i'm in sales at a honda dealership, and they recently rescinded the towability of all cars except for the CR-V. the element and CR-V share the same drivetrain, to the best of my knowledge, and i was just wondering what the deal is. maybe some techs know the reasons honda rescinded towing, maybe someone can tell me if there is still a safe way to tow the vehicle? i have customers very interested in an element for a tow vehicle behind their motorhome, and they want to know why Honda just decided all of a sudden that the vehicle isn't towable, when before they said it was. has anyone opened up these cars to find out what goes wrong when they're towed? is it as simple as honda rescinding the towing just because most people are too damn lazy to stop every 300 miles, start the car and shift through the gears a few times to keep oil circulating?! thanks for all HELPFUL input!


Modified by phateless at 6:08 AM 7/3/2006

 

I don't know why they "rescinded" it, but they did understate it as far as most people think.

Honda says that 1500 lbs is the max. I know of some people that have towed 2,000+, although either way, I'd recommend a trans cooler when used for towing in any instance.

I plan on getting a hitch for mine (2", not the crummy 1 1/4" for the OEM one) and if I do anything more than a small trailer, I plan on getting a trans cooler.

Most people don't want to follow the guidelines OR use common sense. However, one more mod to do before towing w/ the E (I did this w/ less than 1K on the car) is change the OEM TIRES, they suck!!! Put some LT tires or SUV-designed tires on it instead of those spare-tire quality ones and you should be fine.

 

thanks for the reply! i'm sorry if i wasn't specific, i was referring to the motorhome bunch. you know, the people that want to tow the element behind their motorhome. that's what i'm curious about. sorry for the confusion. i'll try to edit the post.