On my Octavia mk III, I have a detachable towbar. Happy to have it, but not so happy I can't get it to function properly. This morning I attached it and detached it, and now the handle won't click back in place. 

 

Any ideas of what to do to get the handle to operate smoothly?

 

 

Is the lever with the key in locked in that position? And the key locked in the lever? If so, it's fine, that's how it should be and when you insert the tow hitch the lever pops up and you can turn the lock and remove the key

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Thanks, @Cakemonster. You know what, I'll take some time later today to walk through these steps carefully, sitting by the car and then update here with my findings.

I always found that i had to be very central when pushing it up and quite firm. 

2 hours ago, NZ100 said:

I always found that i had to be very central when pushing it up and quite firm. 

 

I really must try harder to contain my imagination 😜

Before this thread gets out of hand, I think it's probably fairly potent to say, that... I figured it out once at the hole. It did take a little wiggling, but then suddenly all was well. 

There was a second connector - and that worked out too.

 

Time to close this topic.

Thanks for the tips, @Cakemonster - that did it.

On 04/03/2024 at 12:38, Cakemonster said:

Is the lever with the key in locked in that position? And the key locked in the lever? If so, it's fine, that's how it should be and when you insert the tow hitch the lever pops up and you can turn the lock and remove the key

Somewhat related, @Cakemonster (and everyone else): I have the key, which mostly looks like a standard key. Not the one with the red key head.

 

Any idea who the manufacturer is and how to get a hold of an extra spare key?

14 minutes ago, gubbe said:

Somewhat related, @Cakemonster (and everyone else): I have the key, which mostly looks like a standard key. Not the one with the red key head.

 

Any idea who the manufacturer is and how to get a hold of an extra spare key?

Looking at the original picture showing the lock I suspect any place that cuts keys will be able to do a replacement if you already have one.
Worst case take the whole thing in including the lock to a locksmith. Good ones will be able to decode from the lock itself.

3 minutes ago, Winston_Woof said:

Looking at the original picture showing the lock I suspect any place that cuts keys will be able to do a replacement if you already have one.
Worst case take the whole thing in including the lock to a locksmith. Good ones will be able to decode from the lock itself.

Thanks, @Winston_Woof. Yeah, I did that earlier today. Seemed like the easy solution, but they said they couldn't help. So, 1 of 2 is true: 1) these keys are special. 2) my key shop is incompetent. Actually both can be true...

The towbar model number is 5E0092155, from the looks of it. Need the regular kind of key as seen in the original image.

Edited 2 April, 20242 yr by gubbe

Are there any numbers on the key or lock barrel?

 

 

Witter

 

You will find the key number engraved on the barrel of the lock either on your towbar where you insert the key, or, engraved on the side of your key. The engraving will start with TR.

 

 

Westfalia

 

You will find a series of numbers engraved on the barrel of the lock on your towbar, either where you insert the key or engraved on your key.

If there are 5 numbers engraved on the barrel of the lock, take the last two numbers and put 2W in front of them to purchase the right key.

If there is a 3 digit number on the barrel of the lock then you will need to go to a service centre that has a set of master keys to find out the right key number.

 

 

@gubbe if you get stuck ther eare a number of companies now who will try & identify your key from a HQ image and then even cut it.

I did use one of these a few years back but unfortunately I dont recall whichone I used.

Examples are

https://www.lockdoctor.biz/

https://www.replacementkeys.co.uk/

I had a similar issue to the OP and ended up drilling out the lock only to find all that was needed was a good blast of wd40 to loosen the internal mechanism. The hitch still works but doesn't lock anymore (obviously).

 

The lock itself was pretty basic so I'm suprised a hightstreet locksmith couldn't cut one for you. It reminded me of a filing cabinet lock or similar.

 

Cheers