The 2019 Honda Passports were a lot like the 2020-2022 models and even shared a lot of the same specifications as far as towing capacity goes, along with a lot of the other specs. The 2019 models were still able to achieve that high 5,000 pound maximum trailer weight rating, but you really had to study the data in order to figure out how to achieve that rating.
In certain circumstances, you were only able to achieve about half of that capacity, as there were some limitations that would prevent you from hauling that much weight.
You really need to go through the data to see what factors contributed to the loss of the maximum trailer weight rating in order to understand, which is what I go into in this article.
I do recommend that you read through your owner's manual to get familiar with your vehicle and that you follow all of Honda's recommendations and requirements when it comes to towing or anything else related to your vehicle.
2019 Passport Overview
Overall Towing Capacity: The towing capacity for the 2019 Honda Passports ranged from 2,750-5,000 lbs., like other later model years and was dependent upon two main factors which were the number of occupants you had in the vehicle and whether you had a 2-wheel drive or all-wheel drive model.
The highest rating was reserved for the all-wheel drive models did have the optional ATF cooler installed. If you had a 2-wheel drive or all-wheel drive model without the cooler, then your maximum weight rating was substantially less.
Engine Options: Only one engine came equipped with these vehicles, like all of the other model year Passports and this was a 3.5 L engine, which is also a 6 cylinder model. This engine was actually used in a lot of other vehicles made by Honda.
Trim Levels: The trim level you had equipped on your vehicle did not directly affect your overall weight rating specifications, it only played a part in which drivetrain configuration was available to your specific trim level and that's it. Some trim levels had two-wheel drive and all-wheel drive options, but there was one trim level that only had the all-wheel drive option as the drivetrain component.
Assumed Weight: The assumed weight of each occupant in the vehicle was actually stated in the chart, in the notes section that is found below the chart itself. Honda specifies that each occupant in the vehicle weighs approximately 150 pounds and Honda also allowed 17.6 pounds of luggage per occupant, so if we add those two figures up it gives us a total of 167.6 pounds per occupant.
The Chart:
The chart for the 2019 Honda Passports looked very similar to the later model years charts and in fact shared a lot of the same data. If we look at the chart below, we can see the number of occupants in the vehicle listed on the left-hand column and to the right of that we can see three different columns that specify maximum trailer weight ratings for three different configurations.
The main difference for the 2019 models was whether you had an all-wheel drive or two-wheel drive model, but there was also an optional ATF cooler that could be installed on the vehicle that gave you a higher overall capacity.
The two-wheel drive models and all-wheel drive models that did not have the ATF cooler installed shared the same data and specs, if we compare the two models. Their maximum trailer weight ratings were set at 3,500 pounds, while the all-wheel-drive models that had this cooler installed had a much higher 5,000 pound maximum capacity rating.
Tongue Weight Rating:
The tongue load weight ratings were also provided in the owner's manual and if you look at the screenshot I have posted below, you can see the maximum weights that were specified in the chart portion of the image, along with the suggested tongue load weight ratings above that.
The tongue load weight ratings were divided up into two different types of trailers, one for boat trailers and the other for all other types of trailers. Honda specified that the tongue load for boat trailers should be between 5 to 15% of the trailer's total weight and for all other types of trailers this amount was increased to 10 to 15% of the trailer's total weight.
Trailer Brakes:
Trailer brakes were also a requirement when pulling a trailer over certain amount of weight and Honda specified a 1,000 pound limit for these vehicles and most of their other vehicles, to be honest.
So, if your trailer weighs 1,000 pounds or more, you will have to have trailer brakes installed on your trailer that are independent of your vehicle's braking system. Your vehicle's braking system is only designed to stop your fully loaded vehicle, not the vehicle plus additional weight from the trailer, it would be just too much to handle.
You will have to check your local vehicle laws to see what they require as far as maximum trailer weight ratings and trailer brakes, as they could be different from what Honda specifies and you will need to comply with those laws, as well as Honda's requirements.
Trim Levels:
There were four different trim levels available for the 2019 Honda Passports and I was able to find the different models that had the tow specs listed and if we look at the image below we can see that not only are the specs listed but they are listed for 2-wheel drive and all-wheel drive models.This tells us which models had two-wheel drive and all-wheel drive options, which it looks like all models had the two-wheel drive option, except for the elite models that only had the all-wheel drive option. For those of you out there that may be wondering, the four different trim levels were listed as the: Sport, EX-L, Touring and Elite models.
Other than having a 2-wheel drive or all-wheel drive option, the trim level that you had equipped on your vehicle did not directly affect the trailer weight ratings that were listed in the chart.
GVWR, GCWR and GAWR Figures:
The gross vehicle weight rating, gross combined weight rating and gross axle weight ratings were also listed in the owner's manual and I was able to find them in the form of a chart, which I posted a screenshot of below.
These metrics are great when making those more complex calculations or when you just want to double-check that you're within your maximum specified weight limits.
GCWR: If we look in the chart at the data, we can see that the gross combined weight rating was listed at 8,025 pounds for two-wheel drive models and a substantially higher weight limit for all-wheel drive models, coming in at 9,755 pounds.
GVWR: The gross vehicle weight rating was the same, no matter whether you had a 2-wheel drive or all-wheel drive model and it was listed at a maximum weight limit of 5,291 pounds in the chart.
GAWRs: The gross axle weight ratings were also listed in the chart and were divided up into the front axle and rear axle. For the front axle, we can see that the all-wheel drive models had a weight rating of 2,855 pounds and the two-wheel drive models had a weight listed at 2,734 pounds.
If we move our attention to the rear axle, we can see that the all-wheel drive models had a weight rating of 3,141 pounds, while the two-wheel drive models had a 2,965 pound rating.
Notes On The Transmission Cooler...
I did mention earlier in the article that only the all-wheel-drive models have the optional ATF cooler available to them as an optional accessory and was necessary in order to achieve that higher 5,000 pound rating.
If you did not have one of these coolers equipped on your vehicle, which means you either had a two-wheel drive model or an all-wheel drive model without the optional cooler, then your maximum trailer weight was limited to 3500 pounds.
Other Notes I Found:
I was also able to find a couple of other tidbits of information in the owner's manual that I thought were important and wanted to post them. The first note talks about two things, the first one goes a little bit into the minimum octane rating of the gasoline and how Honda recommends a minimum octane rating of 87. Honda does not recommend using gasoline that has a lower octane rating than 87 as it could cause performance problems.
The second bit of information talks a little bit about how your vehicle's performance can be affected by certain road conditions that you might encounter and these can be things like higher outside temperatures or higher altitude areas or even steep uphill grades.
The last note I found talked a little bit about weight distribution hitches, so if you're planning on using one of these you can do so, but keep in mind that these vehicles were designed without needing one of these types of hitches.
