Help please. Towbar and reverse sensors.
Now about to have a towbar fitted to 2016 vw Passat estate. It is recommended that a detachable one is fitted if reverse sensors are present. However we also want to use a bar mounted bike rack which can only be used with a fixed towball. Question is please.
Will the sensors pick up the towball with nothing attached. We have the facility to switch them off when we will be towing but would like to use them when not. Do anyone have experience with this. Would be most appreciated.
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I also have a fixed tow ball with rear park sensors. They don`t pick up on the ball when reversing.
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That's good to know. And thank you both for your swift replies. If any one have had problems it would be really good to know too.
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If it is wired correctly ie with a dedicated and programmed wiring kit - the reversing sensors will be automaticslly disabled when towing, as will the stop/start.
Mr SamB wants to know whether ther fixed bar will be detected by the reverse sensors when he's NOT towing
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Not with a Passat exactly but with a Skoda Octavia estate, similar car and also VAG group. The sensors didn't pick up the tow ball alone, only the caravan so we used to silence them.
My Disco 3 dies not pick up the fixed towbar. I very rarely need to reverse the car when the caravan is on the back (always try and avoid it), but should it pick up the caravan I would just switch them off.
David
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Iwondered about the same thing, mine got fitted monday gone, I have a mondeo titanium with reverse sensor, was told before fitting to pop in and they would put a dummy one basically a frame they slide under the car with towbar this would enable whether sensors
would pick it, i didn't pop in but booked for fitting i got 2 x 7 pins with swan neck fixed and have no issues at all, when reversing up to a wall it stops me before towbar touches, but i went to a trailer/towbar specialist who i reckon re-programmed my sensors
as i could reverse an inch to the wall now it an inch from towball to wall. but if you have facility to turn the sensors off, then i wouldn't worry to much......hope it goes well......0 -
I have a fixed swan neck towbar and that isn't picked up by the sensors on my 2015 Mondeo but with a dedicated wiring loom and re-programming.
The towbar was, however, detected by the sensors on my earlier Mondeo. This was overcome by the towbar fitter by fixing a 1p piece on the front of the two sensors nearest to the towbar before they were pushed back into the housing in the bumper. This disabled
those two sensors but the outer ones still worked fine.1 -
..... However we also want to use a bar mounted bike rack which can only be used with a fixed towball. ...
Don't forget that the cycles will be part of the nose weight .... will you have the spare capacity?
Why would the weight of the cycles be part of the nose weight?
The cycle carrier would be fixed to the towbar and would be no different to extra weight in the car boot.
Surely nose weight is applied to the ball.
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Hi ,i know there is a change especially to the wiring in modern cars .Enquired about having a detachable swan neck fitted with 13 pin to a 2016 Passat est £530 but with a dedicated wiring loom that will put another £100 on.On previous Passat estate it was £330 all in .apparently its all to do with individual wirers doing multiply tasks.In the end we bought a Passat estate which we found with a factory fitted one .
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You are correct MM anything that is mounted on the tow bar is part of the noseweight, this is because the type approval for the bar does not differentiate between noseweight from the caravan or a cycle carrier or whatever. It is still applying a downward
force on the ball. Noseweight is probably a misleading term as it should refer to any vertical loading on the ball.0 -
You are correct MM anything that is mounted on the tow bar is part of the noseweight, this is because the type approval for the bar does not differentiate between noseweight from the caravan or a cycle carrier or whatever. It is still applying a downward
force on the ball. Noseweight is probably a misleading term as it should refer to any vertical loading on the ball.But it's not on the ball. It is on the towbar.
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You are correct MM anything that is mounted on the tow bar is part of the noseweight, this is because the type approval for the bar does not differentiate between noseweight from the caravan or a cycle carrier or whatever. It is still applying a downward
force on the ball. Noseweight is probably a misleading term as it should refer to any vertical loading on the ball.But it's not on the ball. It is on the towbar.
Even if it is not directly on the ball the static downward load is still applied to the mounting points of the towbar.
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Someone somewhere must have come to this conclusion for Towbar manufacturers to include the following quotation in their FAQ's
Quote: At present it is recommended that the weight of the cycle carrier and any cycles is subtracted from the maximum recommended nose load. The combined load of the cycle carrier, cycles and the caravan or trailer’s nose load should not be in excess
of the maximum nose load for your vehicle.0 -
You are correct MM anything that is mounted on the tow bar is part of the noseweight, this is because the type approval for the bar does not differentiate between noseweight from the caravan or a cycle carrier or whatever. It is still applying a downward
force on the ball. Noseweight is probably a misleading term as it should refer to any vertical loading on the ball.But it's not on the ball. It is on the towbar.
Even if it is not directly on the ball the static downward load is still applied to the mounting points of the towbar.
Spot on.
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Just like to thank you all for your responses. It has been very helpful and interesting.
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Someone somewhere must have come to this conclusion for Towbar manufacturers to include the following quotation in their FAQ's
Quote: At present it is recommended that the weight of the cycle carrier and any cycles is subtracted from the maximum recommended nose load. The combined load of the cycle carrier, cycles and the caravan or trailer’s nose load should not be in excess of the maximum nose load for your vehicle.
DaveFL2,glad to see you are following my example by providing an extract of information instead of a link after berating me for doing the same in a previous post.
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Someone somewhere must have come to this conclusion for Towbar manufacturers to include the following quotation in their FAQ's
Quote: At present it is recommended that the weight of the cycle carrier and any cycles is subtracted from the maximum recommended nose load. The combined load of the cycle carrier, cycles and the caravan or trailer’s nose load should not be in excess
of the maximum nose load for your vehicle.DaveFL2,glad to see you are following my example by providing an extract of information instead of a link after berating me for doing the same in a previous post.
Berate - "scold or criticize (someone) angrily."
Nooo, mine was a friendly 'berate', but you are quite right so I will give a link
<LINKYDO>
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You are correct MM anything that is mounted on the tow bar is part of the noseweight, this is because the type approval for the bar does not differentiate between noseweight from the caravan or a cycle carrier or whatever. It is still applying a downward
force on the ball. Noseweight is probably a misleading term as it should refer to any vertical loading on the ball.But it's not on the ball. It is on the towbar.
What do you think the ball is bolted to
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Just taken delivery of a Mondeo Estate 15 reg plate and been reading up on towbars and sensors here. Good info. Question re your swan neck towbar - do you have Al Ko to hitch on your caravan and if so does the swan neck cater for it or do you need some form of adaptor? Chris
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My Passat B7 estate has sensors and does not detect the towball or the caravan. I am not aware that the sensors are defeated when hitched up but it could be the case.
For the sake of interest, I found out recently that most ECU boxes detect the trailer by the presence of the rear fog light.
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Go on, gi us a clue MM
