Mobility Scooter carrier and Class 3 Hitch

welcome!

idk anything about hitches, but i'm wondering if you're going to need stronger suspension springs

 

This may not be the last word, but etrailer.com shows nothing but Class 1 hitches for the Prius:

2013 Toyota Prius Trailer Hitch | etrailer.com

 

For liability reasons no one is going to build and sell a heavy duty class 3 hitch for a Prius. But the max tongue weight of the class 1 hitch is near the weight of your mobility scooter, so it will work, just make sure you keep a close eye on it and measure where the square hitch post receiver is in relation to your rear bumper and check it regularly for any signs of tongue bending.

And speaking from experience I slightly bent the tongue on my Prius when I maxxed it out with my 270 pound wood chipper. I put 1500 freeway miles on it with no issue. The part where it got bent was in SF Bay Area where everyone drives 70mph in the slow lane just to merge onto freeway traffic and the worn out roads had some huge slumps, so there was way too much downward force.

And if the initial installation leads to bending, I'd recommend getting a much lighter carrier, or a much lighter mobility scooter, or get a welder to add some reinforcements to your hitch.

 

Forklift Central offers a 2" receiver that may work better for ya.

 

You mean Torklift? This is what I have (older version, actually) for hauling bicycles:

Torklift Central | Torklift Central | 2010-2015 Toyota Prius and Prius Plugin EcoHitch

It is somewhat local to me, which was part of my reason for selecting it despite the higher price.

 

Thank you for the spell check.

 

I faced a similar challenge with my mother.
Who had a full sized electric wheelchair, which was great for getting around. But it was big, and heavy.
At the time I had a 2010 Honda Fit, and there was no safe, hitch option.
Unfortunately what I concluded was that I simply did not have the proper vehicle for the task. Which meant using her folding wheelchair in nearly all travel scenarios.

Which was unfortunate.

Since you say projected usage would only be occasional, well look for advice here, and maybe seek out some "honest" experts.

Unfortunately sometimes the reality is, you don't have the right tool for the job. I might be afraid the Prius just isn't the right vehicle for this application.
But I also respect through experience that being able to travel with a mobility option like a electric scooter or wheelchair can be a pretty important.

I'm also going to ask, have you investigated smaller, lighter electric scooters?
I don't know if they would work for you, but they do have a lot of lighter, smaller and even in some cases, folding scooter options.
Maybe approaching the problem from the reverse might be an option? Lighter smaller scooter instead of bigger, heavier hitch?

Good Luck in finding an option that works. I know it can be a challenge.

 

While I don't have a full objective answer, I'm personally uncomfortable with anywhere near that much hitch weight on a Prius, regardless of receiver. When I got mine, I was seeing some commentary about the possibility of bending the car's frame from excess load torque on the hitch, and never found a complete or satisfactory answer.

I normally carry just two bicycles, stripped of heavy accessories. Only rarely have I put on a third bike, in a pinch, for very short distances to the next rest stop when supporting major cycling events. And I don't like the degree of bounce seen in the rear-view mirror. The same hitch brand and actual bike carrier mounted on my Subaru Forester is noticeably more solid.

A fellow event support driver carries a cargo tray and bike rack on the hitch of her mid-size SUV, loaded no heavier than your scooter would be. Even that produces a nose-up pitch that would concern me, though it hasn't bothered her.

So I'm in the same school as ElectricMe in post #10, I'm not comfortable with a Prius being the right tool for the job. I'd be looking for a van where the second seat row can be removed to allow the scooter to be loaded in through the side slider door.

 

I myself am looking for the same hitch 2 inch receiver class III is exactly what I need but it looks like I will have to custom made out of the existing system upgrade it and modify it with off-the-shelf parts including modification to attachment points for extra strength to the body of the Prius this is easily done with somebody who’s worked auto Body industry. Modifying and repairing an altering sheet metal parts is what you do for a living it’s easy as baking bread. And yes as mentioned above for legal and safety concerns when extending a load off the back of a vehicle the more weight for every inch behind the bumper you add multiplies the upward left on the front wheels not to mention when trying to do quick emergency maneuvers such as a quick swerve on a freeway to dodge a large object or somebody coming into your lane vehicle instability due to tire sidewall movement and shocks and struts would have to also be modified.
1: I’ve modified the rear springs with nitrogen filled air lift bags on my vehicle
2: Hi load rated tires low profile Stiff, Gummy tread summer tires for racing 1500 pound capacity. Up from the factory tires that are at 1100 pounds capacity.
3: Hi rate street racing shocks and struts to dampen The sway for quick maneuvering that will be reduced by adding the extra load so far rear on a vehicle.

