this very question lurked in my own mind. my parents have a chevy tracker, as jacked up and tough it may look, it is still a 2 liter. They haul enough weight to break the 5x8 trailer.
I looked over my 1781cc sube and saw it has alot of extras, more stuff then a simple leaf spring tracker keeping it extraordinary. I assume it was rally racing of its generation. I welded and welded, added some aftermarket struts, and hauled its own engine in the back, complete (about 200 pounds in a square meter area- very very heavy). lo and behold, it took it like a bigger passenger. I underestimated it. I do see FWD econo buggies hauling stuff, and it made up my mind to go for a hitch sometime.
If there is one made for your vehicle, it is safe by somebodies important standard written, other than that, custom weld and look over the whole cars structure, and then let state inspection worry about it. IE: a ford ranger welded to take a 302 v8, and custom frame stregth..see what I mean? the weight of hitch rating oe could be doubled by reason of work.