Anyone towing 19a/b with a Kia Telluride?

[ekschlanger@yahoo.com]

Just ordered my 17B escape. Scheduled for delivery 8/22. In the meantime, need to buy a TV. Probably going to go with a 4Runner, but wondering if others have experience towing with SUV/s like the Kia Telluride or the Toy Highlander? Both of those report tongue weight limit of 350 lbs, so not sure it even possible. Any feed back greatly appreciated.

[Brian B-P]

Properly equipped, this size and type of vehicle should be rated for 5,000 pounds of trailer and 500 pound hitch weight... I would check the specs. And yes, 350 pounds of hitch weight isn't enough for an Escape any more.

If you like the Kia Telluride, I suggest checking out the Hyundai Palisade as well - these two models are built by the same company with mostly the same components, but have somewhat different styles and tuning.

[Eggscape]

From what I can see it is rated for 5,000lbs and you can get the tow model which has a self leveling rear suspension. It won every award available last year and is made in America.

[ekschlanger@yahoo.com]

Thanks so much for the invaluable input. This is a great resource for newbees like me. The Telluride is reported to be a "great" suv, and they "really advertise" the tow capacity of 5000 lbs, but the limit is 350 on the tongue, regardless of regular or WDH, or so I believe. Interestingly, all midsize unibody suvs seem to have the 350 limit. Thanks again

[Mike G]

Have they really reduced the Highlander's hitch weight limit to 350 lbs now? For many years it was rated for 5000/500. I owned a 2008 HL and used it to tow trailers in the same size and weight range as a 17B for 140,000 towing miles (185K total miles) before selling it in 2015.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by ekschlanger@yahoo.com

The Telluride is reported to be a "great" suv, and they "really advertise" the tow capacity of 5000 lbs, but the limit is 350 on the tongue, regardless of regular or WDH, or so I believe. Interestingly, all midsize unibody suvs seem to have the 350 limit.

I don't know where you're getting this from, but it it not true. It probably was close to true, a decade or more ago. Perhaps there is some confusion about the term "midsize", but the Telluride is as large as the Pilot or Highlander, which are among the largest SUVs not sharing a platform with a full-size pickup truck.

According to the Telluride owner's manual, the hitch weight limit is 500 pounds, regardless of hitch type (weight-carrying or weight-distributing). Other examples:

• The Jeep Grand Cherokee has a 7,200 pound trailer weight limit and 720 pound hitch weight limit.
• The Hyundai Palisade, Honda Pilot, and Volkswagen Atlas all have 5,000 pound trailer weight limits and 500 pound hitch weight limits.
• The Chevrolet Blazer and Jeep Cherokee are a bit smaller and have 4,500 pound trailer weight limits with 450 pound hitch weight limits.
• The Toyota Highlander has a 5,000 pounds trailer weight limit and specifies only 9% to 11% of trailer weight as hitch weight, with no specific limit.
• The Ford Explorer has a 5,600 pound trailer weight limit and no specified hitch weight limit.

Of course all vehicles have other limits which can affect towing. Any passenger or cargo weight may reduce available trailer weight limit due to the vehicle's gross combination weight rating. Any passenger and cargo weight - especially in the rear - may reduce available hitch weight limit due to the vehicle's rear gross axle weight rating.

All limits also depend on vehicle configuration:

• For vehicles available in both FWD and AWD, AWD may be required for the highest ratings. For vehicles with a choice of engines, a larger or more powerful engine may be required for the highest GCWR and resulting trailer weight rating; in the Highlander, the Hybrid does not have the highest rating.
• Equipment packages, often including enhanced transmission and/or engine cooling, may be required for the highest GCWR and resulting trailer weight rating.
• Hitch weight rating may depend on choices such as FWD vs. AWD, suspension options (such as air suspension), and even interior choices (such as third-row seating)... as well as being limited in some cases to some fraction of the trailer weight rating.

But of the vehicles that I mentioned above have unibody construction and none have a 350 pound hitch weight limit when properly configured.

The limits for a specific vehicle also depend on the towing equipment, specifically the hitch. If you put a typical Class 2 hitch with a 350 pound tongue weight limit on any vehicle, you are limited to 350 pounds of tongue weight no matter how capable the vehicle might be.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Mike G

Have they really reduced the Highlander's hitch weight limit to 350 lbs now? For many years it was rated for 5000/500.

No, as far as I can tell it has not changed.

[ekschlanger@yahoo.com]

This site is GREAT. I am back looking into the sources of my data. Kia issued a correction to their owners manual on 1/9/21 (according to internet post) reporting the error of 351 lbs and a correction of 500 lbs. I need to verify. Brian, where are you getting your data on the Highlander and Palisade? Thank you for all your detailed info. Is anyone pulling a 17B with a Telluride, Palisade or Highlander?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by ekschlanger@yahoo.com

Brian, where are you getting your data on the Highlander and Palisade?

I generally used downloaded owner's manuals (including for the Highlander and Palisade), because they are the most authoritative and detailed source, and because web sites typically don't list hitch weight limits. I did use previous years where I already had one downloaded (2016 for Honda Pilot; 2018 for the Jeeps). VW is behind the times and still doesn't allow downloading of owner's manuals without an owner's account, so I accepted values from discussions in various forums.

[Brian B-P]

For some reason both this thread and another one about towing configurations have been posted in "Forum Help | Announcements | Suggestion Box" instead of something appropriate such as "Towing and Hitching". Could a moderator or administrator move them?