Towing The Vehicle - Skoda Octavia Owner's Manual

208 Breakdown assistance
Jump-starting in vehicles with the "START-STOP" system
On vehicles with the "START STOP" system, the negative cable of the charger
must never be connected directly to the negative pole of the vehicle battery, but
⇒ f ig.
only to the engine earth 172.

Towing the vehicle

General
Vehicles with manual transmission can be towed in with a tow bar or a tow rope
or with the front or rear wheels raised.
Vehicles with automatic transmission can be towed in with a tow bar or a tow
rope or with the front wheels raised. If the vehicle is raised at rear, the automatic
gearbox is damaged!
Vehicles with four-wheel drive can be towed in with a tow bar or a tow rope or
with the front wheels raised.
A tow bar is safest way of towing a vehicle and also minimizes any shocks. You
can use a tow rope only if a suitable tow bar is not available.
Refer to the following guidelines when towing:
Driver of the towing vehicle
– Release the clutch particularly gently when starting off or depress the acceler-
ator particularly gently if your vehicle is fitted with an automatic gearbox.
On vehicles with manual transmission, only push down on the accelerator ped-
–
al once the rope is taught.
Fig. 172 Jump-starting on vehicles with
the START-STOP system
The maximum towing speed is 50 km/h.
Driver of the towed vehicle
– Switch the ignition on so that the steering wheel is not blocked and you can
also operate the turn signal lights, the headlight flasher, the windscreen wip-
ers and windscreen washer system.
Take the vehicle out of gear or move the selector lever into position N if your
–
vehicle is fitted with an automatic gearbox.
Note that the brake servo unit and power steering only operate if the engine is
running. You will require significantly greater physical force to depress the brake
pedal and to steer the vehicle if the engine is not running.
When using a tow rope, always ensure that the tow rope is always kept taught.
CAUTION
● Do not tow start the engine - danger of damaging the engine. On vehicles with

a catalytic converter, unburnt fuel may get into the catalytic converter where it
may ignite. This in turn may damage or destroy the catalytic converter. You can
use the battery of another vehicle as a jump-start aid ⇒ p age 206, Jump-starting.
● If the gearbox of your vehicle no longer contains any oil because of a defect,
your vehicle must only be towed in with the driven wheels raised clear of the
ground, or on a special vehicle transporter or trailer.
● The vehicle must be transported on a special vehicle or trailer if it is not possi-
ble to tow in the vehicle in the way described or if the towing distance is greater
than 50 km.
● To protect both vehicles when tow-starting or towing, the tow rope should be
elastic. Thus one should only use plastic fibre rope or a rope made out of a similar-
ly elastic material.
● One should be constantly vigilant not to allow impermissibly high towing
forces or jerky loadings. There is always a risk of excessive stresses and damage
resulting at the points to which you attach the tow rope or tow bar when you at-
tempt to tow a vehicle which is not standing on a paved road.
● Attach the tow rope or the tow bar only to the towing eyes provided for this
purpose ⇒ p age 209, Front towing eye and ⇒ p age 210, Rear towing eye.
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