Tow Bars . Manufacturers own or After market?

[Dustydog]

Just a public house debate. All comments welcome please.
Some say when you buy a new car it will come with a manufacturer fitted tow bar.
Others say the wiring is already pre programmed to accept a tow bar and needs no electronic changes to the ecu . Plug and go and it all works automatically.
some say, the Dealer calls in a qualified tow bar expert , who fits the kit and electronically tweaks the ecu to recognise you may be towing.
What is the answer???

 

[otherclive]

I think it’s a measure of all depending on the car. Most seem to be a local towbar fitter brought in by the main dealer.
My XC70 done by main dealer using a local towbar fitter. But it was classed as a Volvo fit and the towbar handbook was Volvo. My Superb required recoding. My Subaru didn’t. Friends Santa Fe brand new had towbar fitted by independent the main dealer who would have brought in a local fitter to do the job. This was arranged by the main dealer.
All these were non factory fitted towbars.

 

[RogerL]

Depends what you order!

For many cars, it's possible to place a factory order with options fitted at the factory, including the option of a towbar - most people prefer not to wait for a factory-order car and buy from stock, either at the dealer or swapped from other dealers, there's an option to have the car makers' towbar fitted by the dealer or a third-party towbar fitted by the dealer or third-party towbar fitted by an outside contractor.

My VW Touareg was a factory-order with several extra-cost options including the "electrically-deployable towbar" which was fitted on the production line at the factory in Slovakia - as well as fully coded electrics it also included a higher-powered cooling fan than the standard car, probably necessary if towing the 3,500 kg that it's rated for.

 

[Hutch]

My Santa fe, 2014, brand new, had a Factory fitted ( by the dealer) £600 ish. A Hyundai Part Number, it was a Witter fixed tow bar. Got the car home. There was no earth return for the caravan electrics. I corrected that myself.
After towing a couple of times I noticed the tow hitch was at the wrong angle, ( dropped) checking with the Hyundai owners forum ,and Caravan Club forum. many others had the same problem, measured the tow hitch and it was 2 inches to far back from the rear axle. After many e mails with Hyundai and Witter. Who suggested increasing the torque on the fixing bolts, Changed the tow bar to a Tow Trust one, which fitted correctly to the Hyundai dimensions and didnt drop due to a three bolt fixing configuration and not a 2 bolt that Witter had.
Many folk might be driving around with a faulty , Manufacturer fitted towbar on the Santa fe and Sorento cars.

 

[ProfJohnL]

It depends on the manufacturer, Most manufacturers do not fit towbars at the factory, They will ask the dealer to arrange to fit it as per customer instructions. Many dealers will sub contract the work to dedicated tow bar fitters - and charge a premium price to do it.

 

[Beachball]

My Volkswagen Tiguan 2018 brand new the dealer recommended us a mobile towbar company who they use who came to our home put a Westfalia detachable towbar it needed recoding and a 13 pin plug .

 

[RogerL]

It depends on the manufacturer, Most manufacturers do not fit towbars at the factory, They will ask the dealer to arrange to fit it as per customer instructions. Many dealers will sub contract the work to dedicated tow bar fitters - and charge a premium price to do it.

I'll take issue with "most manufacturers" as most manufacturers CAN fit towbars at the factory on factory orders - but in practice few new cars are bought on a factory order as most buyers won't wait so will buy from stock or from cars already in the pipeline on speculative orders from dealers.

 

[JezzerB]

As Roger says some do some dont. V W group do. Very expensive but a lovely arrangement e.g. On the Passat and kodiaq. Nice side electrics and drop down. Love them. Mini dont. Our salesman said ' not being funny but get a Towbar specialist to do it . It isn't a factory fit but the preparation is. Our lads fit one a month most and aren't therefore quite so........' We put the bar on a different car anyway!

 

[Guzzilazz]

The programming side of it is dependent on manufacturer. If you have a Ford, the harness includes the towing module, and the car has to be programmed 1) to recognise the module, 2) to turn the features on...

 

[Lutz]

All German manufacturers offer factory-fitted towbars. This is because, in Germany, cars with dealer fitted towbars have to have the installation approved by an independent testing agency, such as the TÜV, after the towbar has been fitted, and possibly the vehicle registration book amended if it doesn't already give details of the maximum permissible towloads. In order to avoid such extra work, most new car buyers prefer to order a factory-fitted towbar because then all the paperwork is already done.

