Hi everyone!

 

I'm after a bit of help on two subjects:

Fitting a tow bar when the car has reversing sensors

Fuel Filler flap not unlocking

 

Firstly, my car has 3 reversing sensors on the rear bumper and I'm looking to fit a towbar for a bike rack. Fitted them previously to an 11 plate Fabia and a 10 plate Ibizia, but never had to deal with sensors before.

 

Looking at getting a detachable model from PFJones - preferably one that doesn't require bumper cuts - but previous towbars bought from there (Witter and Westphalia) haven't been "cut free" as advised. Not fussed about making cuts out of sight if needs be.

 

Does anyone have reccomendations for a towbar that doesn't need any bumper modifications and won't interfere with the sensors?

 

Secondly, I've just change my car central locking to "one click" via Carista, but now the Fuel Filler Flap doesn't unlock with the rest of the car! All doors and the boot unlock on one click, but the Fuel Filler Cap won't unlock no matter how many times I've pressed unlock on the fob, or done it from within the car using the button on the centre console.

 

Any advice on why Fuel Filler Cap doesn't unlock with one-click unlocking?

 

 

Thanks,

We have the Westfalia removable towbar on our Rapid SB. We did consider the "British" type of non-detachable bar but the fitters (who do lots of towbars, they are a specialist) could not guarantee that the ball wouldn't interfere with the sensors in normal use. Reason is I have a Witter bike carrier that uses a plate that bolts on using the 2 bolts, I used this when carrying bikes but not towing a caravan.

 

I have found that if I leave the towball in place after unhooking the caravan, I can drive around as normal and there is no interference with the sensors. Having said that the "Ball on a stick" presents a smaller "target" for the sensors than the flanged one, the bike carroer plate presents an even bigger target!

 

You do need the "software changes" - this means resetting the car's brain to detect the trailer plug-in. What happens is that once the change has been made, some things work differently once you have plugged-in the trailer electrics, this includes disabling the reverse sensors (a trailer symbol comes up on the display instead), and I thing it also disables the cars rear fog lights as well. Not sure about its reversing lights, I've never looked! And of course the flash rate on the indicators.

 

Cut-out - the rear bumper folds under the car for quite a distance, so there is a large panel cut out of its underside, invisible from normal view. 

 

Mine is the Westfalia detachable towbar (https://www.pfjones.co.uk/skoda-rapid-spaceback-2012-onwards-westfalia-detachable-towbar.html), if I was doing it now I would look at the Witter detachable flange towbar (https://www.pfjones.co.uk/skoda-rapid-spaceback-2013-onwards-witter-detachable-flange-tow-bar.html), simply because of the cost of the ball if it gets chipped/damaged/wears out! You should only need to replace the ball with this one (maybe £20) instead of the whole plug-in mechanism (up to £170).

 

When mine was fitted it involved removing a beam from across the rear of the car - the towing brcaket uses its mountings. I have this in the garage, make sure you get yours in case you remove the bracket before selling-on the car!

 

I hope this helps - Richard.

 

I should add mine is a 2014 Rapid SB 1.6tdi - bog standard version, just in case different versions have different bumpers!

 

Edited 16 April, 20197 yr by RMurphy195

7 hours ago, RMurphy195 said:

We have the Westfalia removable towbar on our Rapid SB. We did consider the "British" type of non-detachable bar but the fitters (who do lots of towbars, they are a specialist) could not guarantee that the ball wouldn't interfere with the sensors in normal use. Reason is I have a Witter bike carrier that uses a plate that bolts on using the 2 bolts, I used this when carrying bikes but not towing a caravan.

 

Ah oikay, I'm currently looking at this one (https://www.pfjones.co.uk/skoda-rapid-spaceback-07-2012-onwards-brink-detachable-towbar.html) as I'm not a fan on the flange style, and my bike carrier just clips onto the ball. Plus I won't be towing a caravan as I don't own one, so I won't need the eletonic bypass and all that (I think?).

 

I've had a brief look over the fitting instructions and they seem to be fairly standard compared to previous experiences (remove rear light clusters, undo all bolts, etc) so fairly confident it should be straight forward. The only trick bit will be the sensors themselves!

 

7 hours ago, RMurphy195 said:

Cut-out - the rear bumper folds under the car for quite a distance, so there is a large panel cut out of its underside, invisible from normal view. 

 

Ah okay, so long as it's hidden from view I can live with it!

 

Thanks for the info though, very much appreciated!

 

 

 

If the bikes and/or carrier obscure the rear lights or the number plate then to be legal, and give following cars an idea of where you are going, you will need either a cycle carrier with built in lights or a "trailer board" attached to the bikes. For either of these your will need a 7 or 13 pin socket on the car and the electrics runnning to it. The cheapest option is a universal kit but these have been known to cause problems (a forum search will pull up some posts). The best, and most expensive way, is to have a bespoke trailer module fitted and coded to the car but the choice is yours.

15 hours ago, Liger1956 said:

If the bikes and/or carrier obscure the rear lights or the number plate then to be legal, and give following cars an idea of where you are going, you will need either a cycle carrier with built in lights or a "trailer board" attached to the bikes. For either of these your will need a 7 or 13 pin socket on the car and the electrics runnning to it. The cheapest option is a universal kit but these have been known to cause problems (a forum search will pull up some posts). The best, and most expensive way, is to have a bespoke trailer module fitted and coded to the car but the choice is yours.

 

Never had any issues with it previously on other cars. I've always had to get an additional number plate to hang over the rack, but you can see the lights through the wheel spokes easily enough.