I am just waiting for a 170 elegance to come in and was going to get the garage to put an aftermarket towbar on for me. I want this because I have had the misfortune of having being rear-ended a few times. From a few scratches to 4000Euro repair bill. I thought a tow bar might be an advantage but am not so sure now. Will it interfere with rear sensors and am I fooling myself thinking it will be an advantage. I never need to tow anything anyway. Any thoughts anyone?

I am just waiting for a 170 elegance to come in and was going to get the garage to put an aftermarket towbar on for me. I want this because I have had the misfortune of having being rear-ended a few times. From a few scratches to 4000Euro repair bill. I thought a tow bar might be an advantage but am not so sure now. Will it interfere with rear sensors and am I fooling myself thinking it will be an advantage. I never need to tow anything anyway. Any thoughts anyone?

In anything other than the lightest, exactly right angle rear end collision, your tow bar will simply go straight through the front end plastic of the other car and you will still suffer bodywork damage. Just do all the usual good driving practice things of leaving plenty of room in front, avoid having to brake hard, look in your mirror if you do and you may never have another rear ender unless you are very unlucky. Yes, an after market tow bar is likely to be picked up by the rear sensors when reversing and give you the 'wrong' information.

Brian

With a towbar the rear parking sensors are disablled

With a towbar the rear parking sensors are disablled

Are they disabled only when you are towing something or are they disabled all the time?

Are they disabled only when you are towing something or are they disabled all the time?

Only when towing....

Only when towing....

I have an aftermarket removable towbar fitted, I didn't bother having the skoda wiring kit fitted, as I try not to reverse too much with a caravan !

The reversing sensors do work on mine (because I went for the low cost option without dedicated wiring) and even with the towbar attached it isn't seen by the reversing sensors.

I have an aftermarket removable towbar fitted, I didn't bother having the skoda wiring kit fitted, as I try not to reverse too much with a caravan !

The reversing sensors do work on mine (because I went for the low cost option without dedicated wiring) and even with the towbar attached it isn't seen by the reversing sensors.

thanks for the suggestions and observations. Every time I have been hit from behind I have been stopped in traffic and do not really intend to tow much if at all. It would seem that a towbar would offer limited protection. Taking all into account I think I will forget about the towbar. Thanks everyone for your comments.

Darragh

thanks for the suggestions and observations. Every time I have been hit from behind I have been stopped in traffic and do not really intend to tow much if at all. It would seem that a towbar would offer limited protection. Taking all into account I think I will forget about the towbar. Thanks everyone for your comments.

Darragh

Hi Darragh

I tried to get a towbar fitted by the dealer I bought my superb off in KK.He wanted €1400.I got one fitted in the North by a Skoda dealer with Caravan leckies for

£ 505..ame to €560.You should try up there Also wanted Roof Bars,dealer here €320 p in NI 185.No brainer

JB

1400 Euro :-O

Pure Gold!

1400 Euro :-O

Pure Gold!

It didnt stop there,May cost more if I needed some control box. He said all this with a straight face.Then they wonder why they are not selling anything!!!!!!!

JB

It didnt stop there,May cost more if I needed some control box. He said all this with a straight face.Then they wonder why they are not selling anything!!!!!!!

JB

Thanks JB. That sounds crazy. My dealer didn't give me an exact price but did say it would be in the region of €350 for electrics aswell at cost price. I have decided not to get it put on but I'll get a price anyway and let you know. He said that if after a while I changed my mind he would put it on no problem.

Darragh

I believe the costs of getting a tow bar for the superb are as high as they are because it is supposed to be a lot of work and a lot of things need to be dissasembled to get access to the spot where it is fitted.

Anyway, to avoid being hit, wouldn`t it be an option to install an extra brake light, and a big one as such?

Maybe a bumpersticker? Text: "IF YOU CAN READ THIS YOU ARE NOT KEEPING ENOUGH DISTANCE!"

An "L" sticker on the boot? (makes people more cautious?

Two "L" stickers on the boot?

A towbar has helped me in some instances when reversing into things myself, the loud "bang" did warn me in time, but that is because of my own incompetance.

Maybe a little "dummy" traffic/police camera in your back window, people do not like to be filmed.-)

Invest in a good insurance policy?

I asked about the Skoda aftermarket towbar when I bought mine. Dealer quoted £900, saying that the electrics were the tricky part if the car (like mine) doesn't have the wiring kit fitted at the factory. In the end I went to a local company who fitted the same kit Skoda use, all wired in properly (so I get a lovely picture of a trailer behind the car on the columbus when I select reverse and the trailer is attached) for £600. Still expensive, but a big saving on getting Skoda to do it.

Hi,

I had the dealer fit an after market tow bar (mac cabes) to my Superb II when I bought it. This was wired with the wiring kit. The problem with it is that the reversing sensors do "see" it from time to time (probably 80% of the time actually) which makes them useless.

In order to prove this was the problem, the dealer removed the tow bar 2 weeks ago, and I have had no problems without it. it will now be up to them to find a solution ;-)

BTW I paid €500 to have it fitted at purchase time

So the message is if you get a tow bar make sure that the supplier guarantees that the reversing sensors will work when you are NOT towing.

Gtec

Hi,

I had the dealer fit an after market tow bar (mac cabes) to my Superb II when I bought it. This was wired with the wiring kit. The problem with it is that the reversing sensors do "see" it from time to time (probably 80% of the time actually) which makes them useless.

In order to prove this was the problem, the dealer removed the tow bar 2 weeks ago, and I have had no problems without it. it will now be up to them to find a solution ;-)

BTW I paid €500 to have it fitted at purchase time

So the message is if you get a tow bar make sure that the supplier guarantees that the reversing sensors will work when you are NOT towing.

Gtec

That's one of the advantages of the Skoda proprietary system - I have one and when the swan neck/ball is attached, the parking sensors still work but don't false alarm just because there is a tow bar. The pattern of the detection is supposed to be different to the one without the bar and activated only when the bar is connected - it is detected by the under-boot swan neck socket. I haven't taken the trouble to measure exactly any difference between the distance from any obstruction when reversing with or without the 'bar' attached. Expensive system but it works Superbly.

Note that the software also deselects the car's high visibility lights if a 12v connection is made to the towed vehicle, so if these are turned on while towing, only the towed vehicle's hv rear lights will illuminate, and not the ones on the car, which are likely to dazzle the driver if he is closely followed by the white front of a caravan. Clever stuff.

You may note other threads re tow bars on the site - my Skoda tow system also charges the caravan battery and operates the fridge while towing - Skoda UK had to install a new wiring loom to the car to achieve this - at their own cost.

Brian