Tow bar electrics?

Been to the tow-bar fitters ad they seemed uneasy about fitting a tow bar without electrics. The previous tow-bar fitter broke a lot of the plastics of my old civic. I’m never going to have to tow anything so just a Thule 9402, when the bikes on you can see all the brake lights and indicators on a Panda. Any opinions? Had a Jazz without electrics no problems there.

What about the number plate….

Yep thats on. Not lit I suppose.

So we require electrics.

Also by lights visible i assume you mean through the wheels…..

I wouldnt like to defend that position in court after being rear ended.

What he said, I’m doing mine DIY, fitted the towbar last weekend, just waiting for a dry day to do the electrics.

For everyone who says they’ve gone years without number plates and lights there’s someone saying they’ve had a fine. That and it’s a safety issue, either someone could go into the back of you in the dark and get injured, or worse go into you, damage the bikes and neither insurers might pay out!

We deliberately did not go for a towbar mount – it mean that we would *have* to get electrics on towbar mount. I now have a high mount rack on a Touran, and you can see all the lights and plate.

What’s the point of NOT fitting electrics? That’s a bit daft IMO. The sort of thing that makes me shake my head and roll my eyes what I go to look at a used car.
What is one day someone asks you to tow their trailer, or you want to borrow one to clear some garden rubbish?
If a jobs worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.
Just do it. 🙂

That’s the trouble I had with the civic, proper fitter broke most of my plastics in the civic, just the case of once bitten twice shy…If someone rear ended me, and the brake lights and indicators are seen…But a grey area?

Irrelevent of anything else, If you’ve a number plate it must be lit.

Irrelevent of anything else, If you’ve a number plate it must be lit.

Its not exactly difficult to fit the black socket, but depends on the car. Biggest problem is getting access & identifying the wiring to splice in to. Some cars need a 7 way by-pass relay though, to prevent damage to the cars electrics & for cars with bus-type wiring systems. Tow-bars are part of the MOT now. I think they check the structural attachment & electrical function.

I’m with the tow-bar fitter to be honest.

If you do want to fit DIY, Tow-Sure do DIY kits.

Tow-bars are part of the MOT now. I think they check the structural attachment & electrical function.

Mine has passed several without the electrics wired up. Not quite got around to it yet…

AFAIK recently bought in the MOT requirements for towbar electrics are 7 pin – electricaly safe, 13 pin – electricaly safe and full function check.
HTH
SM

If I remove the towball and fold the electrics back up under the bumper I doubt they’ll even notice…

sort of thing that makes me shake my head and roll my eyes what I go to look at a used car.

You won’t get a clear look at a car if you’re shaking your head and rolling your eyes simultaneously. Even doing one of those things would make it tricky enough.

find a better tow bar fitter and explain what your issues are?

They should know how hard it is to fit the electrics and what needs removing. Some cars are just not made to be taken apart 🙂

Will be calling round there later and see them, as its a new Panda suppliers are bringing out bars all the time.

I mounted the socket up underneath the back bumper. It was easy enough to “feel” the plug into it and it never caused issues on the MoT. Never towed anything but I had a towbar fitted as a defense in case of tailgating incidents. Which given that I live in a notorious “crash for cash” area was quite an expedient thing to do.

My towbar is being fitted today (cold wet and snowy!). The best quote was £244 from TowbarExpress with single electrics, fitted at home.

I’ll post up if they are any good.

Whats the difference between the various pin types?

7 pin single is for basic trailers or bike racks

13 pin in for caravans

Explained here

DIY option?

Towbar supplier.
http://www.hedley-towbars.co.uk/fiat-panda.html

Wiring details.
http://www.towbarsrus.com/bar-tow-wiring.htm

Very happy with my TowbarExpress jobbie just fitted on my Volvo XC90! There is no interference with the parking sensor, and the plate for my MaxxRaxx all works well.

For £244 fitted, with at home service, I’m very happy. Towbar guaranteed for the life of the vehicle, electrics for 1 year.

MaxxRaxx 4 bike premier rack came from a mate for £60, fits easily, and comes apart very small for storage.

Whole package £300 🙂

I got my bar from towequipe.co.uk

Cost ~£100 for the bar/ball (£75), electrics and 7 way relay (£25). Took about 3 hours to fit (get a haynes manual, the instructions are vague in the extream). You’ll also need a torque wrench, some of the bolts are very low, the ones on the flange are beyond the reach of our 1m wrench (about 190N/m)! And had to cut off some superfluous brackets under the car that we couldn’t figure out.

I don’t know if they’ll all be like that, but we ordered the basic (own brand?) bar, and a witter one came in the box.Maybe a stock controll issue, or maybe they just bank on enough people paying for a branded one that it isnt worth stocking a seperate cheeper bar.

Wasn’t difficult but I had the tools and a garage and like fiddling with things. In general we found it easier to remove more stuff than less (so where it says peel back weel arch liner, we took off the wheel as well, and had back of the car 2ft in the air on axle stands etc. Did spend a lot of time trying to figure out why we were replacing one steel bar with another and why the manufacturers don’t weld the fittins on in the first place (the new stuff is thicker metal, but actualy less pieces/welding).

I’ll report back after I’ve done the electrics!

It was the electrics that put me off DIYing it. My volvo electrics sense all sorts, and it would have taken me days to work out, so when I found a good deal, I went for it! Ive seen people paying £700 for a basic towbar at main dealers!!!

Getting one fitted next Monday, £270 all in.