Can I attach a hitch to my 09 Prius?

Chinchilla

I'll be moving from California to Texas pretty soon and am going to be driving there. I have a fair bit of furniture, too much to fit in the car but not enough to rent a truck for. I want to get one of those pull along U-Haul trailers and was wondering if I could attach a hitch for it on my Prius.































How would I go about doing this? Is there any business that can do it for me? Is it okay for this type of car to pull something like that? Will it run my mpg down? Also, about how much will this cost me? Please give me all the detailed information you can! Thankyou in advance!

Joshua

talk to a dealer ship see if you can and yes it will hurt your mpg its more weight for the car and the drag off the wind to get some back you can draft off a tractor trailer cost is unknown but you do have to get the right hitch for the trailer there is a few classes

JerryJ

The answer in the manual is that the Prius is not designed for towing. That said:































1. There are hitches for the Prius but they are for hitch mounted racks so they don't have electrical connections or safety chain loops.































2. Prius owners have towed very light trailers on occasion for short distances with no known damages. Very light means 300 to 500 lbs. total weight. Total weight means the trailer plus contents. A U-Haul trailer is way more than that. I strongly recommend against pulling a UHaul trailer with a Prius.































3. The Prius' braking system isn't designed for towing, so handling will be a problem.































4. The Prius monocoque construction doesn't include reinforcements for trailer hitches.































5. With two extra tires on the road plus a bunch more weight, MPG will go down dramatically.































If you still want to try it, you'll have to fabricate the electrical connections and safety chain eyes. Then you'll need to get a Scangauge ( http://www.scangauge.com/ ) and watch the water and inverter temperatures very closely. I think it will be cheaper to ship the furniture--make that way cheaper. It will also be a lot safer. I would not do this if it were me.