Has anyone added a towing hitch after?

[Rockslide]

From what I have heard, retail pricing on the "kit" to add the hitch/electrics is ~$2,000 for those without the NATO plug, and ~$3,000 with the NATO plug.

I haven't confirmed this directly with the parts in my hand, but from what I've been told the "kit" is the hitch itself, the trailer control module (this provides all the light outputs as well as interfaces with the rest of the vehicle to automatically turn off rear parking sensors, modify the ABS and stability programming, etc when a trailer is detected), and the complete wiring harness to/through the rear bumper. That harness includes the rear parking sensor wires, trailer connection wiring, and, if optioned, the NATO plug wiring from the interior to the exterior.

An enterprising individual could absolutely purchase the cheaper kit and transfer over the NATO plug wiring form their current bumper harness.

This doesn't include labor, if I were to take a complete guess in the dark, I'd assume 3-5 hours for the install as it also involves some control module recoding to tell the rest of the vehicle that there is now a trailer module in place.

All the above information is specific to MY24/24.2 North American vehicles

Interesting info, thanks. So, if one has the Nato outlet and not the hitch option, is the Nato plug not wired from the factory? I’m more interested in the Nato outlet than the actual hitch at the moment. I’m thinking of adding a ARB to the Nato outlet.

 

[anand]

Interesting info, thanks. So, if one has the Nato outlet and not the hitch option, is the Nato plug not wired from the factory? I’m more interested in the Nato outlet than the actual hitch at the moment. I’m thinking of adding a ARB to the Nato outlet.

NATO and hitch are separate options.

If you have the High amp switch panel (and thus the NATO plug) with or without the hitch the NATO plug works in the same manner.

When you are adding the hitch after production, the wiring harness that you must buy is one piece with the NATO plug wiring (if you have that option), thus the price difference

 

[Fieldmaster3LD]

There is a big difference with semantics here....

The hitch (the physical piece) just bolts on and is just moments to add to any vehicle. This is great if all you want to do is toss on a bike rack or cargo carrier.

The wiring is where the hiccup lies. If you did not order the option from the factory, you are missing the trailer control module. This is what the 7 pin trailer plug connects to on the vehicle side. In addition to providing the correct outputs for the 7 pin trailer connector, it interfaces with the rest of the vehicle and adjusts the other vehicle parameters when a trailer is detected (such as turning off rear parking sensors, altering the stability control profile, etc). There is nothing preventing you from purchasing the factory 7 pin connector and wiring to the trailer module (TRM), and there is nothing preventing you from purchasing the TRM itself. However, when the TRM is connected to the vehicle (the wiring connector that interfaces the rest of the connections to the TRM should exist), the rest of the vehicle will start to throw errors, because those other modules in your vehicle are not coded to have the TRM as part of their system. In theory this could be alleviated, however, the coding is not dealer controlled, but automatically created based upon the initial build/VIN of the vehicle, thus the dealer could not click a few boxes to get the other modules to correctly recognize the TRM on the vehicle's communication bus

Hi, most bike carriers in the uk include lights. Not sure it would be legal to have a 3 bike carrier on the tow ball without the lights working

 

[Fieldmaster3LD]

Hi, most bike carriers in the uk include lights. Not sure it would be legal to have a 3 bike carrier on the tow ball without the lights working

i have this problem :-(

 

[Cheshire cat]

I would say with 90% certainty, it is a legal requirement to have a trailer type board with lights, reg, etc, secured to the most rearward obstacle ie. The bike support base, or bike.