Vauxhall VECTRA Owner's Manual page 229

Stowage of coupling ball bar
Stow the coupling ball bar in the bag and
stra p it to the spare wheel as shown in the
illustration.
Caravan and traile r loads
The permissible caravan/trailer loads are
vehicle- and eng ine-dependent m aximum
values which must not be exceed ed. The
actual carav an/trailer load is the difference
between the actual gross weight of the
caravan/trailer and the actual coupling
socket load with the caravan/trailer
attached. When the c aravan/trailer load is
being checked, therefore, only the
caravan/trailer w heels – and not the jock ey
wheel – must be standing on the weighing
apparatus.
The permissible caravan/trailer loads for
your vehicle are given in the vehicle
docum ents. Unless otherwise stated, they
are v alid for gradients up to ma x. 12 %.
1)
Obs erve na tiona l reg ula tio ns.
1 )
The permissible c aravan/trailer load should
be fully utilised only by drivers w ho a re
adequately exp erienced in tow ing large or
hea vy ca ravans/trailers.
The permitted c aravan/trailer load a pplies
up to the sp ecified inc line and up to a n
altitude of 1000 m etres ab ov e sea lev el.
S ince engine power decreases as altitud e
increa ses b ecause of the air becoming
thinner, therefore reducing climb ing ability,
the permitted towing weight also
decreases by 10 % for every 1000 metres of
add itional altitude. The towing w eight
does not have to be reduced when driv ing
on roads with slig ht inclines (less than 8%,
e.g. motorwa ys).
The actual caravan/trailer load p lus the
actual g ross vehicle weight must not
exceed the max imum permitted towing
weight. For ex ample, if the perm itted gross
vehicle w eight is utilised , the c aravan/
trailer loa d must only be used until the
ma ximum permitted tow ing weight is
reached. The max imum permitted tow ing
weight is shown on the identification plate
– see page 277.
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