New rules on towbars for passenger cars. Is it possible to install the towbar on the car yourself without the permission of the traffic police. First, you should conduct a dialogue with the inspector that in the near future everything will be fixed.

03.08.2018

Registration of the towbar (TSU) in the traffic police. Do you need it or not?

Recently, we are often asked the question: "Do I need to register the hitch with the traffic police?"

Specifically, in order to clarify this issue, we turned to the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Chuvash Republic. The official response was not long in coming. So, in the traffic police, you need to register only the changes made to the design of the vehicle, and the installation of a towbar on 99% of car models is allowed by the manufacturers of these cars (see the car's manual) and this is not a change in the design of the vehicle. We received similar answers from other Departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, two answers were sent to us by our clients.

Therefore, the hitch is not subject to registration with the traffic police if:

1. Installation of the towbar on the car is provided by the car manufacturer (see the car manual)
2. The towbar has a certificate of conformity and a passport
3. The towbar is installed according to the instructions specified in the passport, i.e. without making changes to the design of the car

When buying and installing a towbar, you must have:

1. Passport for the towbar with a mark of sale and installation
2. Copy of the towbar certificate certified by the selling organization
3. Receipt of payment and sales receipt (invoice)

If the car is under warranty from an authorized dealer, then the towbar can be installed not only by an authorized dealer. It can be installed in any other organization that has a certificate of compliance of the services provided for the installation of a towbar with technical regulations and GOST, while the car will remain under warranty from an authorized dealer.

Among the frequently encountered devices that complement any car, the most popular is the towbar, in connection with which such a procedure as a fine for a towbar on a passenger car appeared. This attachment is used for one purpose - so that trailers or trailers can be attached to the vehicle. But today such a topic as a fine for a towbar is particularly relevant.

The towbar is a specialized towing device for vehicles that is specially designed for towing trailers and trailers.

This element has two components:

1. Crossbar. It is placed in specific holes that are unique in their location for each individual vehicle. This could be a car frame or openings in a car body.
2. Ball knot. This element is attached to the beam itself.

The towbar is most often necessary for those who travel a lot by car, and not within the city, and over long distances. Also, this device will be needed for those who transport small loads.

So what is the reason why such a topic as a fine for a towbar was brought up today?

Important! If desired, even a residential-type trailer can be attached to the towbar, if there is a need for country trips with the whole family.

Some drivers use the towbar as an additional safety device. For example, if there is an accident in which another car enters the car, then it is the towbar that will be able to take on most of the impact and its strength.

Nevertheless, this is a very big mistake and delusion, because with such an impact, the body will be damaged much more if there is no towbar. For this reason, the device must be removed without fail when not in use.

Types of towbars

There are three types, which differ from each other in design:

1. Removable - put when there is a need for it.
2. Welded is the most common. It is installed directly at the factory, so it cannot be removed. The main disadvantage is the violation of aesthetics.
3. Flanged.

How to avoid a fine?

There are several options according to which a penalty for a towbar on a car will be invalid:

• Article 12.5 of the Administrative Code also provides for an alternative type of punishment, but as a warning. That is, simply inform the employee that the situation will be corrected in the very near future.
• You can also take a removable towbar initially. When using it, it will be difficult to prove that the removable towbar somehow affects the design of the car.
• You can also avoid a fine if the hitch was supplied by the factory.
• There is one more loophole, which is in the chapter under the number V of the technical regulation. This is clause 77 in section 4. According to it, a vehicle cannot be inspected if it has installed such components that are intended for a car. But they must pass the conformity assessment in conjunction with the car.
• It is also important to always have a towbar certificate of conformity with you, because according to this document it will be possible to resolve any problems that a person may have when communicating with a traffic police representative.

Towbars are a necessary element for installing trailers on cars. The part is a metal hook on which the towing hitch (Hitch) is fixed. Since 2015, the Technical Regulations TR / CU 018/2011 came into force, according to which the installation of a towbar is equated to a modification of the car and requires registration with the traffic police. At the same time, not all changes need to be registered. In special cases, the installation is not subject to mandatory registration.

The need for a towbar registration procedure completely depends on the car brand and the characteristics declared by the manufacturer:

• If, according to the documents, the towbar is already installed on the vehicle at the factory, no registration is required. The traction device, if it is connected to a car, must be issued.
• If the manufacturer did not provide for the presence of a towbar on the body, drivers simply weld on the hook. This case is really considered a modification of the car and is subject to mandatory registration with the traffic police.

According to the current technical regulations of the customs union, vehicle modifications must comply with safety requirements. To avoid problems with a homemade towbar, some car owners buy a factory hook. Appropriate safety documents are attached to such products, which simplifies registration.