 

[Dustydog]

My Touareg needed an after market kit. Made by Wesfalia, it included an enormous rear chassis girder . The original was scrapped! The fitter used. a VW approved harness but then connected his laptop to the ecu. He showed me. All the changes made on his screen and how they are now displayed on the cars screens. I used to rely on a bleeper to tell me the caravan indicators were working . Nothing now just a bulb failure warning on the dash I believe. Way beyond my technological capabilities but defo not a diy job!

 

[otherclive]

My Touareg needed an after market kit. Made by Wesfalia, it included an enormous rear chassis girder . The original was scrapped! The fitter used. a VW approved harness but then connected his laptop to the ecu. He showed me. All the changes made on his screen and how they are now displayed on the cars screens. I used to rely on a bleeper to tell me the caravan indicators were working . Nothing now just a bulb failure warning on the dash I believe. Way beyond my technological capabilities but defo not a diy job!

I keep my rear cross members in the loft and pass them on with the car so the dealer can fit and the new buyer thinks the car has never been used for towing” ........... until they look at the battery connection 😂

 

[RogerL]

My Touareg needed an after market kit. Made by Wesfalia, it included an enormous rear chassis girder . The original was scrapped! The fitter used. a VW approved harness but then connected his laptop to the ecu. He showed me. All the changes made on his screen and how they are now displayed on the cars screens. I used to rely on a bleeper to tell me the caravan indicators were working . Nothing now just a bulb failure warning on the dash I believe. Way beyond my technological capabilities but defo not a diy job!

The original bumper armature (girder) should have been retained as it needs to be refitted if the towbar is ever removed by you or a subsequent owner.

Sadly, few armatures are retained from any tow car, not just Touaregs, and there's a risk of being sold subsequently with no armatutre at all as dealers often remove towbars.

 

[Dustydog]

The original bumper armature (girder) should have been retained as it needs to be refitted if the towbar is ever removed by you or a subsequent owner.

Sadly, few armatures are retained from any tow car, not just Touaregs, and there's a risk of being sold subsequently with no armatutre at all as dealers often remove towbars.

All my old cars have been px with tow bars. Now, if a dealer removes them and replaces with nothing that surely will render the vehicle an mot failure?

 

[Raywood]

The advantage of the dealer or factory fit is that it then comes with the same guarantee as the car if anything goes wrong. The retro fit will be cheaper and in all probability will be just as good in practice.
If you can get a dealer or factory fit you do need to specify it will be compatible with the ALKO stabiliser head you will normally have and that it has the caravan wiring. Most fitters will check that with you, as they are more aware of your needs than most car sales staff.
Dealers may in fact simply send the car to a fitter to do the job as they do not have the experienced staff to do it, as I found out when I ordered one at the dealers and I suspect they will charge you something for the service. I have also heard phone calls at the fitters from garages booking cars in.

 

[Lutz]

The advantage of the dealer or factory fit is that it then comes with the same guarantee as the car if anything goes wrong.

Not quite. The car comes with a manufacturer's warranty which is honoured by the dealer. A dealer-fitted towbar will be subject to the dealer's guarantee, not the manufacturer's warranty. The terms may be quite different.

If you can get a dealer or factory fit you do need to specify it will be compatible with the ALKO stabiliser head you will normally have and that it has the caravan wiring.

Manufacturers only fit one type of towbar ex works, so there is no need to point out specially that an AlKo compatible version is required because there is no alternative. Without exception, all factory-fit towbars for cars are swan neck anyway so compatibility won't be an issue. (True offroad and commercial vehicles may be an exception, though).

 

[RogerL]

All my old cars have been px with tow bars. Now, if a dealer removes them and replaces with nothing that surely will render the vehicle an mot failure?

Of course it should be an MoT failure but it depends how visible the armature would be from underneath - MoT testers can't be expected to remember what every car looks like.

 

[Tuningdrew]

Regardless of the towbar chosen I’ll always go for the manufacturers own harness. It’ll usually be a plug n play scenario regarding hooking into the lighting circuit rather than the ghastly scotchloks. On my last 3 vehicles we’ve had no issues with battery charging and fridge operation. Sorento, Navara and Ssangyong Musso

 

[Raywood]

My understanding is that if the dealer fits or arranges for the manufacturers tow bar then the manufacturer will extend the guarantee to that
I accept that t manufacturers tow bars should have the clearance for the ALKO stabiliser hitch, but there were some instances some time back where they did not, and I am not sure if that remains the case. If you specify it and the clearance is not enough you have a come back, but if you do not then you have none, so I would always do it.

 

[Lutz]

My understanding is that if the dealer fits or arranges for the manufacturers tow bar then the manufacturer will extend the guarantee to that
I accept that t manufacturers tow bars should have the clearance for the ALKO stabiliser hitch, but there were some instances some time back where they did not, and I am not sure if that remains the case. If you specify it and the clearance is not enough you have a come back, but if you do not then you have none, so I would always do it.

If the towbar was fitted by the dealer, the manufacturer can only guarantee the product, not the installation. The manufacturer wouldn't know, for example, whether any necessary reinforcements or fasteners were fitted correctly, so he can't be held liable for the installed towbar.
Car manufacturers work closely together with the caravan manufacturers and AlKo, so they should be fully aware of the requirements. If, by an oversight, they omitted to provide adequate clearance, then they can be held responsible and would have to come up with a solution, whether the customer points out specific needs or not.

 

[Dustydog]

My understanding is that if the dealer fits or arranges for the manufacturers tow bar then the manufacturer will extend the guarantee to that
I accept that t manufacturers tow bars should have the clearance for the ALKO stabiliser hitch, but there were some instances some time back where they did not, and I am not sure if that remains the case. If you specify it and the clearance is not enough you have a come back, but if you do not then you have none, so I would always do it.

I wonder if those of us who ask for the car to come with a tow bar , new, would even think it wasn’t factory fitted? In 2005 our new Sorento was ordered with a tow bar. I always thought it was Kia(🤪) but obviously not. Dealer never said otherwise.

 

[Lutz]

I wonder if those of us who ask for the car to come with a tow bar , new, would even think it wasn’t factory fitted? In 2005 our new Sorento was ordered with a tow bar. I always thought it was Kia(🤪) but obviously not. Dealer never said otherwise.

To my knowledge, none of the Asian manufacturers fit towbars in the factory. If the towbar isn't listed as an optional extra in the published manufacturer's price list, it'll always be a dealer fit.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I'm not sure what the problem seems to be concerning the warranty:-

Every car sold in the EU or the UK that is type approved to tow will have the necessary fixing points and connections already prepared to accept a tow bar and wiring assemblies. Adding an approved tow bar and wiring will not affect the cars warranty, unless the fitting has not been correctly carried out.

If the fitting has not be carried out correctly the responsibility lies with the fitter, and they will also be liable for any additional damage they cause.

Fitting an unapproved part might affect your vehicles warranty, and it might not work correctly with the cars electrical systems.

To avoid problems it pays to use only parts approved by the car manufacturer. There are a number of different tow bar manufacturers who are approved by most car manufacturers. And teh car manufacturer will have provided teh necessary information to those companies about reprogramming the cars systems if necessary.

 

[RogerL]

I wonder if those of us who ask for the car to come with a tow bar , new, would even think it wasn’t factory fitted? In 2005 our new Sorento was ordered with a tow bar. I always thought it was Kia(🤪) but obviously not. Dealer never said otherwise.

Even some regular options are fitted at the port of importation, Tilbury in the case of Hyundai/Kia, rather than at the factory in Korea - such as sunroofs (not the panoramic type) and parking sensors - their European-built models are more likely to have options fitted at the factory.

 

[Lutz]

I'm not sure what the problem seems to be concerning the warranty:-

If the fitting has not be carried out correctly the responsibility lies with the fitter, and they will also be liable for any additional damage they cause.

Perhaps I didn't explain clearly enough. There is no problem concerning the warranty. As you say, if the fitting has not been carried out correctly the responsibility lies with the fitter, but if the fitter does not belong to the car manufacturer's workforce, the towbar and its installation cannot be covered by the car manufacturer's warranty. Full responsibility then lies with the dealer.

Even some regular options are fitted at the port of importation, Tilbury in the case of Hyundai/Kia, rather than at the factory in Korea - such as sunroofs (not the panoramic type) and parking sensors - their European-built models are more likely to have options fitted at the factory.

In the case of imported vehicles, the warranty is not a manufacturer's warranty, but one issued by the importer. The conditions applicable to such a warranty can be completely different to those that apply on the manufacturer's own home ground.