Tow bar mounted bike rack- are electrics a legal requirement?

I’m going to be fitting a Swan Neck detachable tow bar to my car.
Hopefully I’ll pick up a Thule to attach to this.

I was wondering whether electrics are a legal requirement? Does it have to be tested during an MOT?

a light board is, so yes.

however, I have a towbar and I’ve never bothered wiring up the electrics. I have a thule express 970 rack that sits quite high and I’ve never bothered with a light board. I only use it locally and little chance of getting pulled over round here…

there need to be lights visible when the towbar is in use, same as with a boot mounted one.

So, if your car lights are all unobscured then electrics aren’t needed.

They don’t check the towbar electrics as far as I know – I had a car that had a towbar mount plate but no electrics etc and it was never mentioned.

a light board is, so yes.

however, I have a towbar and I’ve never bothered wiring up the electrics. I have a thule express 970 rack that sits quite high and I’ve never bothered with a light board. I only use it locally and little chance of getting pulled over round here…

its been through 4-5 MOT’s now without being wired up.

It’s also illegal to obstruct your high-level brake light.

Not worth the risk if not doing it properly. Imagine a scenario where you’ve got 10k worth of bikes on the rack and some plumb runs into the back of you squashing the bikes and the car. They were probably just not paying attention but if the insurers get wind of the fact your lights were obscured then it’s not going to end well.

Thanks all.
I’ll be fitting it all myself, so thought I might be able to make it easier by ignoring electrics. I think I may as well include them though.

It’s 7 pin for a hatch, right?

Currently looking at picking up THIS tow bar kit. I’m not sure if it’s worth spending more though.

I bought one of those false cross bar things so that my bike would sit low on the rack.
This means the lights are unobscured so I just have a number plate I strap to my bike.

The electrical fitting isn’t a legal requirement, but lights are. I know a few people who’ve found better ways than the standard 7 pin socket (a small 5 pin socket under the bumper and LED bulbs being the best I’ve seen).

A relay kit is only about £25, stop being tight and just fit it.

[edit] fit a relay kit not just a buzzer, some ECU’s REALLY don’t like having to run 2 bulbs. For the sake of a £20 relay it could save you a lot of heartache later on.

Thanks again, I’ll have to do some research on the electrics. I know very little about it. Cost isn’t an issue- I just want a reliable and functional tow bar mount.

If you have a reasonably modern car I’d look at getting a ‘proper’ kit for your vehicle rather than just one of the by-pass relay ones.

Cars a 3-door ’08 Fiesta

Just to say, on more than one occasion I’ve seen a family’s day out with bikes rather ruined by HM’s Finest stopping them for having their lights and number plate obscured by the bikes on the A6 in Derbyshire.

The fine is probably the same as the cost of the electrics, the lost riding time is irreplacable….

Why would you risk it for the sake of a few extra quid for the wiring? The extra pair of lights scream out that you’ve got a load on the back so should stop muppets pulling up really close at junctions/lights only to whack your bikes. Should be a plug-n-play option on that car (was on my ’05 Fiesta) and is really easy. There should be a plug under one of the parcel shelf support trims in the boot, plug it in and you’re done!

petrieboy +1

Buy some of these, and cut the wires, it’s more reliable than the horrible connectors the kits come with. Other than that, just a few meters of extra wire’s needed.

Cars a 3-door ’08 Fiesta

It’s easy enough then, remove the two trim panels covering the backs of the lights, same as if you were replacing a bulb.

Run a wire from the indicator on one side to the other under the boot carpet.

Wire up the indicators, tail, brake, fog and reversing lamps to the relay (cut the wire, twist the relay input wire to one end, put that and the other loose end into the terminal block and do it up). Some kits have 2x brake, 2x reversing, 2x tail light inputs, unless you’re feeling industrious you can just bridge them (most trailers don’t have 2x reversing lamps or separate circuits for each brake light anyway, certainly nothing you’d tow with a fiesta). The only remotely complicated bit is figuring out which wire in the car is brake and which is tail. A multi meter obviously helps.

Run a wire under the car to the fuse box, solenoid, or anywhere else you can find a suitable 12V, mine’s run to the cigarette lighter socket in the boot to save effort. This is fiddliest bit by far if you have to go all the way to the engine.

There’s a plastic gromet under the spare wheel or in the boot floor, drill a hole through that, run the wire through from the outside (the sockets on that end). Then wire that to the relay.