It is difficult to register modifications. It is best to contact the traffic police in advance, before installing the hook. If the car does not have a factory hitch, installation involves removing the bumper, redesigning the rear of the body. These improvements are significant enough. A driver who refuses to register a homemade product runs the risk of receiving an administrative penalty.

Towbar documents

The driver needs to contact the traffic police several times with different packages of documents before and after installing the towbar. You will first need:

• Application on a form in the prescribed form;
• Double-sided copy of the passport for the car (the original must also be provided);
• Documents confirming the compliance of the towbar with state safety requirements and characteristics;
• Certificate of registration of the vehicle in the traffic police.

After installing the towbar, you need to visit the traffic police department again to register the perfect modification. The task of the inspectors is to check that the towbar is installed correctly, does not pose a danger to other road users. Package of documents:

• Vehicle diagnostics card;
• Trailer purchase agreement, if any;
• Quality certificate confirming the quality of the towbar;
• Declaration from the service workshop;
• Application for a request to register the modification from the driver;
• Expert conclusion.

The diagnostic card and expert opinion are issued in official service centers and workshops. Additionally, the driver is issued an act of completion of the expert work.

Where to get documents for TSU

You will have to receive the necessary documents in several instances:

• Quality certificates are provided complete with towbars if the car owner buys a product manufactured at the factory;
• Homemade towbars need to be additionally checked for compliance with the car brand, characteristics, the conclusion can be obtained from the service or from the traffic police;
• The diagnostic card is also issued in service centers;
• Application forms are issued to the traffic police;
• Technical passports for a car and a trailer must be in the driver's hands;
• The contract for the purchase of the trailer hitch and the fastener can be replaced with a receipt and a guarantee check.

It is recommended to first call the nearest branch, request information on the necessary documents and addresses where they can be obtained. In some departments, the examination and examination procedures differ.

In what cases is it impossible to install?

According to traffic rules, the installation of a towbar is not allowed in the following cases:

• The part is fixed to the body by self-welding or homemade bolts. It is dangerous to use the towbar without special expertise.
• The product goes far beyond the car bumper. Cars driving behind such a vehicle run the risk of colliding with a metal towbar.
• The car belongs to the category of trucks. It is not recommended to use trailers on them, this creates a danger for all road users.
• There are no documents on the hitch. Accordingly, there is no assurance that the product complies with government regulations.

Riding with homemade, non-certified hooks is illegal. If the driver is stopped by a traffic police officer and it turns out that the towbar is installed incorrectly or does not comply with the regulations, the car owner faces an administrative penalty.

What to look for when buying a towbar?

The main thing that needs to be carefully tracked is the presence of documents. The towbar must be certified. A technical passport and a certificate of conformity are attached to it. Additionally, you should consider:

• Is the towbar suitable for the car brand;
• How it will need to be fixed on the body;
• Dimensions, weight of the product;
• Compliance of the characteristics with the requirements of the state;
• Whether the hook is suitable for connecting to a trailer.

On some brands, the installation of fasteners is prohibited. In addition, towbars of the wrong size and characteristics must not be used. The fasteners should not interfere with the movement of the car, obstruct the license plates.

How to arrange an installed towbar?

If the hook is already installed, but there are no documents for it and the driver did not start registering, several actions should be taken. On towbars purchased from official manufacturers, papers can be restored. To do this, you need to contact the company supplying them to the market:

• Through the official website;
• At the regional office, if any;
• By registered mail to the legal address of the manufacturer.

Large companies go to a meeting with the owners of products, send duplicate papers. If the device is home-made or duplicate documents did not work out, you should use the second method:

1. If the car was bought on the secondary market, you can contact the previous owner, ask to look for a certificate for TSU fasteners;
2. Contact the traffic police with a statement that the car owner plans to register the vehicle modification;
3. It is not worth driving a car before the towbar is registered, this will result in a fine;
4. Pass all checks, draw up documents for the compliance of the hook characteristics with safety and quality requirements;
5. It is not necessary to carry documents with you, you can store them at home.

If the modification fails, it is better to remove the product. Removable towbars are produced especially for such cases. Homemade will have to be cut down.

Responsibility for unregistered TSU

Car owners operating vehicles with an installed unregistered towing vehicle are subject to an administrative fine of RUB 500. (part 1 of article 12.5 of the Administrative Code). It has already been said above that it is not necessary to carry documents to the towbar with you. This is true. Fines are imposed in the following cases:

• The product does not correspond to the established samples, homemade, there is no information that the towbar is registered;
• The device is installed incorrectly or on a car on which its installation is prohibited (category B);
• The product obscures the driver's view or the car's license plate.

Sometimes drivers manage to avoid administrative punishment, get off with only a warning.

How to avoid a fine?

