Requirement of a safety rope for trailers
For trailers with a permitted total weight of over 750 kg to 3,500 kg, belonging to the "medium weight class", overrun brakes are usually used: When the vehicle brakes, the trailer seizes and the trailer brakes are triggered automatically. If the trailer disengages, the safety rope should bring the trailer to a standstill as fast as possible by triggering the brakes. Such safety ropes are obligatory for trailers secured with overrun brakes!
Basically the following options relating to the safety eyelet are possible:
- Towbars which have a national KBA design certification or approval according to 1. European Authorisation Directive 94/20/EC, are not necessarily fitted with a safety eyelet for the breakaway cable.
- Towbars which are tested and approved according to ECE R55, are fitted with this type of safety eyelet.
- In the absence of a safety eyelet, it is sufficient to loop the safety rope around the towbar ball. Where there is a safety eyelet, it must be used.
In the Netherlands, in Switzerland and Austria
The legal regulations stipulate special safety devices, in which a breakaway precautionary measure is obligatory and ensures that when the trailer detaches it does not break free.
This means that fastening the rope using an eyelet is obligatory!
Information about correct attachment can be found on the website of the Dutch partner club ANWB:
Retrofitting safety clamps easily
If the required eyelet is absent, you can simply order a safety clamp from Westfalia-Automotive and retrofit it. There are different solutions for fixed and detachable towbars, depending on the size of the receiving lug:
- For fixed Westfalia towbars:
Part no.: 935 211 627 001
- For detachable Westfalia towbars:
Ø towball receiver = 50 mm: Item no. 921 540 627 001
Ø towball receiver = 56 mm: Item no. 905 243 627 001
Ø towball receiver = 84 mm: Item no. 905 276 627 001
In the Netherlands, attaching the safety clamp on the detachable towbar is also permissible, according to the ANWB.