Use the tear-off rope for the trailer correctly

Use a breakaway rope - safety first

• A breakaway rope is compulsory for driving trailers with their own brakes Road traffic. If the rope is not available and you end up in a police check, this can lead to the trailer being shut down until you have remedied the deficiency.
• A carelessly attached breakaway rope can even lead to death. If the trailer and tear-off rope come loose, the trailer breaks and can injure or even kill uninvolved passers-by.
• The breakaway cable itself triggers the trailer's brake as soon as it detaches from the vehicle. This prevents the detached trailer from driving on the road without a driver.

Mount the tear-off cable on the vehicle

• Before you mount a breakaway cable, check again whether the car is designed for the trailer. If your car is only approved for 1,600 kg and your trailer weighs 1,800 kg, even the safest breakaway cable is of no use to you. Then the insurance won't pay either.
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• But how do you use the breakaway cable correctly? The very first rule here is: never put the breakaway rope in a loop over the trailer hitch. It is more correct to attach it through an eyelet or a hole on the coupling.


Drawbar load on the trailer coupling - you should know that

If you drive a vehicle with a trailer coupling, you do not only have to pay attention to the tensile load, ...

• Attached towing eyes, which are often found on station wagons, offer good attachment options. In this case, hang the snap hook of the breakaway cable in the pre-assembled eyelet on the body and thus secure the trailer.
• If your vehicle does not have an eyelet, you can put a large hose clamp around the base support of the trailer coupling and attach a hook there through which you can pull the breakaway cable.
• To be absolutely sure that the breakaway cable is correctly installed, you can also do this from a workshop have it done. So you are on the safe side if the breakaway cable should be used in the worst-case scenario.