According to Art. 12.5 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, punishment in the form of a warning is appropriate if:

• The driver undertakes to register or remove the towbar from the car as soon as possible;
• A removable model is installed on the body, which is easy to remove if necessary;
• The unit is factory installed or the body has factory fasteners for installing the hook.

It is also impossible to impose a fine in cases where the towbar has already been registered, has passed the necessary examinations.

In order to use a car for the transportation of various goods, trailers are often used. The trailer will be connected to the car using a tow bar (towing hitch). Since June 1, 2019, the owners of some car models have encountered difficulties installing such equipment.

We will tell you whether it is necessary to register a towbar for a passenger car with the traffic police in 2019-2020, and how to do it.

When the towbar requires registration

Whether a towbar registration is required with the traffic police in 2019 -2020 depends on the design of a light car. You do not need to register the towbar in the following cases:

• it was delivered at the factory, i.e. changes to the vehicle design were made by the manufacturer. In this case, when buying a car, the owner will receive all the necessary documents for the towbar. Additional registration is not required;
• it is installed as an option in the showroom. In this case, all the necessary documents will also be transferred to the new owner of the car.

Not every vehicle can be equipped with a towbar as an accessory. For this, two conditions must be met. They are as follows:

• the factory documentation provides for the installation of a towbar. This information is usually indicated in the instruction manual that comes with every new machine.
• the towbar itself is designed to be installed on a specific car model, which is confirmed by the manufacturer's documents. And also passed the conformity assessment.

If the above two conditions are met, then the answer to the question whether it is necessary to register a towbar for passenger cars with the traffic police is negative. The owner will have the necessary documents without going through additional procedures. It:

• vehicle operating manual;
• documents for the towbar, which is a case of confirmation that the device is intended for a specific vehicle model;
• certificate of conformity for the towbar.

Should the towbar be registered or not, if this device is not provided in the vehicle by the manufacturer? In such a situation, the owner of the car will have to register this device on his own, since the hitch is considered a change in the factory design.

From 1.06.2019, the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 6.04.2019 No. 413 came into force in Russia. Now any change in the design of the vehicle must be coordinated and then registered. Therefore, if a car with a towbar was not originally provided by the manufacturer, then in order to legally use such a vehicle, you will need to make an effort.

How to register?

Registration of a towbar with the traffic police in 2019 (the price under the new rules for registration is 800 rubles) consists of several stages:

• contacting a specialized laboratory. It must be without fail accredited to investigate changes in the design of machines;
• research by laboratory staff for the safety of changes in the design of the machine (in this case, the installation of a tow bar);
• obtaining a laboratory conclusion (as a rule, when installing a towbar, it must be positive);
• providing a positive conclusion of the laboratory on the installation of a towbar in the traffic police;
• issuance of the traffic police permission to make changes (within three days after the citizen's appeal);
• installation of a towbar on a car;
• re-examination by the laboratory. Issuance of a test report.
• passing MOT;
• issuance of a traffic police certificate of compliance of a vehicle with safety requirements (It is for this service that a state duty of 800 rubles is provided);
• then the hitch will be brought into the traffic police when registering the car in the PTS and the registration certificate.

Additional installation of a towbar and its registration with the traffic police is not an easy procedure. Although when installing a towbar on a car, there will be no refusal from the laboratory, and all actions are formal. Nevertheless, material investments are required - it is necessary to pay for the examination in the laboratory and the state registration fee. Therefore, it is advisable to immediately think before purchasing a new car: will a trailer be used to transport goods or not? If the answer is in the affirmative, then it is necessary to consider for the acquisition of a model of cars either immediately with a towbar, or in the design of which such a device is provided as additional equipment.

What to do if the towbar is installed, but there are no documents for it?

You can try to get the documents from the manufacturer of the machine. But this is only possible if the manufacturer has provided a towbar in the vehicle design. If it is impossible to obtain documents (the most common option is that the manufacturer did not initially provide for it in the design of the machine), then there are two options:

• register the hitch as a change in the design of the machine according to the new rules;
• dismantle the towbar (accordingly, either do not use such a vehicle to transport goods on a trailer, or change the car to another model with a towbar).

A towbar is a special towing equipment (Hitch), which is used to securely fix the trailer. Russian legislation clearly regulates the procedure for using such devices. It can also qualify the installation of the towbar as unauthorized structural changes to the vehicle, which entails administrative liability. Below we will figure out when the use of traction devices is permissible, and in what cases it is considered an offense.

What is a towbar for?

The direct purpose of the towbar is associated with the towing of trailers, trailers, as well as vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tons by a vehicle. It creates an even distribution of the load, which is generated under the influence of weight and inertia.

