Can a Thief Tow Your Trailer with Safety Chains?
Reason for Safety Chains
Are safety chains for towing trailers without a hitch? Absolutely not. Why? The main purpose of safety chains is to keep the towing vehicle and the trailer connected should the coupler become disconnected from the hitch.
The Real Threat: A Thief with Power Tools
Locking your safety chains up is a sales gimmick, to take the focus off of the fact that the lock can be cut in seconds with any thief carrying portable power tools purchased at a local hardware store. Power tools are the REAL threat a trailer owner is facing AND losing if they don't have a power tool resistant trailer lock.
Trailer Security Peace of Mind
Choose a trailer coupler lock that can stand up against a sawzall, angle-grinder, reciprocating saw, power drill, brute force, etc. The world's first and only trailer coupler lock built to defeat power tools is the Altor Safe Lock Series.
LONG ANSWER
Three reasons why, securing-safety-chain-lock-up-is-not-a-concern.
1. Safety Chains Are NOT Tow Chains!Why doesn’t the SAF Trailer Lock secure your safety chains? Well let's start with what safety chains are. A safety chain is a secondary flexible tension device connected between the vehicle and the trailer, with sufficient strength to prevent separation of those vehicles if the primary coupling/towing device fails.
Source: https://mechanicalelements.com/how-to-attach-safety-chains/
If a towed trailer on the roadway becomes unhitched without safety chains then it will move toward the direction that momentum takes it, likely causing an accident. If the hitch on a trailer with safety chains fails while it is underway, the safety chains keep the trailer connected to the towing vehicle, and keep the trailer from being completely out of control, so the driver can safely and quickly pull over. Check out safety chain requirements here.
Towing a trailer by the safety chains is impractical because as we defined earlier, they are a tension device that they can only be used to pull. So, if a trailer could be pulled with chains, when using the brakes the trailer would hit the back of your vehicle. Bringing unwanted attention, damage to the stolen trailer AND to the vehicle.
Source: https://mechanicalelements.com/how-to-attach-safety-chains/
2. Safety Chains Are Bolted On
Another reason why it does not make sense to lock the safety chains is because safety chains are bolted onto the trailer. Trailer manufacturers design the chains this way so that customers can easily change the safety chains out to their preferred style, or replace if needed. This means that if thieves were actually using safety chains to steal trailers, locking the safety chains would do nothing to prevent thieves from attaching new chains. Even if the safety chains are welded onto the trailer, a thief can attach a new chain to the welded-on chain using a shackle.
Remember, the majority of trailers that are stolen have, 1) no lock, or 2) a lock that is easily cut with power tools.
An equivalent scenario? Concern that a burglar would enter your house via the chimney, when the front door is left wide-open but the exterior screen door is latched, realistically a pocket knife will slice through the screen and the thief is in…yes, that is how easily and quickly power tools cut through traditional trailer coupler locks.
Securing your safety chains, is basically a sales gimmick that creates buyer confusion, and is no protection from a thief with portable power tools. The best way to protect your trailer is to buy a power tool resistant trailer lock that makes thieves move on to an easier opportunity. So choose the SAF 2000 and SAF 2516, the world's first and only trailer coupler lock built to defeat power tools. Remember every other lock on the market can be cut in 6-90 seconds.
So Choose a Lock that Defeats Power Tools: And Make a Thief Move On
Check out this Video of the Altor SAF Trailer Lock under attack via power tools & brute force attack
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