Hitting the road for the holidays? Maybe you're taking a small car because the fuel-efficiency will save you some dough on the trip. Your wallet may thank you, but depending on who's in the car, you may exceed the weight limit and put your family at risk.
It’s not uncommon to pile in the same car to save some gas these days. But put all those bodies together and you have a major load of weight.
Every car has a weight limit. You can usually find it on a little sticker in the door jam. In a Honda Civic, the recommended weight limit is only 850 pounds. Granted this is an extreme example but look around any parking lot and you'll see how many people drive small cars to save cash.
Few people have considered their car has a weight limit or even know where to find the sitcker. "That car is designed by the manufacturer to carry a certain amount of weight, to where if everything is maintained properly it should stop at certain distances or stop within certain distances," Tony Bailey with Austin Brothers Tire and Service said.
Bailey says overloading a car can make your brakes overheat, slowing down braking time or worse. "In some instances they can get hot enough to cause brake failure, to where the car just will not stop," says Bailey.
All that extra weight can also cause a blowout putting stress on the weak sidewall of your tire. "That tire flexes and gives and builds up enough heat to where it will literally explode," Bailey said.
So before you head out on the road make sure you're ready:- Know how much weight you can handle, and how much you have.
- Don’t forget to add in baggage and presents.
- If you know your weight is going to exceed the limit you can adjust your tire pressure to hold more weight. "Just to give an example it may say 32 pounds, well the tire will have a maximum inflation pressure of say 40 to 44 lbs. So if you know you're getting close to the weight or if you're going to exceed that weight you to help compensate for that, you can actually inflate the tires and it will help to support more weight," Bailey said.
- Overloading your car can also wear out your tires, brakes and shocks.
- If you have to transport baggage or presents and don't have a bigger vehicle, Bailey says it might be worth it to rent a trailer to tow behind your car. But check the car manual, every car has a towing limit too.
