You can thank the 1/2 towable concept from the past 15 or so years. Also you have to factor in the dealers themselves. When the family and I were looking for our first trailer back in 2011, the sales rep was pretty much like your truck has plenty of power to move this trailer mentality. We had a 1999 F150 XLT Super Cab short bed with a 5.4 V8. There was no discussion beyond that regarding payload rating. As I found out I had no clue about payload even though it's right in the owner manual for the vehicle. Any vehicle for that matter. My real payload on that run was just 900 pounds with w/6500# GVW There was no let's hold up here and let's make sure you are going to be able to properly tow with the vehicle. He just said let's go look in the lot and see what I have out there for you folks. Of course we picked out this behemoth 30 footer at 6,000 pounds wet in the end. We got cornered into paying full sticker on the trailer and of course an extended warranty that might have been used for toilet paper. Our trailer didn't have a high load carrying capacity either. Once filled with water, it barely had enough weight for the other items like kitchen items, the outdoor stuff like the BBQ, and the like. I can tell you there were a number of times we were overloaded by at least 500 pounds especially on the disney trips in that trailer. It was really a valuable learning experience. Which we did make some really awesome memories in that first trailer though.
Fast forward to 2018, the wife and I are thinking about replacing the trailer. Going on our first experiences, we had a much different perspective into the buying process. Based on the original F150, I knew after the first trip to Disney with the camper, a Super Duty or much newer late model F150 would have been a better choice of tow vehicle. Back then in 2012/13, my wife and I knew we would eventually get into a bigger truck and that would lead into a bigger trailer. We had a 250 which was perfect for that trailer. Never had a problem towing that or anything else for that matter. We had plenty of payload on the truck with that trailer as well. At the beginning of 2018, my 250 was involved in an accident. Which sucked as the truck was paid off as well as the trailer. When it came to getting another vehicle I always said I had to do it again, it would be a 350 just for the ratings. The 250 would have moved my current trailer perfectly without a doubt. However when it came the weights, would have been very close or over! The 350 was just a better horse for the next cart.
Come July 2018, the wife was doing something in the trailer and something went a rye. I was outside fixing yet another thing on the trailer. So I went in to what the matter was. The wife got annoyed putting something away and then she asked if I had noticed the bathroom getting worse. I said I did and that's why I have been using the bathrooms at the campground more often. The trailer became more of the emergency bathroom. Plus it was getting tight overall in the trailer. At this point I made the suggest of looking for another trailer. We had gone to RV shows a number of times in the past. Nothing hit our tastes for a new unit. However, we knew we had plenty of truck for whatever we were going to buy. My only real requests were to keep it under 10K and around 35 feet. Also have proper weight capacity which this one does.
My wife and I headed to a dealership that had a particular brand of trailers we were looking at. Grand Design RV was one of the brands we were interested in. The dealership had plenty of selection to choose from. My wife did request a quick on line visit first before driving out there for the day to make sure they would have something to look at. We got to the dealership and met up with a sales rep. The first thing he did was sit down with us at a table. He asked us if just basic stuff like if we are current owners and how long. How did you find out about us. Why are looking at this particular brand. Do we have the PROPER tow vehicle for what we might looking at today. He said if we were not sure of our ratings we would help to determine them if needed. I did chime in I had a 350 and I had done my research prior to looking at trailers. I gave him what my best estimate of what real payload was. My current truck sits at 3900# before me and everything else in it. He asked if we were open to other configurations like a 5 er. I said we bought a truck that could handle a 5er if we found one that matched our needs. Our sales rep came out and said, I want to make sure your future purchase is going to keep within the capacities of the truck. We do not want to sell you something too big or too heavy. Different approach from the last go around.
The sales rep then asked harder questions like what are well looking for in a trailer. He brought out the literature of the models would be looking at. Offered us a pen and paper if we needed to make notes. Simply put, it was a much different buying experience. Of course trade in questions and financing were part of the experience. We told him we were looking at this point. We told him up front, it was a tire kicking event. We were figuring to buy within the next 6 months. We wanted to have a better more in detailed experience with the trailers than what you would get at a show. He said that would not be a problem as they have buyers that do come back later in the year to make the sale. He did not push for a sale that day. It was not like it was a problem we were just going to look at the trailers. He made assurances that he knew the product well and if he didn't know the answers he would get them for us. Which was a nice change. What my wife and I did not expect was to find our next trailer so quickly. My wife and I are fortunate in the fact we were able to make a purchase on such short notice. Remember the original plan was get through the current season. However the approach was so low pressure and smooth, we felt comfortable. There was no pushiness or lack of interest since we had a plan in mind. When it came time to working up the numbers, everyone won.
Sorry for the slight tangent to the whole point to this reply. We had 2 different dealership experiences. One was who cares. As long as I get a sale, so what your vehicle isn't really rated for a particular model. This dealership actually offered GD RVs but we decided not to return to them due to our experience. My wife and I didn't care for the experience we received either. The last experience was excellent in my book. The little touches and lack of pushiness is what helped making a deal happen. The most important point was the fact in my eyes, the sales rep took the time to talk about the truck. There wasn't a battle of the brands/engines/ cab size. It was "hey I want to make sure you are going to have the proper truck to for the trailer you want." If you do not have the proper truck, are you willing to adjust your expectations or look at other models or brands? The sales rep attitude was we just want you to have a safe RVing experience.
Oh what is this 1/2 ton talk all about. Well I know a couple of people with 9K bumper pull toy haulers towing them with 150 or 1500 depending on the brand. My current trailer is 9500 being towed by a 350. My weights are well south on all fronts. CGWVR, drive and steering axles. The last weight check my drive axle weight was off due to a loaded pickup bed. Guess what? It was still under. Quite a few of the trailer accident videos I have seen all seem to have the common the trailer is too big for the vehicle theme to it. Many times it's a 1/2 ton or large SUV unable to manage the trailer when something go a rye. To be honest the dealer is probably more complicit than the manufacturer in some cases. I have seen at a few shows not just local but national/ regional have flyers on the trailer showing it could be towed by this vehicle or that platform. I look at it saying it technically can but should it? At first I thought i was a good idea but now I think otherwise. I could see a family vacation ruined by " The flyer said I had the right vehicle for this" Now were are in a ditch since my driving experience with trailers was limited, or the vehicle was not enough to handle the trailer properly. Unless you are PA hunter. Then all bets are off LOL
Thor has a interesting idea there with this device to help the RV owner. I could see it being used as a device to head off future or potential issues with load balancing and the like. In a world that is more and more litigation, you have to wonder. I wonder if there is some scales being brought out after some of these trailer accidents. I wonder if more states are going to want to push for CDL exempt licensing for RV owners with weights over a certain number. Maybe there should be a great push into the dealer networks to get a handle on this before we see more government involved. RVing should be fun not having to deal with E logs and weight stations or worse.