TOWING A TRAILER
UNIFORM TIRE QUALITY GRADING
Do not tow a trailer with your vehicle.
DOT (Department of Transportation) Qual-
ity Grades: All passenger car tires must
conform to federal safety requirements in
addition to these grades.
Manual Transmission (if so
equipped)
FLAT TOWING
∙
Always tow with the manual transmis-
sion in Neutral.
Towing your vehicle with all four wheels on
the ground is sometimes called flat towing.
This method is sometimes used when
towing a vehicle behind a recreational ve-
hicle, such as a motor home.
Quality grades can be found where appli-
cable on the tire sidewall between tread
shoulder and maximum section width. For
example:
∙
After towing 805 km (500 miles), start
and idle the engine with the transmis-
sion in Neutral for two minutes. Failure
to idle the engine after every 805 km
(500 miles) of towing may cause dam-
age to internal transmission parts.
Treadwear 200 Traction AA Temperature
A
CAUTION
∙ Failure to follow these guidelines can
result in severe transmission damage.
∙ Whenever flat towing your vehicle, al-
ways tow forward, never backward.
Treadwear
Automatic Transmission (if so
equipped)
To tow a vehicle equipped with an auto-
matic transmission, an appropriate vehicle
dolly MUST be placed under the towed ve-
hicle’s drive wheels. Always follow the dolly
manufacturer’s recommendations when
using their product.
The treadwear grade is a comparative rat-
ing based on the wear rate of the tire when
tested under controlled conditions on a
specified government test course. For ex-
ample, a tire graded 150 would wear one
and one-half (1 1/2) times as well on the
government course as a tire graded 100.
The relative performance of tires depends
upon the actual conditions of their use,
however, and may depart significantly from
the norm due to variations in driving habits,
service practices and differences in road
characteristics and climate.
∙ Never tow your front wheel drive ve-
hicle with the front tires on the
ground. Doing so may cause serious
and expensive damage to the
powertrain.
∙
DO NOT tow any automatic transmis-
sion vehicle with all four wheels on the
ground (flat towing). Doing so WILL
DAMAGE internal transmission parts
due to lack of transmission lubrication.
∙ For emergency towing procedures re-
fer to “Towing recommended by
NISSAN” in the “In case of emergency”
section of this manual.
10-18 Technical and consumer information
English 
