Hi guys , I'd appreciate  some advice if you can.  So I have just picked up my new kodiaq and I need to book it in to get a towbar fitted to pull a caravan  . I ordered the towbar prep when ordering the car and want to know if this will save me money,

meaning will the guys fitting the towbar have less to do . 

Thanks in advance ....

 

 

Hey, yes this should definitely cut down on the work required by the fitter and therefore save you money. Towbar prep means the wiring has been run from the fusebox & BCM back to the boot area. The wires will be behind the left hand trim panel, as you look into the boot from outside. 

I had an aftermarket tow bar fitted without the prep and it was at least an extra hour to run the wiring back to the fusebox etc so it should definitely save you in the installation

Be sure you ask the fitter before you book them. Some fitters and some tow bars don't use the factory prep and still require their own.

I don't get why people don't just get the factory fit tow bar... in my experience it's no more expensive than quotes I've had for aftermarket ones, and, well, it saves all the hassle.

I've had two Kodiaqs now, first (2.0TSI SE-L) was ordered with towbar prep as I wasnt sure if I would need to tow with it but wanted to have the easy option if i did need too. My second Kodiaq (vRS) was ordered with factory towbar as I ended up needing to tow and so had an aftermarket one fitted to the first Kodiaq so made sense to go with the factory option for the second Kodiaq.

 

Given the choice again - I would go with the aftermarket towbar (with towbar prep from factory) over the factory option strangely, the factory fit towball is much too close for comfort to the rear bumper when hitching up and the electrical connector being on the side is a pain in the backside to connect.

 

On 21/05/2022 at 01:19, Teir said:

Hey, yes this should definitely cut down on the work required by the fitter and therefore save you money. Towbar prep means the wiring has been run from the fusebox & BCM back to the boot area. The wires will be behind the left hand trim panel, as you look into the boot from outside. 

Hi @Teir, do you mean this:   

 

I have been wondering what these wires are for... asked the dealer and they had no idea...

 

I had an aftermarket Hayman Reece Hitch receiver installed and the automatic kick sensor boot opener thingy doesn't work!

 

Hey, 

 

No, not those, sorry! Those wires are something to do with moisture detection during the factory build. They have no use once the car is complete. Tuck them away and forget about them. The towbar prep wiring is much chunkier and isn't visible without removing trim. 

 

Yeah, hitches can interfere with the virtual pedal. The instructions for fitting the OEM Skoda hitch tell you to fit a new antenna, because of the cut-out in the bumper. 

 

 

According to the latest Kodiaq brochure, if you don’t order towbar prep or towbar from factory the towing data plate is blank so technically it won’t be legal to fit a towbar.

OP has factory towbar prep.

4 minutes ago, Kenny R said:

According to the latest Kodiaq brochure, if you don’t order towbar prep or towbar from factory the towing data plate is blank so technically it won’t be legal to fit a towbar.

 

20 hours ago, Teir said:

OP has factory towbar prep.

 

Thanks. And yes factory tow prep has been in place. I think it’s a standard in Australian Kodiaqs

 

thanks for the heads up @Teir   Dealer insists it has something to do with the sense for automatic boot kick release. They know nothing … grr. You’d think they’d know their own product

On 09/06/2022 at 14:45, Nugz said:

Dealer insists it has something to do with the sense for automatic boot kick release. They know nothing … grr. You’d think they’d know their own product

Skoda's name for the automatic boot kick release is virtual pedal as below.

 

On 08/06/2022 at 17:14, Teir said:

Yeah, hitches can interfere with the virtual pedal. The instructions for fitting the OEM Skoda hitch tell you to fit a new antenna, because of the cut-out in the bumper. 

 

On 09/06/2022 at 03:45, Nugz said:

 

@TeirDealer insists it has something to do with the sense for automatic boot kick release. They know nothing … grr. You’d think they’d know their own product

 

Do you mean the dealer is saying the virtual pedal isn't working because of the loose green wires? 

4 hours ago, Teir said:

 

Do you mean the dealer is saying the virtual pedal isn't working because of the loose green wires? 

Yessir. They are hopeless!

On 06/06/2022 at 19:52, Yogi-Bear said:

I don't get why people don't just get the factory fit tow bar... in my experience it's no more expensive than quotes I've had for aftermarket ones, and, well, it saves all the hassle.

Aftermarket tow bar with oem wiring is roughly £500

When I priced up a OE tow bar with OE wiring it is around £900

 

Thats just for parts. Its almost double the price

On 08/06/2022 at 07:12, Kenny R said:

According to the latest Kodiaq brochure, if you don’t order towbar prep or towbar from factory the towing data plate is blank so technically it won’t be legal to fit a towbar.

This is also the same for Superb's and a lot of people are getting caught out as the V5 and vin plate have no train weights so its illegal to tow with.

6 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

Aftermarket tow bar with oem wiring is roughly £500

When I priced up a OE tow bar with OE wiring it is around £900

 

Thats just for parts. Its almost double the price

 

Added to that a lot of people don't buy new or buy pre-registered or in stock cars meaning they cannot specify tow bar prep.

On 08/06/2022 at 13:14, Teir said:

..

 

Yeah, hitches can interfere with the virtual pedal. The instructions for fitting the OEM Skoda hitch tell you to fit a new antenna, because of the cut-out in the bumper. 

 

 

 

Hi @Teir, can you tell me about the new antenna?  my Hayman Reese hitch receiver installed aftermarket is just not useably working... I maybe get it to work 1 out of every 4 tries?  Installers/Hayman Reese seem to know nothing about this and my Skoda dealer is washing their hands of the whole thing as they (predictably) are saying that its not a factory fit so they won't be held responsible?

Whats involved in a new antenna? would I have to order it from Skoda?

22 hours ago, ApertureS said:

Aftermarket tow bar with oem wiring is roughly £500

When I priced up a OE tow bar with OE wiring it is around £900

 

Thats just for parts. Its almost double the price

 

I'm not talking about retrofitting a tow bar. I'm on about getting a factory fitted one - currently £960.

 

Tow bar prep is £205 - so either you've forgotten to add that in or your aftermarket tow bar is exceptionally cheap. By the time you've added in labour, it's going to cost about the same as the factory fit tow bar - I searched around for my last Kodiaq and every quote I had was about £900-£1000 (including electrics). So with costs being roughly equal, I go back to my point that it's just far easier and simpler to get it factory fitted.

 

22 hours ago, skomaz said:

Added to that a lot of people don't buy new or buy pre-registered or in stock cars meaning they cannot specify tow bar prep.

 

That's a slightly different case... I was specifically referring to people who order a factory build car and then try to add a tow bar to it afterwards. Really not worth it...

 

22 hours ago, ApertureS said:

the V5 and vin plate have no train weights so its illegal to tow with.

 

...and may even not be legal to use for anything other than a bike rack (which is all I use mine for, to be fair).

Just had a Witter detachable one fitted to ours today.  £677 all-in, with vehicle specific, coded electrics.  All seems to work.  It's smart enough to disable the tailgate release switch on the driver's door if the trailer socket is plugged-in.  We didn't have the virtual pedal in any case.  All seems to work as it should.  The vehicle didn't have towbar prep but it's a 2017 car and has towing weights on its VIN plate, its logbook and its Certificate of Conformity.

1 hour ago, Yogi-Bear said:

 

I'm not talking about retrofitting a tow bar. I'm on about getting a factory fitted one - currently £960.

 

Tow bar prep is £205 - so either you've forgotten to add that in or your aftermarket tow bar is exceptionally cheap. By the time you've added in labour, it's going to cost about the same as the factory fit tow bar - I searched around for my last Kodiaq and every quote I had was about £900-£1000 (including electrics). So with costs being roughly equal, I go back to my point that it's just far easier and simpler to get it factory fitted.

 

 

That's a slightly different case... I was specifically referring to people who order a factory build car and then try to add a tow bar to it afterwards. Really not worth it...

 

 

...and may even not be legal to use for anything other than a bike rack (which is all I use mine for, to be fair).

Aftermarket including fitting, vehicle specific wiring and coding and all parts will set you back about £700

westfalia kit so far from bad quality too.

 

I’m not denying that factory is nice, but aftermarket is still an option and not a bank breaking one at that.

 

and even if you were using a tow bar for a cycle carrier without any train weight, I believe it’s still illegal as the vehicle wasn’t ‘designed’ and signed off to carry any load bearing system.

1 hour ago, Avocet said:

Just had a Witter detachable one fitted to ours today.  £677 all-in, with vehicle specific, coded electrics.  All seems to work.  It's smart enough to disable the tailgate release switch on the driver's door if the trailer socket is plugged-in.  We didn't have the virtual pedal in any case.  All seems to work as it should.  The vehicle didn't have towbar prep but it's a 2017 car and has towing weights on its VIN plate, its logbook and its Certificate of Conformity.

