I towed a VW Jetta on a doll with no brakes from Ohio to Denver about 2.5 years ago. Acceleration was terrible and, of course, it took longer than normal to stop. I didn't feel that it was unsafe though. No damage to the brakes. I have 70,000 on my original pads. I think it's time for a change though.

Oh, and I only got 8 mpg coming up through Kansas.