Audi Q7 with trailer assist
Audi factory fitted tow bar with trailer assist and a caravan with an AL-KO AKS 3004 stabiliser hitch.
Hi, I’ve become the proud owner of a 2017 SQ7, it has a factory fitted tow bar with trailer assist. Lots of reports that the AL-KO hitch that clamps the tow ball and the Audi tow ball with the floating ring can cause problems! Does anyone have any experience with this combination and how have you got on please?
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lots of vids on the VAG trailer assist on Youtube and looks a pretty good system. Try and do a search on this forum as remember reading about damaged pads and the "ring" in the tow ball getting damaged with the Alko hitch and not being compatable. Find it funny that Audi fit this ball and VW uses the standard solid type, I wonder why??
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Hi Big M
how have you been getting on with the factory fitted towbar with trailer assist.
looking at buying a 3 year old Q7 and don’t know if to get a factory fitted towbar or get one fitted aftermarket after reading about the problems with ring on towball.
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Hi tmh007,
I have owned a Q7 2017 model with factory fitted tow bar for 3 years now. I have never had one problem at all towing a bailey twin axle in all scenario's. The clever trailer assistance is very good in reverse but to be honest I rarely use this feature as most of the time I'm using the motor mover.
If you are unfortunate to meet a fellow caravaner down a narrow lane then this trailer assist will come into its own.
The only potential conflict I had heard of was the power to the fridge while towing was not available through the factory fitted towbar, however I have never tested if this is true.
Hope this helps
Rich
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Hi Rich,
Thanks for your reply, we are picking our "New" 2nd hand 68 Q7 on Saturday, I made the decision to take the risk based on if it was as bad as some people had said surely Audi / AL-KO would have issues some sort of safety warning by now. Thanks for your reply it is reassuring that we haven’t made a bad choice!
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Any more experiences of this plastic ring on the Audi towball?
Just bought a 3.0 A4 Allroad and was horrified when popped factory fit electric towbar down, removed cover and found this plastic ring thingy.
Caravan is a 2019 Switt with the usual AL-KO stability assist.Drove straight to towbar fitters who fit for all the dealers behind the scenes in our area … “that will never work!!”.
Absolutely distraught that I changed from my fab 3.0 X3 towcar to something that seems fundamentally unable to work.
Went to Audi dealer who assured me that although I have the sensor in the towball, I do Not have trailer assist installed. Worst of all worlds? Also to,d me this would be fine with my caravan.
Went away somewhat reassured but now on googling this it wou,d seem to be very inconclusive and at best even if safe, will work it’s way quickly through friction pads.
Am very worried .. love my new (to me) Audi, bought privately though so no returning of car. But have I got myself into a dangerous towing configuration … I am very experienced tower, dont even wanttrailer assist?
Towbar fitters not interested in putting in a replacement hitch saying could get all sorts of electronics errors if they ‘fiddle’…..
Really worried and wonder if there is an Official Caravan Club position on this?
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Our Tiguan has Trailer assist and no bother at all. No problem with electric to the fridge either.13.1V at the fuse box. But it's a VW.
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Hi,
I have been looking for reports of issues like this thread related to Mercedes and have come up blank. The front friction pads on my Alko 3004 are breaking and its often hard to close the hitch. It also gets easily stuck and a to and fro movement is needed to try and release, often the car is lifted when raising the jockey. We do avoid reversing with the ATC hitch down and use the mover to recompress the brake rod.
Notably we have the Tow Asist (2021 version) on our GLE so I was wondering if the snagging of the ring of the towball and the lower part of the front friction pad was the cause. Has anyone seen an ongoing report of these issues on of Tow Assist fitted cars and Alko hitches as there seems to be little of late, and Mercedes nor Audi publish any disclaimers.
If not, what is the likely cause of the breakages - assuming I have cleaned the tow ball as prescribed!
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Mercedes clearly state in their documentation that the tow hitch should not be used on trailers with stabiliser hitches (most caravans). I had not found this information before I bought the car and the dealer failed to mention that my 2021 GLE (American built rubbish by the way) was not suitable for towing caravans.
My dealer recommends that I use the hitch without engaging the stabiliser lever because the car trailer assist electronics is a better system. What they fail to grasp is that the hitch stabiliser is a preventative measure and the car (and ATC) electronics are there to help solve a problem that has already occurred.
There is no way that I would open the can of insurance worms and drive with the stabiliser lever up and I have, so far, not had any problems with damaged friction pads.
The ring on the tow ball is, apparently, easily replaced and therefore easily removeable, so I have the option to run without the ring if I ever have problems.
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I have had a Q7 with trailer assist since March 2017, one of the first in the country. After a lot of confusion with Alko, and Audi about compatibility, it was confirmed it was approved to use with a modern Alko hitch. I have towed almost every year to the South of France, since. I replace the sensor ring on the tow ball this year as it was showing signs of wear, I also replaced the clutch discs in my caravan hitch. I have not had any issues with it, but don’t use the assist feature for parking, just my mirrors. As regards power to the fridge, VW , and Audi tow bars were not fully wired for a 13 pin plug initially and both my earlier Touaregs had to be re wired for the fridge to work.. Not a problem since 2017 .
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