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BLUE OX TOW BAR — EQUIPMENT

crash · 1937329 · 2023-10-21

Vehicle

Make
BLUE OX
Model
TOW BAR
Year
Manufacturer
AUTOMATIC EQUIP. MFG. CO.
Component
EQUIPMENT

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
0
Fire
No
Crash
Yes
Police report
No
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

Recent failures of Blue OX tow bars have cropped up on Recreational Vehicle blog sites. These incidents are very similar in that the tow bars or baseplates suffer weld failures. In the NHTSA database Blue OX has 14 complaints. None of the other major manufacturers of tow bars has a single compliant (Roadmaster, Demco, Curt,...). This is a huge statistical deviation and suggest that NHTSA should initiate an investigation of the manufacturer. Failure of a baseplate or tow bar will result in loss of control of the unoccupied towed vehicle. Even more concerning is several failures included the loss of the safety cable connections. This results in a tow vehicle completely uncoupled and veering across the highway.

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
11551144
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown