It is a favourite time of year for some with many looking forward to a well-earned getaway so they can enjoy the fresh autumnal air and amazing colours that are found as we transition towards the winter months.
If you’re planning on towing during autumn make sure you check the lights on both the car and your trailer/bike carrier. It’s always a good idea to have someone stand at the rear of your vehicle to check things are working correctly, as you activate the different lights. If you have dedicated wiring fitted, then in most cases, this will automatically warn you should a rear trailer light be out, even brake, fog and side lights. However, before starting a journey it’s recommended that you manually check everything is working as it should. The other recommendation is that you check your lights are on when travelling in the dark.
Drive down any major road at this time of year and you will be amazed how many drive with either no lights on or with just the automatic front driving lights on. If it’s looking dark outside double check your vehicle lights are on, for everyone’s safety..
Towbar Fitting to New Vehicle
We’re getting quite a lot of calls from people who are leasing or getting new cars on Motability.
Our advice is that before you have a tow bar fitted to your new vehicle you get permission from the vehicle supplier. This can be either by letter or email, just make sure you have it before having a tow bar fitted.
Unless you get written permission when you hand back the car the company will charge you to have the tow bar and electrics removed. While on this subject we also need to point out that the vehicle MUST have approved dedicated electrics fitted, these do not cut into the vehicle’s wires. Fitting universal wiring to lease or Motability vehicles will at best result in the vehicle warranty being voided, and at worst, end up with a large bill to rectify the damaged wiring.
Newly Released Towbars
This month has seen a few new products released, including the new 2024 Tesla Model 3 tow bar and wiring. The latest wiring kit for the model 3 uses a new read-write module that attaches to the Tesla tow bar wiring socket, located behind the rear bumper. We will be releasing more information on this as soon as we have the parts in stock.
A new tow bar for the VW T-Cross is now in production, with both fixed swan neck and detachable options.
A new bar for the Maxus T90 is now in production and available.
Also, the VW Buzz tow bars are now available in Flange, swan, and detachable swan neck options.
Caravan LED Lights Issue.
A customer of ours called the office with an issue relating to the LED lights on his new Swift Basecamp caravan.
The problem was that, on certain occasions, when he activated the indicators the side lights on his caravan started flashing and a bulb fail warning was showing on his dash.
The caravan was taken back to his Swift dealer, due to no issues with his old caravan. The dealer stated that the problem was with the tow bar wiring, they had tested it and couldn’t replicate the fault. This had us wondering…
Due to the vehicle wiring being approved dedicated and coded to the vehicle, there should not have been any errors, unless there was an issue with the caravan rear lights.
After a few minutes of digging, we found the answer.
The design of the Base Camp’s LED rear lights was such that they did not send a normal electronic signal back to the car. The car sent a signal for the caravan indicators to activate, but the signal back to the car was not correct. This meant that the tow bar module was not getting the correct resistance and took that as a bulb fail (which is correct.)
Reading through the Base-Camp owner manual stated that vehicles fitted with dedicated electrics, including factory-fitted towbars would need to have an additional module fitted in the caravan by Swift.
Sending the customer back to Swift with the owner manual appears to have solved the issue.
Towbar Fitting and Bad Weather.
Autumn sunshine is certainly the best time to fit a towbar.
Unfortunately, it’s also the time of year when we can get some very wet, windy and sometimes icy weather. So, what happens if you’re booked in for a tow bar fitting and the weather is bad?
Rain
In many cases, we can still get your tow bar fitted. If it’s wet our fitters have a large canopy that fits over the vehicle and allows them to carry on fitting while keeping the vehicle dry. Our fitters are quite water resistant, but vehicle electrics are not. So, sadly on some occasions, we have to postpone fittings to a more suitable time if the weather is adverse.
Wind
If the wind is bad we can only fit to vehicles that don’t require the rear bumper to be removed. Having a bumper flying through the air on a gust of wind isn’t worth chancing.
Ice and Snow.
If the weather is wintery then a little bit of fluffy snow in the air is usually OK. We do, however, have to consider our hard-working fitters and if it looks like being an arctic blast with freezing temperatures and the risk of ice then we will need to move the fitting to a more suitable time.
If we do need to move a fitting appointment our office team will be in contact and will arrange with you a more suitable time.
More updates to come…
In the meantime keep safe and enjoy the amazing Autumn.
Team Ultimate.
