Caution when buying a trailer – what you need to pay attention to
Practical and simple – a trailer for occasional use takes away worries about transport difficulties. Load goods, get into your powerful car, and bring the cargo to its destination.
But beware: it's not quite that easy. The highest priority on public roads is safety for everyone. This is why you shouldn’t make any compromises when buying a trailer.
Here you'll learn the difference between unbraked and braked trailers, and why there are strong arguments in favour of the braked version.
Braked trailer – what does that actually mean?
An unbraked trailer has no brakes of its own. This means the towing vehicle has to provide the entire braking force. With a braked trailer, however, the towing vehicle is relieved during braking because the trailer brakes itself. How does this work? When braking, the trailer moves up against the towing vehicle; the drawbar in the overrun device is compressed, and the resulting movement and force are transmitted via the transmission mechanism to the wheel brakes, causing the trailer to brake. The more load and speed, the stronger the braking force applied. This is called a load- and speed-dependent braking system.
Argument 1: Shorter stopping distances, greater safety
Since the wheel brakes on the trailer take part of the braking load off the towing vehicle, a combination with a braked trailer achieves a stopping distance about 17% shorter, and the time to a standstill is around 25% less. This can save lives.
Argument 2: Make full use of your car’s maximum towing capacity
750 kg is the maximum towing capacity for unbraked trailers when using a passenger car.
If you choose a braked trailer, the permissible trailer load entered for your car can be fully used. Depending on the towing vehicle, the maximum permissible trailer load for braked trailers is 3,500 kg.
Only with a braked trailer is the braking system of your car relieved.
Argument 3: Longer service life for your towing vehicle’s brakes
If the trailer brakes, you extend the service life of your towing vehicle’s brakes.
A tip for even greater safety
Thanks to the automatic brake adjustment AAA – AL-KO Automatic Adjustment for the 2051 and 2361 wheel brakes, you always have an optimally adjusted brake and up to 5 m shorter stopping distances. You also benefit from greater driving comfort as the overrun shock is always optimally absorbed and barely noticeable. The AAA can be retrofitted to any axle with a bolted brake backplate.
The figures speak for themselves: Greater safety + higher comfort = relaxed arrival with increased driving safety.
