Towbar Information

[Khun_tilt]

Interesting that you have a 13 pin Euro socket. I was just at a VW dealer today and they had two cars with towbars in the showroon - a sedan and a wagon. The sedan had a 7 pin roind Aussie socket nicely concealed I might add whilst the wagon had a 7 pin flat. N Euro. Maybe they have discontinued using the Euro plug as it in not Australian standard ( 5 (old), 7 or 12 pin are).

[Umai Naa!!]

On the recently-facelifted Passat, there is currently no wiring kit available due to some interference concerns with the Lane Assist system's radars.

[PASHN8]

How hard is it to retro fit a genuine VW tow pack to an R36 wagon? Anyone done it?

[Flipper Dog]

Along with the newly released Passat the Touareg has been having an issue with the tow bar, well just back from my dealer and ordered the bar in for fitting. It appears the "issue" is now fixed for both models but no one has told the dealers. My sales manager was as dark as midnight as he had two Touaregs and a Passat wagon he could have sold this week if he knew.

[scoutau]

Generally the VAG genuine kits come as 13 pin Euro and a 7 pin Aussie flat to 13 pin Euro adapter. Some Dealers have been fitting the adapter as permanent and cable tieing the 13 pin socket to adapter joint up under the rear apron because some of the locally sourced bars do not come with the drop down or permanent plate to mount the ISO1194 13-pin Euro connector. This happened to me and I am having it sorted as they just wrapped the joint in insulation tape which did not give a waterproof connection,they had even thrown away the rest of the 13 pin socket to compound matters!

There is also a problem with the VAG supplied 13-pin EU to 7-pin AU adapter in that pin 2 of the 13 pin EU (Rear Trailer Fog Light) has been wired to pin 5 (Electric Brakes) of the 7 pin AU socket! All because the same colour is used or a variation of on the Euro connector (Blue or grey/blue stripe IS1194.) and nobody thought to check it.

In as far as bulb fail goes for AU fitted lighting kits, check that the towbar has been coded properly by the dealer! In early systems only 2 options are given: EU and "Rest of the world" (0 and 1), now it is different and AU electrics on the towbar should be set to country code "3" as this allows park light only on right channel and left channel without bulb check I think. The system passes 1.7 volts DC down each lighting wire to detect a load and if no load is detected on 1 channel it shows that channel as bulb fail. Multiple loads ensure trailer detection to disable rear parking sensors etc. etc.

I am getting quite the expert with these problems with having to sort out my own with the dealer, VAG and towbar manufacturers! One other problem is VAG having incorrect labelling info on the "Genuine VAG" towbars themselves and the "Genuine VAG" Towbar manufacturers having no idea of the problem!

The towbar for an Octavia and Octavia Scout are the same, just with different mounting points between bar and frame. However the bar if fitted to an Octavia is only rated at 1300kg whereas if fitted to an Octavia Scout it is rated at 1600kg! The only label on the bar as per ADR states only the 1300kg for the 2wd liftback and wagon Octavia! VAG's response is "If anyone asks, show them the owners manual specs!", this does not work with Transport Inspectors or Police Traffic Officers in Australia and a fine occurs as well as having to leave the trailer on the side of the road and coming back in a vehicle with a bar at the correct rating for the load!

I paid for the correct rated bar when I ordered my car, I even made sure that the dealer understood the max rating and they verified with VAG accessory support and yet I still ended up with a bar with the wrong rating on it. I rang the NZ company who manufactures the towbars for VAG who knew nothing of the problems and now have placed the cat amongst the pigeons as VAG are legally culpable of a breach under ADR labelling specs as well as commercial mis-representaion maybe in regards to towbars option specs. Neither "Westfalia ag" or "Eric-Jaeger ag" make this mistake or have this problem in EU and they are the "Genuine VAG" factory option towbar suppliers to VW ag EU!

Sorry about that last bit, I will seperately post that in Octavia forum.
Cheers.

[Umai Naa!!]

How hard is it to retro fit a genuine VW tow pack to an R36 wagon? Anyone done it?

I've done a couple. It's the same kit, except you use a different template (supplied) to cut the rear bumper.

[Ornum]

fill in fill in fill in

[JBlyth]

The issue with tow bars is bigger than your dealer is telling you. VGA have already bought back a number of cars that were built pre week 42 as they will never be able to have a tow bart fitted. There is approx 2,000 Passat's either on the roads or in dealers that cannot ever have a tow bar fitted and VGA are preparing to buy back cars from disgruntled customers.

Does this apply to the Wagon as well?

My 125TDI Wagon is just going through customs now, so I am a little worried....

Thanks

[HiFLyA]

After 4 months of dissapontment, I have just been told that stocks of 2011 passat towbars / wiring harness' are available! I think I will wait untill its fitted and does its first tow before I celebrate though...

[Hillbilly]

Just to clear things up about towing capacity.

The towing rules state that the maximum towing capacity shall be the capacity of the towbar or the manufacturers recommended towing weight

WHICHEVER IS THE LESSER

EG car rated at 1500kg Towbar 1800kg 1500kg is the legal limit.

Car rated 1900kg towbar rated 1500kg 1500kg is the limit. If the VW towball weight is 80kg thats where the problems start.

As 10% towball weight is recommended for Aussie vans you wont be able to tow anything worth a damn.

A decent camper trailer would be over that in a lot of cases.

There is no ADR regulation on ball weight and the manufacturers recommended weight applies.

After several years with vanners and rules and regs I have a fairly good experience with these weights.