Monday, April 4, 2016

Our Tow car or the TOAD

Awhile back we bought a 2011 Honda FIT. We have it because it can be towed behind the Motor home with four wheels down and not ruin a transmission. It is a small car, not as small as the Smart Car, but probably the next size up.


It is a good car for us as a tow vehicle. Once I hook it to the motor home there are only two rules:
1.  The car must be running.
2. Shift from drive to neutral then shut the engine off. 

The car must stay in neutral so the front tires will turn to follow the motor home. There is something about the transmission that if I were to shift from reverse to neutral, and tow, the transmissions would be ruined.

Those rules are easy to follow because there is a yellow sticker prominently displayed for the driver to see.

The only problem I have had is the little indicator that tells me I have a slack tire. 

It has been staying on constantly.  Finally I had time to check and one of the tires had been plugged after a nail had caused a flat.  The plug was leaking so slightly it took a long time to find it.   I pulled the plug and re-plugged the hole and so far the light has stayed out. That is one advantage to being stopped  at our home port.  Time and a good spot to do some trouble shooting.

This is the newest car we have owned in many years. I have never had a car that told you your tire was slack. It is amazing how smart even cars are getting!


Nite Shipslog
<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>
Previus TOADS (We have had about 6 methinks)
 Saturn
 1995 Odyssey
Small Pickup

8 comments:

betty said...

Looks like just the right size car for towing :) Our Versa Note does the same thing with the tires. The light came on once and hubby took it in to get it checked out. The pressure was down only so slightly, but enough to cause that light to come on :)

betty

TARYTERRE said...

Troubleshooting before something becomes a bigger issue is the proper way to handle things. glad you fixed the problem.

Jackie said...

You are such a "Jack of all trades".....
Kudos for finding the problem with the slack tire and taking care of that.
Love your car....
Continued blessings to you both.
Hugs,
Jackie

Unknown said...

Cars are smart, but they still can't "think." My son's vehicle says a tire is low when it is really not. I don't think his vehicle is smart enough to figure out the problem is alignment or vehicle balance or something.

Mevely317 said...

Tom has the same issue with his Tacoma. I can see where that warning system would be good while on the road, but both times his 'culprit' turned out to be the spare!

Rick Watson said...

Nice. I haven't heard of those cars but sounds like it's perfect for you guys.

Lisa said...

Technology that can detect a problem days before it becomes a problem. Nice. maybe.

keep travelin
Lisa

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

That is a very smart car for sure and so are you in knowing how to fix it. I'm totally dependent on others as far as fixing anything on my car. It's a 2002 and needless to say isn't very smart. Ha! Poor thing sits in the garage more than not, but it still runs!