Hello, I'm new to the site and after a bit of info about getting a tow bar fitted to my 2016 Octavia.  Is it worth getting the Skoda dedicated electrics fitted at an extra cost or will it work equally well with Universal electrics fitted? The blurb on the tow bar site suggests dedicated electrics to keep the car in warranty but mine is out of warranty but also to activate any safety measures installed in the car but I don't know if these have been installed for towing.

 

Any ideas? all help appreciated.   

 

Phil.

dedicated all day otherwise you'll end up with some cowboy butchering your electrics and you'll have no end of canbus errors

 

costs a bit more, but it's worth the peace of mind

Agree with above. Dedicated integrates the electrics to the safety systems so the car knows when your towing. It'll disable rear parking sensors for example. Abs, engine, park steer modules are all recoded during a fit. "Chopping" it will cause all sorts of headaches. 

Thanks for your replies, I'll go with the dedicated wiring. Hopefully have the tow bar installed next week.

I don't have dedicated electrics. I don't have canbus errors. 

Me neither, if you have an understanding of how the relay works then you know that it is intrinsically safe and unlikely to cause problems. Only as good as the butcher that connects it to the vehicle wiring though.

 

The relay will however add to the vehicles quiescent current consumption and reduce its autonomy when left for long periods, I have fitted isolating switches to the relay feed in both my vehicles.

Must admit I was a bit apprehensive handing my keys to an old guy for several hours whilst he installed the Westfalia tow bar. However on my return he gave me the good impression that he had been fitting towbars forever... 

Fitted a detachable towbar and universal bypass electrics to my MY20 VRS last week and everything works perfectly with no faults, other than I managed to break one of my rear light connectors...doh, new one arrived yesterday so will get it changed when the pin tool arrives from ebay, needed some advice on removing the bumper from the ever helpful Sasha (much appreciated) but all is good.

 

Cheers

Edited 30 May, 20206 yr by esoxecosse

All these comments about how easy and simple "universal" electrics are, ignore the fact that the car does not know you have a trailer fitted when it is subsequently plugged into the trailer connector. With dedicated electrics, the car knows you have a trailer and the ESC/ABS braking is different to avoid the trailer going wrong under braking. Given how much we've spent on our cars, is it really worth saving a couple of hundred £ on the cost of dedicated vs universal?

 

If you have park assist, then it'll even reverse the trailer for you!

Edited 1 June, 20206 yr by wg100

3 hours ago, wg100 said:

 

 

If you have park assist, then it'll even reverse the trailer for you!

 

Tks. I didn't know that! With my very poor 'trailer' backing skills I am looking forward to testing that out!

8 hours ago, wg100 said:

All these comments about how easy and simple "universal" electrics are, ignore the fact that the car does not know you have a trailer fitted when it is subsequently plugged into the trailer connector. With dedicated electrics, the car knows you have a trailer and the ESC/ABS braking is different to avoid the trailer going wrong under braking. Given how much we've spent on our cars, is it really worth saving a couple of hundred £ on the cost of dedicated vs universal?

 

If you have park assist, then it'll even reverse the trailer for you!

So can you tell me exactly what changes with the ESC/ABS?

 

Some caravans have ATC which definetly will reduce the likelihood of a snake. 

20 minutes ago, Swirly182 said:

So can you tell me exactly what changes with the ESC/ABS?

 

Some caravans have ATC which definetly will reduce the likelihood of a snake. 

 

Trailer Stability systems detect when a trailer is starting to oscillate, or ‘snake’ as it is commonly known, while you are towing. It will attempt to correct any dangerous trailer swing through a combination of either torque reduction and/or individual wheel braking to bring the trailer and tow-vehicle back under control.

5 hours ago, puhleese said:

 

Tks. I didn't know that! With my very poor 'trailer' backing skills I am looking forward to testing that out!

 

Have you got a link to an official source that states this is available on the Octavia? I am genuinely interested in the feature as I tow a relatively heavy caravan. 

23 minutes ago, Swirly182 said:

Have you got a link to an official source that states this is available on the Octavia? I am genuinely interested in the feature as I tow a relatively heavy caravan. 

 

That's a Kodiaq! 

 

Looking at the pricing and specification document dated May 2019 for the Octavia, only the vRS states TSA (in brackets) with the ESC system. See screen shot below. Although not sure how accurate this is as even the Scout only has the standard 'S' model's ESC system. 

Edited 2 June, 20206 yr by Swirly182

It may we’ll be that it’s only an unofficial thing which is activated via VCDS as per the guide here: https://www.briskoda.net/forums/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=153051

Ok. I think it's worth me looking into installing the correct tow bar prep to enable TSA at some stage. It would also be nice for the parking sensors and collision avoidance to disable - first time the brakes slammed on trying to reverse the caravan wasn't fun. 

 

Whilst I don't think my current set up is dangerous in anyway, my intention was to have the dedicated wiring. But time constraints of installing the tow bar and picking the caravan up from a private seller prevented this. 

Right all you guys that have or are thinking of NOT having TSA I've gotta tell you 2 things.

 

1. TSA makes towing at & beyond the car's limits far far safer, having used a Mk3 1.4 TSI Elegance to tow a Mk2 Astra on a twin axle 22ft car trailer, I KNOW

 

2. When you finally sell your car, are you gonna be honest & tell the new owner whom may want to take his family on holiday with their caravan, "no this car doesn't have TSA"

 

In addition, TSA ain't all the OEM electrics provide, you do know it disables the coasting function in Eco mode, which is pretty damned handy going downhill with 1,500kg hooked up.

 

Seriously guys, I love to save a few quid but, this ain't the place to be doing it.

All valid points and in an ideal world everyone would have it. To mitigate not having it, I check the noseweight every time, load the caravan properly, check tyre pressures, check bolt torque (less often) and drive sensibly. 

 

I'm quite sure that my dad's Montego estate didn't have TSA enabled during the many years of safe towing he had with that. 

 

The eco coast function, this is for DSG only isn't it?

1 hour ago, Swirly182 said:

 

The eco coast function, this is for DSG only isn't it?

TBH I don't, I kinda assumed the manual gearbox done it as well, have you got a manual ? your profile doesn't show

 

I've had a DSG for about 7 years now

Edited 3 June, 20206 yr by themanwithnoaim

Yes mines a manual. I presume the clutches disengage in the DSG to allow it to coast? I shall not be doing this manually with the van on the back! 

Just to answer the above. 

When i fit my tow ball, it wont let you engage eco mode, so you cannot coast while towing. 

1 hour ago, NZ100 said:

Just to answer the above. 

When i fit my tow ball, it wont let you engage eco mode, so you cannot coast while towing. 

Is yours a DSG? 

Sorry yes, should have put that.