereed to
as EC type approval. This applies across the European Union but
was implemented into countries domestic legislation (such as
the UK Construction and Use Regulations) at different times. |
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A Tow-Trust data plate showing
the towbar has been type approved. The label shows the country
the towbar has been type approved in, the manufacturers part
number, type approval number, towbar class, D value and nose
load (or S value). |
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Exceptions
The exceptions to the requirement to have a type approved towbar
include:
- Vehicles that are not EC whole
vehicle type approved (EWVTA). These vehicles will not show the
"e" marking on the chassis plate and are usually imported
from outside the European Economic Area.
- Vehicles that are not M1 class
passenger vehicles. These are vehicles that have more than eight
seats plus the driver's seat.
- Commercial vehicles. This
includes car derived vans such as the Vauxhall Astra van and
vehicles such as pick up trucks. It also includes vehicles such
as the commercial version of the Land Rover Freelander which
has metal panels rather than rear side windows.
- Vehicles registered on or
before 31 July 1998
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Requirements
To gain type approval
towbars must:
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- Mount to the vehicle manufactures
specified towbar mounting points only. It is not possible to
mount the towbar in additional places.
- Before the towbar can be approved
it must be placed on a rig to complete a two million cycle fatigue
test which is witnessed by the appropriate authority. In the
UK this is the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), part of the
Department for Transport.
- The standards also specify
the dimensions, locations and clearance of the 50mm towball.
- The towing height should be
between 350mm and 420mm from the ground to the centre of the
towball when the vehicle is laden. (However the towing height
regulations are not that simple, please refer to the Witter guide "Get on Top of Towbar Heights")
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If fitting a flange towbar to
a vehicle that requires an EC type approved towbar then an EC
type approved towball must be fitted. The towbar will be marked
with an EC type approved label or in some cases the ball many
be coloured gold to indicate it is EC type approved. |
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The price list section of this website of towbars states if a
towbar is EC type approved. Care should be taken if your vehicle
was registered in late 1998, 1999 or early 1990s to ensure you
order a type approved towbar if required for your vehicle.
Latest Developments
In April 2007 the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
issued Regulation 55 which replaced the EC directive. This will
filter through into domestic UK law, thought at present the only
visible difference is that the "e" on the towbar data
plate will change to "E".
Many vehicle manufacturers
such as Ford, Peugeot, Renault, BMW and Audi are investigating
along with the UNECE and others a new method of testing towbars.
This new test called the Carlos TC test is a three axis test
with a complex set of loading patterns. However even if this
does become part of the regulations it will be a few years before
it is part of UK law. |