 

That's useful to know as ours was a used purchase and didn't have one fitted or the prep from new but I need one for bike duties etc.  Do you mind me asking specifics about who fitted it and whether they had any issues / caused any damage etc.?  Cheers

On 13/06/2022 at 05:39, Nugz said:

 

Hi @Teir, can you tell me about the new antenna?  my Hayman Reese hitch receiver installed aftermarket is just not useably working... I maybe get it to work 1 out of every 4 tries?  Installers/Hayman Reese seem to know nothing about this and my Skoda dealer is washing their hands of the whole thing as they (predictably) are saying that its not a factory fit so they won't be held responsible?

Whats involved in a new antenna? would I have to order it from Skoda?

 

Hey @Nugz,  I think this only applies when you're retrofitting the OEM towbar, probably because it needs a larger cut-out in the bumper. The instructions say to remove the virtual pedal antenna, make the cutout, and then re-fit a new one. It's not a different type of antenna, just another of the same type. If your virtual pedal is working at all (even intermittently), then before doing anything drastic I would just play around with where and how you're doing the kick. It's famed for it's flakiness, and adding the hitch receiver may have affected the electrical field or whatever it is that actually detects your foot.  You may need to aim your kick in a slightly different place than you previously did, or use a slightly different motion.

 

I suppose the next step after that might be to take your bumper off and see if you can reposition the antenna a little (it's held in place with adhesive, so you'd need some way to stick it back if you take it off - this is likely why they want you to buy a new one). There would be some guesswork involved in deciding how exactly to position it though, and to be honest I have no idea whether it would it help or not. Some more googling might bring up other people's experiences on other forums? Good luck!

 

22 hours ago, Teir said:

 

Hey @Nugz,  I think this only applies when you're retrofitting the OEM towbar, probably because it needs a larger cut-out in the bumper. The instructions say to remove the virtual pedal antenna, make the cutout, and then re-fit a new one. It's not a different type of antenna, just another of the same type. If your virtual pedal is working at all (even intermittently), then before doing anything drastic I would just play around with where and how you're doing the kick. It's famed for it's flakiness, and adding the hitch receiver may have affected the electrical field or whatever it is that actually detects your foot.  You may need to aim your kick in a slightly different place than you previously did, or use a slightly different motion.

 

I suppose the next step after that might be to take your bumper off and see if you can reposition the antenna a little (it's held in place with adhesive, so you'd need some way to stick it back if you take it off - this is likely why they want you to buy a new one). There would be some guesswork involved in deciding how exactly to position it though, and to be honest I have no idea whether it would it help or not. Some more googling might bring up other people's experiences on other forums? Good luck!

 

OK thanks mate.  I get more useful information from just 5 minutes on this forum than the drivel coming out of the dealer.  The installers want the dealer to run a diagnostic on it to rule out any error codes but I am not confident that will reveal anything and I have absolutely no confidence in my Skoda dealer.

 

I suspect I will have to do the "kick dance" choreography - who knew this was what you have to do to get the virtual pedal to work!

 

On 13/06/2022 at 22:01, skomaz said:

 

That's useful to know as ours was a used purchase and didn't have one fitted or the prep from new but I need one for bike duties etc.  Do you mind me asking specifics about who fitted it and whether they had any issues / caused any damage etc.?  Cheers

It was PF Jones in Manchester.  All went pretty well. I arrived at the appointed hour and the guy came out with one of those "hire car" forms, to note any existing damage on the car and we both agreed on it and signed it.  He also started it up and checked that there were no existing warning lights.  I then hopped on the tram and went to kill  few hours in the city centre.  Just over 4 hours later, they called back to say it was ready.  There was no new damage to the car (that I could spot).  The nearside rear interior trim panel has a slight bulge in it, so the flap that covers the left hand end of the "roller blind" luggage area cover touches it when I lift it up.  I imagine that's because they've added wiring and maybe a control box in there, but it's very slight and I'm picky like that!  The offside end of the rear bumper looks like it might be VERY slightly further out from the quarter panel than it was, but again, it's so slight that I can't be sure.  The cut in the bottom of the bumper is indeed invisible (unless you lie down).  So far, I'm pleased with it.