RV Fire due to TOAD

[Neal]

A Newmar Dutch Star is pictured from an apparent wrong procedure with the F-150 RAPTOR TOAD not disconnecting the transmission per a Facebook post. I put this in the Tow/Toad forum as a reminder to check your manual carefully and follow the procedure to tow your vehicle. My toad (2017 chev colorado) is a bit confusing as the instructions are split into two sections of the manual. Review yours carefully and consider making a checklist as I've done for mine.

Caught on camera: Brand new pickup truck destroyed after catching fire on I-15 in Washington Co.

A brand-new Ford Raptor pickup truck is a total loss after it caught fire while being towed behind an RV on I-15 in Washington County on Friday.

www.fox13now.com

 

[Dutch Star Don]

A little scary, I'm now towing a 2019 Ford Raptor. Pretty easy to put in neutral and I always physically roll it back until the arms lock, once I put it in neutral.

 

[Neemer]

Wow. How did that coach not get destroyed too?

 

[MapNerd]

The F150 is the easiest thing in the world to put into neutral tow. It’s too easy. Many times I find myself sitting in the seat staring at the console confirmation that it’s in neutral tow and really wondering to myself whether or not it’s lying to me.

The key thing to remember after seeing the console confirmation is to turn the truck off. If you don’t, and you don’t have a trickle charger then when your battery goes empty, the truck throws itself into gear. Why on earth it would do that, I cannot say but it does.

I made sure to install TWO trickle chargers on my truck when I bought it.

I’d bet lunch money that they left the truck in ACC mode, towed it, it ran out of battery, threw itself into gear and things got hot and heavy.

You would never know it happened pulling it. These beasts just pull em around like toys with parking brakes fully engaged.

A trickle charger imho, is mandatory equipment to tow a Ford truck.

 

[VTPete]

These Ford’s seem to have problems, as I experienced the hard way.

F150 Towing Experiences?

Wife and I are thinking of trading in the Cherokee Trailhawk for an F150. We find the Cherokee is just too small for our current needs, and particularly too small for my knees. With two kids in the back, a dog on the floorboard and hardly any cargo space, it just doesn’t leave us with much room...

rvforums.com

I don’t think it’s operator error, I’ve talked to several others and read about still more where their f-150 came out of neutral tow inexplicably.

this story is adding to my concern....

 

[VTPete]

The F150 is the easiest thing in the world to put into neutral tow. It’s too easy. Many times I find myself sitting in the seat staring at the console confirmation that it’s in neutral tow and really wondering to myself whether or not it’s lying to me.

The key thing to remember after seeing the console confirmation is to turn the truck off. If you don’t, and you don’t have a trickle charger then when your battery goes empty, the truck throws itself into gear. Why on earth it would do that, I cannot say but it does.

I made sure to install TWO trickle chargers on my truck when I bought it.

I’d bet lunch money that they left the truck in ACC mode, towed it, it ran out of battery, threw itself into gear and things got hot and heavy.

You would never know it happened pulling it. These beasts just pull em around like toys with parking brakes fully engaged.

A trickle charger imho, is mandatory equipment to tow a Ford truck.

My setup with AF1 uses no battery power on the toad except for the dash led activated when braking. Are you suggesting a trickle charge in case the ignition is not turned off then? I looked at the RVI but they don’t support AGM batteries as my F150 has, what brand of charger did you install @MapNerd?

 

[MapNerd]

Are you suggesting a trickle charge in case the ignition is not turned off then?

Yes, exactly that. The process to put the truck in neutral tow (as you know but others may not) is to:

1. Connect the truck to your RV with a suitable tow bar
2. Enter the truck and without pressing the brake pedal, press the start button to put the truck into accessory mode
3. Depress the brake pedal and shift to neutral
4. Rotate the drive mode knob from 2H to 4L and back to 2H, 5 times in 10 seconds. The transfer case will shift into neutral and a confirmation dialog will appear on the console cluster
5. Remove your foot from the brake pedal and press the Start button to turn the truck off

If you don’t perform step 5, which is very easy to do because the engine is not running and there are very few queues indicating the truck is in ACC mode, the radio, lights, AC and other components will remain powered while you are towing. On a long trip, that can drain your battery, especially if you make an overnight stop. The only dead giveaway that you are in ACC mode is that the green light on the start button will be flashing, but its not particularly bright or eye catching so it’s easy to overlook.

To give myself a bit of peace of mind and try to mitigate the risk I used both the RVI and I had the shop that installed my lighting harness run a charge wire to the battery.
I can’t be certain but I think one of the two already saved me once when I got in, saw a low battery light and felt my heart sink. Fortunately it started right up and shifted into gear. I just couldn’t recall whether i’d pressed the start button or not and the light I saw might have just been all of the lights going through their startup test.

I did not realize the RVI doesn’t support AGM batteries. Next time we hook up, I’ll pop the hood and see if it’s sending power. If that’s the case, thank goodness for the charge wire I had the shop install as a backup.

You could certainly be right about there being a bigger design problem at play here which Ford is not owning up to. Just haven’t seen any smoking guns anywhere. After the killing they made at customer expense due to the Bosch CP4 on powerstroke diesels, I’d not put it past them.

 

[jagpot]

A Newmar Dutch Star is pictured from an apparent wrong procedure with the F-150 RAPTOR TOAD not disconnecting the transmission per a Facebook post. I put this in the Tow/Toad forum as a reminder to check your manual carefully and follow the procedure to tow your vehicle. My toad (2017 chev colorado) is a bit confusing as the instructions are split into two sections of the manual. Review yours carefully and consider making a checklist as I've done for mine.

Caught on camera: Brand new pickup truck destroyed after catching fire on I-15 in Washington Co.

A brand-new Ford Raptor pickup truck is a total loss after it caught fire while being towed behind an RV on I-15 in Washington County on Friday.

www.fox13now.com

Thanks for the reminder. As a newbie for towing I received great advice from many of you and made a checklist. The check of transmission drive and reverse should never be skipped!

 

[Jabber Jaw]

A Newmar Dutch Star is pictured from an apparent wrong procedure with the F-150 RAPTOR TOAD not disconnecting the transmission per a Facebook post. I put this in the Tow/Toad forum as a reminder to check your manual carefully and follow the procedure to tow your vehicle. My toad (2017 chev colorado) is a bit confusing as the instructions are split into two sections of the manual. Review yours carefully and consider making a checklist as I've done for mine.

Caught on camera: Brand new pickup truck destroyed after catching fire on I-15 in Washington Co.

A brand-new Ford Raptor pickup truck is a total loss after it caught fire while being towed behind an RV on I-15 in Washington County on Friday.

www.fox13now.com

Neal,
On your Colorado, do you pull any fuses?
Going to get a base plate for mine, & an RVi charger. This will duplicate the set-up for my Terrain.
Then I will be able to tow the Colorado when we go out West, or to the mountains, but still tow the Terrain for most other applications.
Thanks,
Allan

 

[Neal]

I have a battery cutoff switch installed so the battery is disconnected. I do have the 12V charge wire running to the battery so the MH is charging the toad while towing.