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Carrying passengers or cargo? Knowing your gross vehicle weight rating helps ensure you don’t overload your vehicle.
Gross vehicle weight rating, or GVWR, might sound like a term only professional truck drivers are aware of. In reality, it’s an important figure every driver of a GMC
pickup truck,
SUV and crossover needs to keep in mind in order to remain safe while carrying cargo or passengers alike.
Easily found on a label placed inside the driver’s door jamb, the GVWR figure is the maximum weight a GMC pickup truck, SUV or crossover is engineered to safely carry. While this figure does not include the total weight of any trailer being towed, it
does include the passengers, personal effects, and cargo carried, along with the weight (or the curb vehicle weight) of the truck itself and the
tongue weight of the trailer.
You may not give much thought about those figures while making short trips or carrying a couple of small items, but when it comes time to load your GMC with lots of passengers or cargo, it’s important to keep your GMC’s GVWR in mind. Failure to do so may result in you exceeding the GVWR and overloading your vehicle.
Overloading your truck or SUV can carry severe consequences, including:
- Broken springs and suspension components due to excess weight
- Brakes unable to stop the truck or SUV in a timely manner
- Transmission and other driveline components may overheat and sustain serious damage
- Unusual suspension behavior, making the vehicle hard to control
- Tire temperatures rising to elevated levels, potentially leading to a blowout
Knowing both your vehicle’s gross vehicle weight and gross vehicle weight rating allow you to quickly calculate how much you can safely carry. For example, take a look at the 2020 GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab Short Box 4WD with the available 3.0L Duramax® Turbo-Diesel engine. The gross vehicle weight rating for this particular model is 7,200 pounds†. The weight of this Sierra (unloaded and without occupants) is 5,350 pounds. By subtracting the weight from the GVWR, you can determine this particular Sierra can carry about 1,884 pounds without exceeding its maximum weight rating.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you can universally carry 1,810 pounds of cargo in its pickup box – the weight of passengers within the cab also needs to be factored into the GVWR. If you have two 200-pound passengers climb into that same Sierra, it now has an available capacity of 1,410 pounds.
You should also take care to not overload the weight on the individual axles of your GMC. To prevent this, it’s important to know the gross axle weight rating, or GAWR, of your vehicle. This number represents the maximum amount of weight that can be placed on an individual axle.
The GAWR includes the weight of the vehicle, passengers, cargo and trailer tongue weight (if applicable). Also, front and rear axles can have individual GAWR numbers.
It's important to always abide by the GVWR and GAWR specifically set for your GMC truck or SUV. In the course of vehicle development, professional engineers have extensively pushed these vehicles to their limits in order to keep you, your passengers, and your belongings safe and to avoid damage to your vehicle. Staying within these limits helps your truck, trailer, and travel remain safe.
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating: GVWR for heavy loads and trucking
Everything you need to know about gross vehicle weight rating and why it’s important to your fleet.
What is GVWR? Why is it important to consider this factor? How is it calculated? We’re here to answer all your burning questions about gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). According to the
Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, failure to adhere to weight capacity when loading a truck can become a major crash contributor, especially in crashes where the truck rolls over. Additionally, it can be hard on the truck's overall body, resulting in more wear-and-tear, increased
maintenance costs and higher truck downtime.
So, let’s get into it.
What is a gross vehicle weight rating?
First and foremost, let’s talk about what GVWR is. It refers to the maximum combined weight — including the net weight of the vehicle and accessories, plus passengers, fuel and cargo — that a vehicle can consist of before it starts to become unsafe or cause damage to the vehicle.
Identifying and enforcing gross vehicle weight helps:
- Drivers have complete control of the vehicle
- Maintain the integrity of roads and bridges
- Decrease on-road truck breakdowns
Additional terms
There are other different types of weight assignments for trucks that are useful to know, including:
- Curb weight: Refers to the vehicle’s weight including a full tank of fuel and all standard equipment. The curb weight does not include passengers, cargo or any optional equipment.
- Tongue weight: The maximum downward force that can be safely suspended from the hitch.
- Dry weight: The weight of the vehicle, not including liquids such as fuel, water, oil, coolant and brake fluid.
- Towing capacity: The gross weight that a truck is able to tow behind it safely.
- Payload capacity: Refers to the gross weight of anything being carried in a truck or the truck bed, including passengers.
- Gross combined vehicle weight rating (GCVWR): The weight of the truck as well as its trailer.
- Gross axle weight rating (GAWR): The maximum amount of weight that can be exerted on each axle.
How is a truck's gross vehicle weight rating determined?
The truck’s manufacturer determines a vehicle's GVWR. They will figure out both the front and rear GAWRs using the lowest-rated components (tires, suspensions, axles, etc.) and, combined, they will dictate the GVWR. Usually, the GVWR of a vehicle is listed on the driver’s side door or in the vehicle’s manual.
Why is GVWR important?
Finally, you might ask yourself, why these ratings and calculations and considerations are important. Truth be told, they dictate a lot of what fleets can and can’t do with their workforce.
Lower maintenance costs
One aspect of fleet ownership that managers want to avoid is vehicle downtime. It might seem as though adding a couple hundred extra pounds to a
transportation truck can allow you to be more efficient, but adding excessive weight only causes its parts to break down faster. Instead of a more efficient fleet, you’re left with unnecessary maintenance costs, increased vehicle downtime and a higher rate of breakdowns.
Extra weight means more pressure on the axles, suspension, tires and overall body of the truck. By adhering to GVWR, fleet managers can stretch their maintenance times and ensure that their vehicles – and their parts – aren’t being put under avoidable strain.
Reliable vehicle control
The last thing you want is for a driver to lose control of a vehicle on the road, let alone a vehicle carrying more weight than it is supposed to. When trucks are overloaded, steering, maneuverability, braking and acceleration are all affected. It can be challenging for drivers to judge stopping distances, maintain control going down an incline or take a turn.
Not only is vehicle control important for your drivers, but it is vital to other drivers who are sharing the road. An overloaded truck losing control can have significant consequences for everyone involved.
Avoid liability
Safety for your drivers and others on the road should be a top priority. Part of the reason GVWRs exist is to help make sure that roadways are safe for everyone using them. If your truck is involved in a collision and it is found to be overloaded, there is a chance that you could be involved in a costly court case. With cases of
nuclear verdicts on the rise, fleet managers should be doing their best to follow compliance and keep themselves out of trouble. Additionally, failure to follow your vehicle’s GVWR can result in some very hefty fines and, in some cases, getting your truck impounded.
