Fitting tow bar and wiring to a Yeti with tow prep.

[Blue103TDIDSG]

The HR will have Australian compiance though.

One of the main issues for me is compliance if I get, say a Westfalia towbar from the UK.
No problem if some business down the road imports it and I buy it from them because if it goes "pear shaped" I have them to point the finger at.
But if I buy it overseas and fit it myself the buck stops with me.

My mission statement is "must be hidden when not in use with bumper cutout refitted

So after a lot of searching, this is what have found

Starting with the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...#Type_approval

Quote
__________________________________________________ ________________________________

Type Approval
The 1958 Agreement operates on the principles of type approval and reciprocal recognition. Any country that accedes to the 1958 Agreement has authority to test and approve any manufacturer's design of a regulated product, regardless of the country in which that component was produced. Each individual design from each individual manufacturer is counted as one individual type'. Once any acceding country grants a type approval, every other acceding country is obliged to honor that type approval and regard that vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment as legal for import, sale and use. Items type-approved according to a UN Regulation are marked with an E and a number, within a circle. The number indicates which country approved the item, and other surrounding letters and digits indicate the precise version of the regulation met and the type approval number, respectively.
Although all countries' type approvals are legally equivalent, there are real and perceived differences in the rigour with which the regulations and protocols are applied by different national type approval authorities. Some countries have their own national standards for granting type approvals, which may be more stringent than called for by the UN regulations themselves. Within the auto parts industry, a German (E1) type approval, for example, is regarded as a measure of insurance against suspicion of poor quality or an undeserved type approval.

__________________________________________________ _________________________________


Where it all comes from and the design rules involved for the towbar are found here


UN Regulations (1958 Agreement)
Regs 41-60 - Transport - UNECE

Regulation No. 55 Revision 1
UNIFORM PROVISIONS CONCERNING THE APPROVAL OF MECHANICAL COUPLING
COMPONENTS OF COMBINATIONS OF VEHICLES
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/t...gs/r055r1e.pdf

Quote
__________________________________________________ __________________________________


SCOPE

1.1. This Regulation lays down the requirements which mechanical coupling devices and components shall meet in order to be regarded internationally as being mutually compatible.

__________________________________________________ _________________________________



This is an excerpt from the certificate for the Westgalia towbar



What it all means

The 55R - 01 2429
"55R" indicates the UN Regulation that applies and the "01" is the version that it is approved to
"2492" is the approval number

Type 317-117 is a Westfalia identification/design number

the Class A 50-X
"Class A" is the designated class of Coupling - Coupling balls and towing brackets employing a 50 mm diameter spherical device

"50-X" is the sub group for the 50mm Class - "Non-standard 50mm Coupling Heads"


__________________________________________________ __________________________________

Australia signed on 25th April, 2000 and is #45 on the list.

So the "E13" makes it approved in Luxembourg, thus also accepted by any of the signatories to the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations and that includes Australia.

Quote
"Every other acceding country is obliged to honor that type approval and regard that vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment as legal for import, sale and use"

__________________________________________________ __________________________________

So that means the Westfalia as well as the Witter that Joel used, assuming and I'm sure that it will have a similar "E" compliance certificate, are OK and LEGAL to use in Australia as they are ADR approved by default.

In passing, the likes of IronBull would not be able to have every towbar they advertise and sell actually tested to meet the ADR's as the cost would be prohibitive. On the other hand though, any towbar designed and made here in Oz must be tested before it can be sold.

So for me, Westfalia it will be, which I believe from reading posts on the Briskoda forum, is the OEM towbar in the UK
[edit] Obviously the "E" certification is accepted in the UK

I am putting this here on the forum to maybe help any others that might have the same issues with the OEM (BestBars unit) supplied by Skoda Australia and might be considering getting something else cheaper and not hang out the back of the car.