Electrics on current factory-fit towbars

[Phutters]

Is it still the case that Audi towbars don't come fully wired (i.e. all 13 pins connected and working) from the factory?

I know this is a subject which has cropped up many times in the past, both here and elsewhere, but I wondered if by some remarkable fluke those nice blokes in Germany had finally seen fit to include the wiring and relays to facilitate battery charging and the operation of 12v appliances in the towed vehicle.

I'm thinking of specifying a factory-fit towbar on an A3 Sportback and it'd be nice to avoid all the palaver of the dealer saying 'Yes Sir, it will come fully wired' only to find that it didn't, and having to convince them that I'm not prepared to pay any extra to get the electrics to do something they should have done in the first place.

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[PFJones]

Hi, after a lot of calls from customers with the same problem I think it is still the case. It would work out a lot cheaper for someone like us to either supply or supply and fit the O.E Westfalia towbar and vehicle specific wiring kit, therefore also keeping the warranty intact and having the towing features your car has utilised. Give us a call if you'd like a quote on 0161 886 5796.

Thanks.

[Phutters]

Hi, after a lot of calls from customers with the same problem I think it is still the case. It would work out a lot cheaper for someone like us to either supply or supply and fit the O.E Westfalia towbar and vehicle specific wiring kit, therefore also keeping the warranty intact and having the towing features your car has utilised. Give us a call if you'd like a quote on 0161 886 5796.

Thanks for the reply. I'll give you a bell for a quote a bit nearer the time in any case, but in the meantime I found something in the current A3 equipment small print that I hadn't noticed before (my highlight):

"Mechanically swivelling ball head with electric release. Operated via a button in the luggage compartment. Includes trailer/caravan stabilisation via Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and allows continual use of electrical devices in the trailer/caravan whilst driving."

Seems the thing to do is give Audi HQ a ring and get some clarification, so when I've got a minute I'll do just that.

It's not that I want to deprive you of the work or anything (because I don't think there's any doubt that you'd be considerably cheaper) - it's more a case of finding out what the score is for the record, as it were.

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[PFJones]

looks like they have started listening to customers then as that small print quote suggests it is included or maybe previous customers problems maybe down to miscommunication (Human error)
Thanks.

[Phutters]

looks like they have started listening to customers then as that small print quote suggests it is included...

You'd be inclined to think so, wouldn't you?

However...

I rang Audi HQ and a very nice young lady (well, the picture in my mind's eye was of a very nice young lady) said, after leaving me listening to some very avant-garde music for five minutes, that she'd need to 'raise a ticket' with the appropriate subdivision to make sure that what the small print said was actually true, and that it wasn't the case that it needed a dealer* retrofit of the key wiring.

She said she'd call me back.

We'll see.



*The towbar place on the industrial estate round the corner.

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[PFJones]

Probably right there, there are a few local dealers to us that charge full whack and bring them to us for installation.

I'm sure I'll hear of how you went on.

[Phutters]

I heard back from a very nice man at Audi UK the other day regarding the enquiry I'd made concerning this wiring.

He said he'd talked to The Department of Towbars and Wiring, and The Department of Towbars and Wiring said that what I needed to facilitate both the charging of a battery and the running of a tiddly fridge in (while towing) our tiddly but rather whizzo caravan was a 13 pin to 7 pin adaptor.

After a brief silence while I digested this completely unexpected development, I asked him where I was supposed to put a 13 pin to 7 pin adaptor in a set-up which would consist of a 13 pin socket on the car and a 13 pin plug on the caravan, a set-up which had worked perfectly on an allroad with a retrofit towbar for the past eight years.

Another short period of time passed during which nobody said anything, and then he said 'Well, I'm not technical (as in not technically-minded), and that's what The Department of Towbars and Wiring says you need. The adaptor costs forty-three pounds (or thereabouts - I can't remember exactly) plus VAT.'

There didn't seem to be much to be gained by telling him that I already had one, and that it cost about a tenner (including VAT), so I didn't.

Actually, there didn't seem to be much to be gained by continuing with the conversation, so I told him I understood that he was only relaying what The Department of Towbars and Wiring had said, thanked him for his endeavours and hung up.

It's hopeless, it really is.

Hopeless because there's no excuse for the original question (which I made sure they understood) having got lost in the inter-departmental translation, and hopeless because The Department of Towbars and Wiring have been asked this question many times over the years and have no excuse for not knowing the answer.

Anyway, it turns out that the dealership from whom we're thinking of ordering the car have used a trailer electrics tester on at least one current A3 factory-fit folding towbar, and it does indeed appear that all 13 pins are fully functional, which is what it says in the official A3 guff.

The thing is, though, that you can't always take what it says in the official guff for granted, and all I was trying to do was establish what the score really is in order to avoid arguments, faff and time-wasting on delivery if we do decide to order.

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[PFJones]

Hi, I know your frustration with dealerships, Turn around and bang your head against the wall then ask it a question and you'll get more sense. Complete waste of time they are.

[Phutters]

Just as a postscript to this, I did end up ordering an A3 2.0TFSI Sportback with the factory towbar. I got the car about a month ago, and today was the first time I've had the chance to plug the caravan in to it to check that everything works as it was supposed to.

And it does! The fridge power and onboard battery charging connections are both there, exactly as they should be. The fridge powers up, and we're getting a nice, fat 14.7V at the battery terminals in the van at idle, which isn't bad considering the wiring-induced voltage drop over the length of the car and van, and which suggests that the car's factory wiring is well up to snuff.

And the best thing is the tow hitch itself, which drops down from behind the rear valance when you pull a swanky little switch in the side of the boot. That same switch releases it from its locked down position and lets you swivel it back up into its hiding place.

And the switch has a little LED tell-tale built into it which only lights solid when the hitch is secure at either end of its travel.

It's a properly neat bit of kit, and it all works.

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