Thanks TINAS- I need to give myself some time to read up on the above.
I’ve never messed with car electrics.

If something covers the lights at all, a board is needed (being able to see thorugh a wheel isn’t enough).

Towbar electrics are now covered by the MOT, although if you have a 7 pin socket it’s just a visual (and maybe give it a wiggle) check. 13 pin ones are subject to a complete check with a light board. The rules changed a few years ago https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/view.asp?id=539

It’s 7 pin for a hatch, right?

Depends on the rack. Our Thule has a the new European 13-pin, which is much better than the old 7-pin.

Just do not use an adaptor – they fill with water and grit and stop working *all* the time.

Cost isn’t an issue- I just want a reliable and functional tow bar mount

So get a professional to do it, then.

When you amortize the cost, across all of the trips that you make, it’s not worth arguing over.

I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and enjoy learning new things, so I’d quite like to give this a go. I’ll do some research and then decide whether I can do it or not. Fitting costs appear to be around £100-150.

If the rack or bikes obstruct the rear lights or number plates you need a lighting board. Without one you risk getting fined and in the event of being rear ended to found at fault by the insurers.

My Thule tow bar rack is also a 13 pin but as others have stated you can get adaptors. If you are not using the tow bar for anything else then get the connection that suits your bike rack.
I prefer the 13 pin connection and changed our small trailer to be 13 pin rather than messing about with adopter as it was much more reliable.

Tinas… are you on crack…..

if your plumbing up a mid 90s euro box i agree…. anything modern its much much easier – its plug in and play plus perhaps a bit of coding on the diagnostics machine to make the plug live.

Spent ages replumbing my dads new van after some hack mechanic thought you could wire in with a mix of scotch and choc blocks to make the wiring work …. what it did was send the vans ECU haywire.

Put the van wiring back to normal , bought the AUX loom , plugged it in. Run my lexia – made the port live and we were laughing.

Spent ages replumbing my dads new van after some hack mechanic thought you could wire in with a mix of scotch and choc blocks to make the wiring work …. what it did was send the vans ECU haywire.

Put the van wiring back to normal , bought the AUX loom , plugged it in. Run my lexia – made the port live and we were laughing.

Great, if you have access to the kit to update the ECU and want to spend the extra on the loom. Not so great if all you needed is a £20 relay and a little patience.

Mine’s been faultless and the car doesn’t even know the trailers there.

Scotchblocks are where you went wrong, not the relay. Scotchblocks are the work of the Devil.

If you have reverse sensors then the proper kit makes parking a lot quieter when you’ve got something on the back.

Pay a pro to do it….it’ll cost you an extra few quid but you have comeback if anything should go wrong

If you have reverse sensors then the proper kit makes parking a lot quieter when you’ve got something on the back.

This. Nothing more distracting while reversing into a tight space with a big tow bar rack than a loud and solid beeeeeeeeeeeeeep the whole time you’re doing it.

Even squabbling children are less annoying!

You could do half a DIY job like I did.

Fit the tow bar yourself as it’s quite satisfying then take it to a local auto electrics garage to wire in the socket. Think I paid about £35.

Most cars (probably all) have a button to turn off the reverse parking sensors so not a problem. The problem with the proper kit for the car is the expense – can be upto about 4 times more expensive than a universal kit, and often you have to pay the dealer to re-programme your cars ECU. Nothing wrong with a universal kit apart from turning the parking sensors off overtime you go into reverse.

There is more to a universal kit than just tapping into the lighting loom. Mine came with a largish black box of tricks so I assume it contained all the electronic and electric wizardry to make sure that all the electrical loads were fine. There is also a handy buzzing with the indicators that confirms the indicators on your light board are working – obviously only operates when your light board is plugged in.

The box is the relay that bypasses the ecu so you don’t have to reprogram it. Older cars don’t need this.

I just disconnected my reversing sensors as I trust my spacial awareness! (bound to reverse into something now I’ve typed that)

Great, if you have access to the kit to update the ECU and want to spend the extra on the loom. Not so great if all you needed is a £20 relay and a little patience. to bodge the shit out of it.

FWIW the hack mechanic used scotchblocks and made quite the mess of a job

To do the job right took 15 minutes it was plug in and play. and had i not had lexia it was 25 quid at the dealer to get it activated.