What I personally think does matter if I am willing to take the risk, especially if it is after the warranty expires. Also if you were in the mind set that you wanted to defraud someone, you could remove the hitch before going in for service. As long as you don't drill extra holes to install it, they are not that hard to remove, and would more than likely not leave evidence of it being there.

And again, I personally think a small trailer would not cause a problem. I don't need to tow with my car as I have a big fuel sucking smoke belching 3/4 ton diesel pickup that I can tow with.

 

Now it's apples and oranges. Yea, who cares if the car is out of warrantee. Do anything you want. But to suggest it's OK to tow a car because you "think" it's ok is a dangerous thing to do. Someone will that that suggestion and run with it, and subsequently blow the xxx or yyy part of his car and the dealer will tell him to pound sand because there is a paint chip missing next to a hole where he had his trailer hitch mounted.
In reality I doubt towing 300 lbs in a small trailer would do damage but I'll stop short of actually suggesting someone do it.
You obviously have a higher risk tolerance than I do.

 

... and you obviously have a higher propensity to berate someone for their honest opinion than we do. Take it easy on us, it's just discussion. No one in here actually believes everything they read on the internet (I hope!)

 

Berate? Lighten up. No, I just point out anomalies. Besides, everyone knows, if it's on the Internet it must be true.

 

I never told somebody that it WAS ok to tow with the TCH, I just expressed my opinion that I would not have a problem doing it.

My dad had an '86 Dodge Caravan with the 4 cylinder engine. It was not rated to tow anything, and he towed his boat behind it. The boat with trailer weighs about 2000 to 2500 pounds. The Caravan struggled to get up some hills, but it did just fine.

Then my dad used his '90 Lebaron convertable to tow the same boat. The convertable had the same towing not recomended as the TCH, it did just fine. Actually it towed better than the Caravan since it had a V-6 in it. As a side benifit the trailer hitch actually strengthened the frame of the car. he was rearended by a Lincoln Towncar, and the towncar was in shambles, with the radiator destroyed, and the front end all on the ground. The LeBarron only had some scratches from the collision. The interior impact absorbing material was compromised, but the frame of the car was fine, and the impact did not damage anything else. The collosion shop where my dad took it, was amazed at the little bit of damage, and attributed it to how the hitch was made and how it was attached to the car. It distributed much of the impact load from the bumper attachment points to multiple points along the rear of the car body, causing the energy to be absorbed much better.