I myself have a trailer hitch currently installed from U-Haul on my Prius C. Currently I Tow a 4’ x 4’ trailer usually do not exceed 500 to 600 pounds even though the trailer is rated at 780 pounds. I will be purchasing a larger trailer 5‘ x 9‘ because I use this Prius for work on a daily basis and I need to haul more tools and equipment to drop off and pick up at jobsites. And living in San Francisco having a truck or a van or an SUV is just out of the question because of parking.
So the short answer is yes it can be done but if you can’t do it yourself because of legal liabilities you may have a hard time to convince somebody to modify an existing trailer hitch putting one off of a larger trailer hitch to have a 2 inch class three receiver. Like explained earlier you will want to add some more support and attachment supports to the body and frame at the bumper attachment points to your trailer hitch for more support. Take somebody with experience and a little engineering practical knowledge of geometry and. Multiplying weight loads that will be bouncing on extended lever at stress points on the body but this all can be compensated for and modified

 

That hitch looks bomb proof... In my experience, the only time I've run into tongue weight concerns with a fixed load mounted directly to the hitch is at freeway speeds when a sudden slump in the road can maximize the amount of downward force and start bending the hitch down from too much weight, so make sure to slow your driving habits a bit when hauling it.

 

Pulling a trailer is one thing, but a heavy load on a receiver is something else. Without a trailer axle absorbing at least some of that weight, the stress on the hitch attachment points is going to be much stronger. At some point you’ll find a bump or road heave that pops the back doors open, and they might not ever close again.

I would have no reservations about using a Prius to tow this scooter around on a small trailer. That will work fine. I wouldn’t want to try it as a stinger load though.

 

Lol, that's a very dramatic description... Almost like you watch alot of Hollywood action-adventure movies? You might want to click on the link and look at how bombproof the $300 hitch is.

I also submit that carrying a fixed load on the back of the vehicle with a hitch is always going to be way safer than pulling a trailer because so much more can go wrong with towing. If not for any other reason than the basic laws of physics: the longer the lever, the greater the force that can be applied.

That being said, many hitch hauls and hitch mounted bike racks are safer to use if you shorten the length of the lever applying force to the hitch. They tend to add the extra length in their design for ease of use/convenience, which would be great if you were using a truck instead of a lightweight economy car.

 

It is not the hitch that I'm concerned about.

 

Are ya'll really implying that you could bend the whole body of car before the hitch itself bent? That's seems kinda wacky... These cars are crash tested, they aren't made in a Hollywood prop shop... The force it takes to bend the frame is thousands, not hundreds of pounds, but if you get a long enough lever.

 

Maybe, maybe not. And not necessarily the whole body, just the hitch attach points. It is a concern that has been raised on other vehicles, seems to have some basis in reality, but remains unconfirmed either way.

Counting the lever arm from the attach points to the load, this proposed use does apply thousand of pounds when hitting a nasty pothole or bump.

And that crash testing? The frame is not meant to be completely rigid, but is supposed to bend and crumple under crash loads. Absent intentionally designed mounting points, I'm not yet assured that the particular points selected by the hitch makers are guaranteed to be fully up to the job. The hitch makers clearly disclaim any liability.

 

Maybe the testing included installing a trailer hitch and applying an excessive load (and maybe it didn't), but the manufacturer has warned against towing. Maybe Toyota's own testing led them to warn against towing because they determined that it is not safe -- and it is not what they designed the vehicle to do.

 

The Prius was NOT designed as a towing vehicle.
Toyota says NOT to tow anything. Yet, people are going to do it.
They paid for it they can do what they want with it.
But if they get in a wreck, they will get sued, and lose. And hopefully, no innocent people are killed.