My 2015 Rapid Spaceback has a Westfalia removable tow bar fitted, however the tow ball part never came with the car. I have a distaste for tow bars on cars and I want to remove it. Does anyone know the part number of the rear bumper crash bar, which I need to put back on? Or does anyone have one lurking around (after fitting a tow bar) that I could have at a reasonable price? I don't mind if it's silver, black or white but rallye green would be fantastic! Then I can put it back to normal again!

Hi VRSBuzz - not had the towbar fitted yet, was let down by fitter and have had to re-schedule the fitting with someone else (and collection of the caravan!).

 

Thank you for the note about the beam across the back - a friend had something similar with a SEAT that he had a towbar fitted to a while back, the fitters gave him a great lump of steel that goes across the back of the car. It went with the car when he sold it, and sorry but I'll be keeping mine for the same reason you need one.

 

Oddly, if it weren't for the electrics (which now seem to be the bigger part of the job) I'd be offering to swop the beam for the towing bracket - or at least I would in an earlier life. I have fitted them to a couple of cars, but the electrics were much simpler in those days an didn't require dismantling of the car interior to fit them!

Edited 23 July, 20169 yr by RMurphy195

Thanks for the reply RMurphy195. If anyone is interested in the Westfalia towbar and electrics I would consider a swop in exchange for the crash bar so that I can put my Rapid back how Škoda intended.

BTW got the beam back, it matches the car colour BUT its entirely hidden by the rear bumper.

 

The rear bumper has a slot cut into the bottom so if you remove the towbar you will still have this, but it is right under the car so can't normally be seen.

 

As far as I can make out they don't have to drill any extra holes to mount the Westfalia towbar.

 

If removing you will have to do something about the electrics - installing the vehicle-specific harness seems to have been the most labour-intensive part of the job involving removing internal trim etc.as I understand it, you may want to bear that in mind before starting work. Plus there is re-coding of the car's systems,I don't know what the impact of simply cutting off the harness would be, better not do this.

 

So maybe let sleeping dogs lie, just tie the socket up under the car out of the way, or get a towbar fitter to remove it.

 

Cheers - Richard.

Got one from eBay in the end for £30. Now back to factory spec with no towbar!

There's no coding involved. The wiring connects into the tail lights then makes it's way up the offside to the fuse box.

 

I had the Skoda 13 pin electrics fitted to my car earlier this year with a Brink towbar. Connect to the trailer and away I go.

 

It would be a pain to remove as there is a lot of trim to remove to get to the wiring plus you have to rewire the tail lights using a tool that costs £230 from Skoda but realistically should be a could of pounds - they just don't want you doing it yourself.

 

As mentioned before, just tuck the connector up behind the bumper wrapped in a plastic bag to protect the connections in case you or a future owner wants to use it

Edited 30 November, 20169 yr by Delberthot

Yes, there is a lot of trim to remove when fitting the tow bar electrics.

To remove the wiring you could just push the external harness back into the car body and replace the rubber plug that was originally removed to fit it. (p/n 1K0899185 possibly.)

 

The tool to rewire the tail lights was included in the Skoda kit.

 

I had to code the CAN gateway for the trailer module to function.

 

Cheers