Electric Vehicle Forums

- Honda Civic Hybrid (https://electricvehicleforums.com/forums/honda-civic-hybrid-12/)

- - Towing? (https://electricvehicleforums.com/forums/honda-civic-hybrid-12/towing-1990/)

I know Honda doesn't recommend towing with the Civic Hybrid, but that holds for the regular Civic and Accord, too. My Honda saleswoman loves to tell the story of a customer who uses his Accord to operate a lawn mowing business and tows one of those industrial mowers with it.

So, does anyone here have experience towing with their HCH? I'd hate to have to sell mine in order to haul a tiny sailboat (laser, I-14, etc) :(

I belive the manual says towing anything voids warranty. :(
How often do you sail?
Would renting a towing vehicle be an option? You might come out ahead in the long run.

Rattus,
Don't know about the Civic, but the Accord has a 1,000 pound towing capacity listed. For years, on my last Accord, I puled a golf cart that was significantly heavier than 1k lb.s (including trailer). A small sailboat is very light. I wouldn't think you would have ANY problem with that. Your FE will suck, but you've got to enjoy life!

i'm going to have to disagree with you, tink, i dont think towing with the hch is a good idea - clearly it wasnt made to tow, even though it has somewhat sufficient power to.

if you do tow, watch the tongue weight (perpendicular force at the bumper/tow attachment) - too much pushes the rear of your car down and compromises your frame and handling/turning speed. with the small civic frame, i dont think it can handle that much downward bending force that suburbans and gmcs are built for.

Respectfully taken, Blue. BUT, you're talking GMC's and Suburbans and HE's talking a small sailboat. I pulled a small sailboat with my Honda GOLDWING - an 1800 cc motorcycle. Small sailboats are VERY light compared to most other towed trailers.

If you're not familiar with touring bikes, mine has a receiver hitch and tows a small trailer quite easily.

Tink

This may not be applicable, but towing anthing using a manual transmission is a bit different than towing the same object with an automatic transmission. I think I ruined a 2000 Subaru Legacy GT automatic tranny towing a very light Jon boat on a light trailer. Anyway, it failed after 60K miles, which is pretty unheard of in the Subaru world. But then, towing anything is pretty unheard of for that crowd anyway. For my Escape Hybrid, I plan to use a hitch for a 4-bike rack, which I already own, but I am not going to tow anything. The towing rolling resistance can vary quite a bit based on tire pressure, etc.

It isn't the weight I would worry about. It is the the driveline, and IMA that might get damaged when pulling the boat out of the water. Electric motors don't like to stay still. They overheat fast when they are under load, but have to much resistance to move, or move fast enough. Just a thought. On flat ground, or anyplace that the car has momentum, or can easily get momentum, I would just be careful with the electric motor, but in a high load level situation, I'd question if it might hurt the car. Give it a try and let us know how it goes!

Rattus-
I'm a sailor and have towed a few boats. I think a laser- (100lb board boat) on a what, 50# laser/sunfish trailer would be no problem. no tongue weight to speak of. someone else brought up a good point with an automatic transmission though- it would probably not notice a laser- you don't haul them up and down steep ramps usually - but something bigger like a 420, I-14, snipe... I don't know. I towed a 19ft lightning with my tr6, but it was a bigger engine & manual transmission- I'll tell you one thing; it didn't like stopping! pulled it just fine, but you had to plan early for tolls.

what kind of towing are you thinking of? short trips over flat terrain to the lake or long hauls over mountains to the beach? either way it will void your warranty so you need to look carefully at your requirements. maybe you can swap cars with a truck driving friend for the weekend; win, win; he gets to try a hybrid, you get to haul your boat!

Thanks KLCarch for correcting me - you know more about this than I do. Even though Honda says towing is "not recommended" for civics, that doesn't mean that it isn't feasible for light applications, i suppose.

drivetrain sells a hitch specifically for the hybrid civic. the company swears its been tested and proven

i bought one and installed it no problem; but, i'm having a helluva time finding anyone to install a wiring harness for the trailer.

oh...the URL for the civic hybrid hitch is http://performance.drivewire.com/tow...ilerhitch.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by dknapp

For my Escape Hybrid, I plan to use a hitch for a 4-bike rack, which I already own, but I am not going to tow anything.

According to The Auto Channel, the FEH is rated for towing 1000 pounds, so you shouldn't worry, dknapp.

I would actually be more concerned about the CVT than the IMA if you were gonna tow something with an HCH.

You could just do it yoiurself. On My '05 HCH the color codes for the wires are:

Right Turn-Green/Yellow
Left turn-Green/Violet
Brake-White/Black
Tail-Red/Yellow
Ground-Black

You will need an adaptor to convert the cars 5 wires to the four used on a standard flat trailer plug. The standard four wires on the trailer side are:

Right Turn & Brake - Green
Left Turn & Brake - Yellow
Tail - Brown
Ground - White

All wires can be easily accessed under trunk lip trim. You will nees to splice in to the wires (either solder or with quick connectors), since no plug is provided by Honda.

FWIW, I would not be concerned about towing at all, provided total GVW (including trailer and load) does not exceed max vehicle GVW. Proper tongue weight, 10% of trailer/load weight, should not be enough to present any problem for rear suspension.

Of course, exceeding recomended maximum GVW is not a good idea, whether or not a trailer makes up part of the load. Even an intermittent load of hauling a boat and trailer out of the water, mentioned above, would concern me too. But judicious use of a small trailer and light load would not worry me at all.

That said, if a dealer or manufacturer is looking for a reason to sock it to you on what would otherwise be a warranty repair, you'd be at their mercy if they found a hitch and trailer wiring harness when you came in looking for a transmission rebuild under warranty.

Me, I trust in the quality of Hondas and my prudent use of my HCH as the best insurance of a long lived vehicle. I also have a reasonable dealer who would be unlikely to look for ways to stiff me.

I'm about to buy a 2003 Honda Civic and was doing research on towing with it as i have a 700lb teardrop camper I like to travel with. Everything I read about towing with HCHs said "You'll burn the CVT out, You'll burn the CVT out." Imagine how happy I was to find out that the 2003 had a good old-fashioned 5-speed as I had never heard of a hybrid with a stick.