Tow Bar for the Tiguan

[Janus77]

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[iDiesel]

Awesome job!
I'll call my dealer tomorrow

[Janus77]

Thanks to veew for the heads up.


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[jpvw01]

It's interesting how regional marketing departments of European car manufactures can arbitrarily increase (double) a cars specifications to meet local requirements. It's the same for the Touareg where in Europe the towball weight is 140kg vs 280kg here in Aus.

The R-Line in the carsales towing test earlier in this thread seems to be handling the ~100kg towball weight ok but I saw a non R-Line Tiguan towing a similar caravan recently and there was significant sag in the rear end.

[Jackson22]

I had a Hayman Reese towbar fitted for $1100. Looks neat enough and no cutting required (R-Line). Only downside is that that the electrics are not OEM so the rear parking sensors have to be manually muted on the touchscreen when reversing with the trailer hitch installed, and the auto tailgate opening is not disabled so it would be possible to accidentally open it with attachments (bike rack etc) hanging off the tow bar.

HI. follow up question please. I am thinking of doing the same.. Tiguan Adventure and Hayman Reese towbar to go mostly with Thule bike rack. Do the rear parking sensors have to be turned off at all time, or just when the towball is in? Ie. so if the tow bar is on but the hitch and ball isn't it's ok? usually i've just left the ball etc in and it might be a PITA to have to take it out.. first world problem, I know.. and I am not a tow bar expert, so don't know the terminology.. . Not so fussed to turn off sensors on the infrequent occasion I put the bike rack on, but would be a pain to have to do it all the time, just because I want to leave the square bit in with the ball on..

[IsDon]

HI. follow up question please. I am thinking of doing the same.. Tiguan Adventure and Hayman Reese towbar to go mostly with Thule bike rack. Do the rear parking sensors have to be turned off at all time, or just when the towball is in? Ie. so if the tow bar is on but the hitch and ball isn't it's ok? usually i've just left the ball etc in and it might be a PITA to have to take it out.. first world problem, I know.. and I am not a tow bar expert, so don't know the terminology.. . Not so fussed to turn off sensors on the infrequent occasion I put the bike rack on, but would be a pain to have to do it all the time, just because I want to leave the square bit in with the ball on..

The sensors are turned off once you plug lights into the plug. That is how the car knows a trailer (bike rack) is attached. If nothing is plugged into the socket, with or without a ball fitted, the sensors will remain active.

This holds for all of the other modules that are coded to detect a trailer. Camera, boot, abs, engine, gearbox, stability control, suspension etc etc etc.

Once coded you should be also able to manually tell the car whether to behave like it has a trailer, or not.

This is based on coding I’ve done on Audis, but I’m pretty certain it would be the same on all VAG vehicles. We don’t have a tow bar in our Tig.


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[Jackson22]

The sensors are turned off once you plug lights into the plug. That is how the car knows a trailer (bike rack) is attached. If nothing is plugged into the socket, with or without a ball fitted, the sensors will remain active.

This holds for all of the other modules that are coded to detect a trailer. Camera, boot, abs, engine, gearbox, stability control, suspension etc etc etc.

Once coded you should be also able to manually tell the car whether to behave like it has a trailer, or not.

This is based on coding I’ve done on Audis, but I’m pretty certain it would be the same on all VAG vehicles. We don’t have a tow bar in our Tig.


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that great info, thanks very much. so in order to keep the sensors working, I may just have to remove the hitch when not towing.. looks neater anyway, or perhaps tell the car to pretend there is a trailer even when not plugged in.. sounds like the non VW will do fine and save me more than $800.

[IsDon]

that great info, thanks very much. so in order to keep the sensors working, I may just have to remove the hitch when not towing.. looks neater anyway, or perhaps tell the car to pretend there is a trailer even when not plugged in.. sounds like the non VW will do fine and save me more than $800.

You can leave the hitch and/or tow ball on the vehicle and it won’t stop the sensors from working. The trigger for turning the sensors off is when the electrical plug for the trailer (bike rack) lights is plugged in.

When you say “non vw” I assume you mean tow bar. Absolutely. I would never put a standard bar on from a dealer. They’ll charge twice the price and it will be no better. In some cases worse.

