Tow bar Question

[Barefoot Runner]

Hi, I just got a very reasonable quote for tow bar and electrics fitted to my 2008 Passat. £275.

He said that for about £100 more I could take advantage of the VW safety features (as well as other features I'm not familiar with) which work by connecting the tow bar electrics to the Passat's "brain" as he put it. If I choose not to have this option they simply bypass this feature.

I use an old caravan (1988) which uses the basic 7pin connecter plug and only use the caravan 2/3 times a year although this might increase.

Is there anyone who can explain the advantages to having the electrics connected to the "brain" - is it worth spending an extra £100?

Any information greatly received.

BR

[Rob69]

I've recently had a tow bar fitted and looked into the same question, I was going to fit it myself but went for the coded option and paid a man to do it and save my back on the driveway. if you go for the cheaper option they will likely use a universal 7 pin bypass rely and tap into a 12V supply and the rear lights of the car, the car won't know it is towing anything. If they install a vehicle specific kit it will be coded and connected into the CAN data bus and the car will know when a trailer or caravan is attached. this will alter the ESP and how the car might handle under heavy breaking or skidding, also deactivates the reversing sensors and might give you a trailer light failure warning and indicator flash on the dashboard. I don't know how many gizmos a 2008 passat might have activated but the ESP would be the most important safety feature to be activated to my mind. A caravan's a pretty heavy lump to have bouncing around on the back, so if I were you I'd go for the coded option, I only tow small trailer or boat of around 500kg and went for that. You'll find more info on tow bar suppliers websites.

[Barefoot Runner]

Thank you Rob for sharing your thoughts about this. My caravan is very small (650Kg) but I'm thinking I will get the coded option in case I go bigger with my caravan.