Hi,

just had a detachable tow bar and full 13 pin electrics fitted to my Octavia 4x4 at the main dealers.

All seems well except that the rear parking sensors don't turn off when the caravan is connected.

How does the car sense that the caravan is connected? On some wiring diagrams it says that pin 12 is unallocated on others it refers to a trailer sensor. My caravan is an older model and has the older 12N and 12S sockets. I am connecting via a 13 pin to 12N/S adaptor. I've tried connecting the spare pin 12 to the caravan earth via pin 3 of the 12S but no effect.

All the other functions such as turning off the car reversing lights and rear fog lights work.

Any ideas before the haul back to the dealer with caravan in tow?

Thanks.

Phosphoric?

Had your car the "factory prep" for towing ...................plus the full as supplied by Skoda wiring kit? back to the fusebox? etc etc?

the three NI Skoda dealers I spoke to prior to ordering were ALL were suppling a "buckshee" but reputable local fitted kit.

Not a Skoda supplied approved one, therefore the car cannot "know" when it is connected

Which is fine for our occassional trailer towing duties.

The clue would probably lie in the price quoted for the towbar

cheers

M

Edited 7 July, 201015 yr by dieseldogg

Phosphoric?

Had your car the "factory prep" for towing ...................plus the full as supplied by Skoda wiring kit? back to the fusebox? etc etc?

the three NI Skoda dealers I spoke to prior to ordering were ALL were suppling a "buckshee" but reputable local fitted kit.

Not a Skoda supplied approved one, therefore the car cannot "know" when it is connected

Which is fine for our occassional trailer towing duties.

The clue would probably lie in the price quoted for the towbar

cheers

M

I was advised that the factory tow bar prep was a waste of time if I wanted full electrics, ie battery charging and fridge. The heavy duty cables for this function are not include in the tow bar prep.

The dealer quoted me a fortune (£500) to fit the Skoda approved towbar and full electrics. Total bill over £900. It was all part of the deal to match the Drive the Deal quote that I wanted matched.

It took them a full day to install plus a trip back later to replace a piece of broken trim!

I can only assume that they have forgotten to enable something in the computer thingy.

I just wanted to check that the problem is not down to my caravan wiring.

Thanks.

I'd a Westfalia detachable tow hitch fitted (~£300) owing to the extraordinary costs for the necessary Skoda wiring and towbar. (£ 800+ IIRC.)

I accepted that the reverse sensor would not be disabled when the bike rack was in place. This was carefully explained to me by the fitter.

The occasional wail reminds me of the money saved - I've got used to it.

Edited 7 July, 201015 yr by gregoir

I paid for factory fitted removable towbar with adaptor (PK1) ~330 pounds.

I was quoted over £800 by my local dealer for a towbar so I then had a removable one (Witter SQ19 for my Scout) fitted by Hedley Towbars in Durham for around £300. I have also got Alko ATC fitted on the caravan (about £400) as I am likely to keep the caravan far longer than the car.

Tows like a dream and it was fairly breezy coming down from Scotland last Friday ( including going over the Forth Road Bridge) and the caravan never give me a moment's concern.

You need a software down load which tells the vehicle when the trailer is plugged in. I understand the dealer needs to switch the function on. Guess what they charge £40 to do so.

IAMGEOB.

Hi,

just had a detachable tow bar and full 13 pin electrics fitted to my Octavia 4x4 at the main dealers.

All seems well except that the rear parking sensors don't turn off when the caravan is connected.

How does the car sense that the caravan is connected? On some wiring diagrams it says that pin 12 is unallocated on others it refers to a trailer sensor. My caravan is an older model and has the older 12N and 12S sockets. I am connecting via a 13 pin to 12N/S adaptor. I've tried connecting the spare pin 12 to the caravan earth via pin 3 of the 12S but no effect.

All the other functions such as turning off the car reversing lights and rear fog lights work.

Any ideas before the haul back to the dealer with caravan in tow?

Thanks.

I presume the skoda one measures the current going through the towbar electrics socket and tells the ECU there is a trailer attached therfore disabling the reversing sensors, so you would need the genuine factory towbar electrics and the car would have to be 'told' with VCDS that its now fitted to the car. cheers - Stuart.

We've had a Witter lockable detachable towbar fitted with 13 pin caravan electrics. Our week 22 car doesn't have any sort of factory towbar prep. We paid £530 for the towbar including a dedicated loom that would enable the car to know about the caravan or a trailer being attached. It's taken three attempts but yesterday they managed to get the car to recognise the current flowing through the towbar electrics when the caravan is connected. The display on the Bolero where the rear parking sensors normally show now shows a picture of the car connected to a trailer when you select reverse with a trailer or caravan connected. The car knows about the caravan bulbs and the fog lamp is also turned off.

The paperwork for the wiring loom did have instructions on how to code for the towbar but the instructions were incorrect because the car is week 22 and the instructions were for a pre-week 22 Octavia.

If you paid your dealer for the towbar, even if they subcontracted the work, then I'd be straight back to them to get them to recode.