What’s that they say about the definition of insanity? Something about towing with a Cybertruck, probably.
Here’s a video to watch for a laugh, a Cybertruck towing over light snow… with predictable results.
As the truck loses traction, the trailer jackknifes like it just remembered it had somewhere to be, slams into the back of the Cybertruck, and then nails a tree for good measure. The best part? The driver shouting, with perfect comedic timing, “NOT AGAIN!”
The hitch broke at almost exactly the claimed towing capacity. Of course that means if you’re towing exactly at capacity and hit the tiniest bump you’ve now snapped your car in half.
I feel like my Toyota, the towing limit on the spec sheet doesn’t mean “after this number, the hitch snaps off.” For legal reasons, I need to state that that is only a guess, and that I have not tested it on anything but private roads.
For gods sake, the limit should have at least a 25% buffer. 1% buffer is madness. Toyotas, we don’t even know what the buffer is, it’s large enough that I’ve never met anyone who got nerve-wrackingly close to it. I’ve certainly never met a Toyota driver who’s frame or hitch has snapped off. I’ve now seen like 5 Cybertrucks with the whole towing assembly just tumbled across asphalt.
25% is even way too low. Factor of Safety is the term you’re looking for, which is generally 2x or more depending on the field. Most of the equipment I’ve ever worked on had a minimum 3x safety factor meaning the actual limits were 3x what the ratings indicated.
A quick search gave me the result of a safety factor of at least 2 for rigging and recovery components on vehicles.