The classic versions of this movement are a ball-and-socket design securely anchored to a curved metal shoulder. Depending on the permissible load, there are three types of towing hitch:

• from 1500 to 2500 kg;

  from 2500 to 3500 kg.

Special-purpose towbars are a bracket in which an annular loop is placed, located on the trailer drawbar. The fastening of the structure is provided by a metal finger threaded through the ring in the bracket.

Important! In Russia, GOST 28248-89 is in force (corresponds to the international standard ISO 1103-76), which regulates the dimensions of the ball-type towing device, the parameters of the coupling and the procedure for applying identification marks on it. The document applies to all types of trailers with a gross weight of 3500 kg, except for special ones.

By the type of installation, the following types of hitch are distinguished:

fixed - fully welded structures that are a structural element of the bumper;

removable - the most common, equipped with a latch for quick folding of the hook, in some cases they are included in the factory equipment of pickups and SUVs;

flanged (conditionally removable) - they require a special platform, on which they are fixed with bolts, they can be removed if necessary.

Towbar installation rules

The hitch is fixed to the frame or body of the vehicle. Many car manufacturers provide for a hitch attachment point with holes in advance.

For installation, you will need to dismantle the bumper, sometimes you need to bend the heat shield a little and release the muffler down. After removing the fastener caps, align the brackets with the vehicle body, replace the beam and tighten the bolts. Then the heat shield, muffler and bumper are returned to their original place. The installation procedure for the towbar differs depending on the specific vehicle model and may require additional drilling.

Important! The towbar cannot be mounted on wheeled vehicles, which are prohibited from operating a trailer (for passenger cars, the limitation is imposed if the sum of the permitted weight of the car and the trailer exceeds 3.5 tons).

Towbar registration procedure

The installation of towing devices is regulated by the technical regulation "On the safety of wheeled vehicles" TR CU 018/2011, effective from 01.01.2015. Most modern cars provide the ability to accommodate a towbar. In such cases, its installation does not require registration with the traffic police. In this case, the device must have a certificate of compliance with technical regulations and a passport.

Important! Registration of the towbar is required if it is not provided for in the technical documentation of the vehicle.

To avoid problems with the law, it is better to install the towing hitch in authorized centers - in this case, the guarantee of the authorized dealer remains. A homemade towbar does not give such preferences.

The possibility of installing a towing device must be provided by the car manufacturer, and the mechanism itself must be listed in the spare parts catalog under the original number. Failure to comply with these requirements, the absence of registration of the towbar, the actions of the car owner can be qualified as structural changes to the vehicle.

You can find out whether it is permissible to install a towbar on a car in the manual for its operation, which is available on the manufacturer's website. You can also use the VIN number plate as a source of information. It indicates four options for the maximum permissible weight:

the machine itself,

If only three values ​​are shown, then there is no towing hitch.

If it turns out that you cannot do without registration, you need to follow these steps:

undergo an examination before and after installation:

contact the traffic police - here the car will be inspected and the documents will be checked:

get a title and a technical certificate with a marked hitch.

Towbar fines

Despite its utilitarian purpose, the towing hitch carries an increased danger in a car collision. This is especially true for homemade and non-standard designs. In the event of an accident, a towbar without a trailer does not provide protection, but creates an even greater impact force. For this reason, in accordance with Art. 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for administrative responsibility for its incorrect installation.

The situation qualifies as a violation of the vehicle design, which directly affects the safety of movement. Such an offense is punishable by a penalty of 500 rubles.

Important! A fine for a towbar on a passenger car will have to be paid if a traffic police officer reveals that:

a non-standard device is installed;

an unregistered hitch is installed;

TSU covers the room or headlights;

The towing hitch is located in a place not intended for this.

How to avoid responsibility

If a traffic police officer noticed a violation of the rules for installing a towbar, the motorist has legal ways to avoid paying a fine. Art. 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides, along with a monetary penalty, the issuance of a warning, therefore, a promise to the inspector to correct everything may have an effect.

There are no grounds for imposing a fine if the vehicle was installed by the car manufacturer or it is included in the list of additional equipment of the car. Also, there should be no complaints from regulatory authorities applicable to a mechanism certified according to technical regulations. Removable towbars, which can be dismantled at any time, are beyond suspicion.

Features of selling a car with a tow bar

Before selling a car, you need to make sure that the tow hitch is installed correctly and that there is registration (if necessary). If violations are discovered, you can get a fine and lose the buyer. In the case of installing a homemade device that does not correspond to the spare parts catalog, it is better to remove it before selling it.

A potential buyer should also pay attention to the towbar - he must make sure that the towbar is placed legally.

The purchase of a towing hitch is justified if it has a passport and certificate, meets safety requirements, and the car is prepared for its installation. If necessary, the towbar should be registered with the traffic police. In other cases, its installation may lead to problems and penalties.