Question from down under => is the wiring harness and bypass relay mandatory when connecting a tow bar on an Octavia MKII 2012?

 

I am looking at fitting a tow bar for a small trailer and bike carrier. I therefore "simply" need to get brake / reverse lights and indicators.

My car has no reversing sensors or camera and I can very much do without having a warning sign on the dashboard to remind me I am towing something.

 

=> Back in the old days, it was just a question of splitting a couple of cables in the boot and job was done. What happen if the same is done on the Octavia? Does it detects something is abnormal and generates an error?  

Given my basic needs, I would rather avoid the expense and complexity of fitting the full wiring harness if i can avoid it...

 

Thanks for your clarification!

 

You just cable it as you would have done in the good old days but use a Canbus switching relay.

 

The name is a bit of a misnomer as it does not communicate with the Canbus, it simply takes a tiny amount of current from when any of the lights are activated to trigger the relay which is fed from the battery or fuse box, the current is too small to trigger a bulb overcurrent warning.

Hi the car uses the same bulb filament for tail/ brake by dimming for tail, using PWM , you need a unit to split this signal into two separate feeds. the units are readily available on a large auction site, and not that expensive