New car in the household today (humbelbrag) and also a new caravan recently… so I need a tow bar fitting.

I’ve been given 2 prices

£375 for a detachable with a standard “bypass” wiring system
£595 for a detachable with oem wiring option that adds a stability control function to the car when towing (and also automatically disables parking sensors etc)

Question is, do I really need to go for the £595 option… or will a standard tow bar be enough? I’ve never towed before so can’t draw on any previous experience.

Am I over thinking this? (Yes, probably!)

Is this a new new car? If so just check that the warranty isn’t affected by a third party tow bar.

If it is I’d look at getting the dealer to fit it, if not, I’d go for the more expensive one.

You don’t need to, but I personally would. Our Jeep has an OEM Mopar towbar/kit that disables the reversing sensors and so on, and I’m glad it does.

I’d pay for the stability control and parking sensor disabling.

Bypass wiring always worries me in modern cars – splicing into circuits that have active current monitoring on them seems a big risk.

Bypass wiring always worries me in modern cars – splicing into circuits that have active current monitoring on them seems a big risk.

Depends on the car, you still have to have a relay fitted which only draws a tiny current from the car’s existing wiring and has it’s own 12V supply. Where the OEM system will be better is it plugs into the wiring loom so the car knows the trailer is there.

I’d check if the £595 includes the additional £200 the dealer will charge you to re-programme the ECU. That’s what happened to my brother with his Audi. Paid a premium for OEM electrics then had to pay the dealer for updated software to activate it.

Bypass wiring was perfectly fine on my SMax, having said that I was only using it for a bike rack and not caravan towing. But plenty of people got buy towing caravans without any traction and stability control. There is a convenient button on the dashboard to turn off the rear parking sensors so no need to pay an additional hundred quit for that.

I bought the proper kit for my van to get the anti-sway control etc. Also the dash now tells me if the trailer lights are faulty. And you dont need nasty crimps on your cars wiring loom.

I’ve since tried to use a relay ‘aka bypass relay’ to switch on an additional reverse ‘floodlight’ lamp on the back of the van, the electrics are so bloody sensitive it throws up bulb failure warnings whether I connect it to the trailer electrics loom, or the normal van wiring loom. I don’t know how it can detect a 40mA relay when its also operating a couple of 21w reverse lamps, but it does. So its getting wired to a manual switch instead.

On the flip side, our Honda switches off the reverse sensors with a basic bypass relay, not sure if its a time switch after 10 seconds, or if it just works out you are still reversing and haven’t yet hit anything!

I’d find the OEM kit on ebay, I bet its not £220 (plus the deleted cost of the basic bypass relay). It’ll probably just be a plug, some wires and the socket, that plugs straight into a socket somewhere on the car.

thanks all… i’m tempted to just go with the standard (cheaper) option tbf

sppoky, what you’re syaing is doubtless very true, i just don’t have the know how to wire it all up….

i just don’t have the know how to wire it all up….

The wiring is the easy bit, it’s dismantling the inside of the car to get at them that’s the problem!

Next time I’m taking a wire right from the bulb’s socket and not bothering to even look for the loom!

My fitting process was:

Bolt on towbar.

Locate plug zip tied up under the rear of the van. Cut zip tie.

Flip water/dust cover off plug, plug in expensive new set of wires.

Connect socket to towbar. Zip tie wires back up.

No doubt mine was particularly easy as its a van with loads of space. Do some research on a car forum, some vehicles you’ll probably get a kit with several metres of wiring to run back towards the front, others I bet it’ll just be a metre of wiring with a plug tucked away near the rear lights!

Irrelevant, but we got an Xtrail recently fitted with a towbar & the latest electrics/socket. After reading this I’m pleased we did! It’s fine with the new caravan & ATC, thank ****.

What make of car?

it’s a VW Tiguan…. and not the brand spanking new one, it’s 2 years old

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=vw+tiguan+oem+towing+electrics+guide&*

As for electrics, I spoke to an engineer at PF Jones in Manchester who said it was a two hour job involving routing cables from the engine compartment to the rear of the car and installing various modules and relays followed by a re-code by a dealer so the ESP knows when you have a trailer hooked up. I always assumed there would be a socket in the rear of the car where the towbar electrics were just plugged in but no such luck.

Also found a comment stating you need to specify you want all 13 pins live for a caravan, otherwise you may find they only fit the loom for 7 pins/roadlights

thanks again 8)

Get a VW one wth 13pin

I fitted the bar myself and had towbar express come and do the wiring. I have a third party box, not an official VW one. The car knows about the trailer so that part works, but it didn’t go to vw for a recode. The towbar express guy did code something himself though.

Like molgrips, I did a self fit then got someone else to do the electrics. I have a full vw kit which did need a recode, these guys did the wiring and the recode for me and were very helpful (and not hugely expensive):

http://www.aceremapping.co.uk

Hi,

I ve had 4 experiences on this.

2011 volvo v60 d3. Witter bar had it fitted by a garage and the lighting has created issues on the cars connector and has to go back. Looks to me like they did a piss poor crimping based job on the wiring and didnt update the ecu which is the whole reason i got a pro to do it!!

2010 Honda crv found instructions online and fitted the whole thing myself in just over 3hrs electrics, plugged the electrics straight in and all worked perectly.

Australian 2006 vw golf tdi fitted the tow bar myself and there was a connector in the boot when i needed electrics for towing etc

Australian 2013 mitsu shogan (pajero) fitted bar professionalky. Plug in electrics and new relay fitted myself.

My take is that i will do as much as i can myself when my toolkit, skills and warranty allow. That way i know its done in a way that i can take accountability for failures!!