Towing with Air Suspension
 

Hi Everyone!

A new Volvo owner here, who tows a horse trailer 3 times a week and would like advice on air suspension please.

The manual says 'to facilitate towing a trailer on a car with air suspension select Dynamic'. I would like to know why this is please as it uses more fuel and is not such a comfortable drive. Is towing in Comfort mode detrimental to air suspension?

Many thanks
Anxious Tower!

comfort is lower pressure on the suspension, but with the added load/weight of a trailer, it wont potentially have the capacity to cope with things like large bumps (ie: the suspension could go all the way in), causing you to hit the bumpstop, which can cause shock damage to the wheel assembly.

Whilst there isn't any wear & tear reason why not, its more a case of their engineers don't recommend it.

Not entirely sure why dynamic would use more fuel, unless it changes the engine parameters too?

also, without knowing what you drive nor what you tow, friendly advise, check your towing weights are actually legal - most double boxes with two horses in push a full 3.5T load, which as far as im aware, not many (if any) volvo's can do.

The DVSA are launching a huge campaign this year spot checking people towing, make sure everything is by the book, license, trailer, weights, tacho (if required). Also note should any employees tow a trailer, it must have an annual service record or the owner is liable to prosecution.

Thanks for your reply gingerbiscuit69, it was very helpful.

I drive an XC90 which, as you rightly say, certainly won't tow 3.5T and I think it will tow an absolute max of 2.7T.

Luckily I only tow one small horse in the trailer, however after towing with an old Disco where I didn't worry about weight, when I was thinking 'Volvo' I did check that my towing weight would be well within it's capacity and luckily it is.

Thanks again.

According to volvo dynamic mode is to allow quicker gear changes in the auto box, stiffen the suspension to stop rolling, faster steering response and deactivate start/stop (there's the extra fuel your on about).

The dynamic mode lowers the car, therefore the tow ball height. I have a T8, my "Comfort" mode is called "Hybrid". After a long journey on Hybrid most of the time, when turning the car off, it lowers the rear. This means it was lifted during the ride. With Power (my equivalent of Dynamic) the car lowers at the start of the journey and it stays like that until the end.

When I tow, I use the individual driving mode. I set all the features as Hybrid (Comfort) except the suspension and steering which I switch to Power (Dynamic). This way I use the optimum amount of fuel and I even tow full electric at low speeds in camp grounds and storage area.

L.E. When the rear is lifted, the tow ball height is above the european standards on most of the SPA Volvos