Electrically Retractable Towbar with Trailer Stability Coding in Zinc Plated Steel

A towbar that disappears: supplied with the diagnostic coding that arms the vehicle's own trailer stability programme, which is a real safety system and is switched off from the factory.

Towing is the one thing you can buy for a car where the wrong part is not merely disappointing. Every towbar listing here states the type approval number, the D value, the maximum noseweight and whether the bumper has to be cut, because those four facts decide whether a bar is legal on your vehicle and whether it will pull what you want to pull. Every electrical listing says plainly whether it is a dedicated loom or a universal one with a bypass relay, and what each will and will not do. We would rather lose a sale to a cheaper part than sell you one that does not fit.

Specification

• Fits: vehicle specific. Give us the registration and we will confirm the exact kit before we take the order, because a retractable bar is approved for one body shape and one model year range and nothing else
• Approval: UNECE R55 type approved for the vehicle it is supplied against. The approval number is on a plate riveted to the bar and is printed on the fitting instructions
• Rating: 2000kg gross trailer mass, and the vehicle handbook figure still applies and is usually lower
• D value: 10.8 kN. The D value is the measure of how hard a towbar can be pulled. It is worked out from the towing vehicle's maximum mass and the trailer's maximum mass together, in kilonewtons, and the bar's D value has to be equal to or greater than the figure your combination produces. We publish it on every bar and there is a calculator linked from every towbar page.
• Noseweight: 100kg on the bar. Noseweight is the downward load the trailer puts on the ball, and the figure you may use is the lowest of four numbers: the towbar's S value, the vehicle handbook's noseweight limit, the towball's rating and the caravan coupling's rating. Most people know the first and none of the other three, and a combination that is legal on paper is often over the limit on the one that matters.
• Ball height: 350 to 420mm laden, which is the range a trailer coupling has to sit in and the reason a lifted or lowered vehicle needs checking
• Electrics: chosen above. On a retractable bar we would always recommend the dedicated loom, because the deploy mechanism shares the same control module. A dedicated loom plugs into connectors the vehicle already has. It talks to the car's electronics, so the rear parking sensors switch off when a trailer is plugged in, the trailer stability programme arms itself if the vehicle has one, the bulb failure warning understands the extra lamps, and on many cars the fog lamp is muted as the regulations require. It costs more and on most cars it needs coding with a diagnostic tool, which we include on any kit we fit.
• Fitting time: four to six hours for a competent fitter, and this is not a driveway job
• Bumper: no cutting on most applications. The bar retracts behind the valance, and where a small trim cut is needed it is in a place nobody sees and the instructions show it
• Materials: zinc and clear passivate, which resists road salt better than powder coat does at the bolt faces where powder coat always fails first
• Weight: approximately 28.2 kilograms
• Guarantee: five years on the mechanism and the motor, a lifetime guarantee on the towbar weldment and two years on the electrics
• Deployment: about six seconds each way, with a soft stop at both ends
• Duty cycle: tested to 10,000 deployments, which is more than most cars will do in a lifetime
• Number plate: with the bar stowed the plate and the lights are fully visible, which is the legal problem a permanently fitted ball creates
• Coding: included, with the trailer stability programme armed
• EV note: if your vehicle is a hybrid or an EV, tell us, because the approval is usually different

What arrives

• the towbar weldment and the retracting mechanism
• the motor, the control module and the switch
• the mounting bolts, torqued values stated in the instructions
• the electrical loom chosen above
• printed vehicle specific fitting instructions
• the type approval plate, already riveted to the bar

Fitting

Four to six hours, and it wants a ramp. The bumper comes off, the crossmember goes on, the motor and control module are mounted and the loom is run to the fusebox, and then the whole thing is coded. Choose the fitted option above and it is done at one of our centres or at your address, with the coding included and the deployment tested twenty times before we leave.

Before you order

There are three ways to have a towbar you cannot see. A detachable bar is the cheapest, and the neck lives in the boot in a bag, which is fine until you forget it. A retractable bar costs three or four times as much and is always there. A fixed bar costs least of all and is always visible, which on some cars matters and on a van does not. Buy retractable if the car is new, if the back of it is part of why you bought it, and if you tow often enough that finding the neck in the garage would annoy you.