In my case Audi wanted $4000 to fit a genuine Audi bar on my A6 Allroad. Turns out it wasn’t a genuine bar at all. It was a NZ made Best Bars which was, like a Hayman Reece, basically a horizontally mounted box section receiver which required a very visible cutout of the bumper.

After a bit of research I found that the real original OEM bar is in fact a Westfalia. German made. If you bought an Audi in Europe, and asked for a factory bar, this is what you would get. These things are a beautiful piece of engineering and have a vertical receiver. Instead of a towball you have a gooseneck which connects under the bumper. There is a cutout but you can’t see it unless you lie under the car. It cost me $1000 delivered from PF Jones in the UK and included the bar, gooseneck, adapter plug (20 pin round to 7 pin round) and electronics module.

Fitted it myself over a weekend. Then I realised I would have to code the car. $500 for a RossTech VCDS cable and a bit more research and the job was done.

Not sure about the Tig, but on the Audi you can select towing mode on and off through the MMI. I’m sure there would be similar settings on the Tig once you coded the car. It will automatically select once you plug in the lights, but you can switch it off if you wish.

Coincidentally I just bought a 4 bike rack for my car and it fits perfectly on the Westfalia gooseneck. Came with lights etc like the Thule ones for under $200 off eBay.

[Rescue23]

HI. follow up question please. I am thinking of doing the same.. Tiguan Adventure and Hayman Reese towbar to go mostly with Thule bike rack. Do the rear parking sensors have to be turned off at all time, or just when the towball is in? Ie. so if the tow bar is on but the hitch and ball isn't it's ok? usually i've just left the ball etc in and it might be a PITA to have to take it out.. first world problem, I know.. and I am not a tow bar expert, so don't know the terminology.. . Not so fussed to turn off sensors on the infrequent occasion I put the bike rack on, but would be a pain to have to do it all the time, just because I want to leave the square bit in with the ball on..

I leave the ball permanently attached to the ballmount (the square metal "tube"), so it's a simple matter to fit or remove the ballmount (with ball attached) if I want to tow. Only takes a minute or so to slide it on, put the pin through and tighten the nut. Much easier than removing/fitting the towball every time. I only use it for a Thule bike rack anyway. If you have the non OEM tow bar (Hayman Reece etc) it's very unlikely that it will come with OEM wiring, so when you plug in the electrics the car will NOT know there is a tow bar attached. The parking sensors will then sound continuously when you select reverse gear, as presumably they are detecting the towball. You can cancel the sensors on the infotainment screen or put up with the noise until you cease reversing when it will stop by itself. If you choose to leave the ballmount and ball attached permanently your reverse parking sensors are basically useless as you will have to cancel the noise every time you reverse, regardless of whether you have the bike rack attached

[IsDon]

I leave the ball permanently attached to the ballmount (the square metal "tube"), so it's a simple matter to fit or remove the ballmount (with ball attached) if I want to tow. Only takes a minute or so to slide it on, put the pin through and tighten the nut. Much easier than removing/fitting the towball every time. I only use it for a Thule bike rack anyway. If you have the non OEM tow bar (Hayman Reece etc) it's very unlikely that it will come with OEM wiring, so when you plug in the electrics the car will NOT know there is a tow bar attached. The parking sensors will then sound continuously when you select reverse gear, as presumably they are detecting the towball. You can cancel the sensors on the infotainment screen or put up with the noise until you cease reversing when it will stop by itself. If you choose to leave the ballmount and ball attached permanently your reverse parking sensors are basically useless as you will have to cancel the noise every time you reverse, regardless of whether you have the bike rack attached

There are four sensors on the rear bumper. Not one of them is anywhere near the centre of the bumper. As such it’s highly unlikely for the sensors to detect a tow ball. The reason the sensors are switched off is so they don’t detect a trailer when you’re reversing.

On my car I can put the tow ball gooseneck on the car, and then reverse the car onto the trailer using the camera, it actually gives you a little trend vector so you can see where the tow ball will travel as you turn the wheel. Makes it simple to place the ball under the trailer hitch. No beeping from the attached tow ball at all. It does detect the trailer approaching though.

Most aftermarket tow bars have a module that will interface the CANBUS these days. If not, I wouldn’t fit one. Westfalia, the real OEM bar certainly DO come with the OEM electronics module. I know. I’ve fitted it myself.