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Topic: BMW electric tow bar.

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Tweed2

12/1/2017 at 7:51pm
Location: Cambridge area
Outfit: Bailey Senator Arizona

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Hi all, I've just joined the forum so be gentle with me if I drag up something that has been round the block before.

I'm about to trade in my front wheel drive Audi A6 Avant for an Xdrive BMW 3 Series Touring. One of the attractions of this particular car was the fact it has an electric folding tow bar.

I see there have been quite a few posts regarding the fact that in the 13 pin socket, the two pins used to run the fridge and charge the van battery while on the move are not wired up, but I cannot find out categorically whether there is a manual over-ride if the 'all singing all dancing' electric tow-bar fails to work. Trying to find out from the salesman is a joke.
Because of that I'm tempted to walk away from the car, but I cannot believe BMW would not have a contingency plan to be able to use the thing!
Perhaps someone on here has the same bar and confirm whether there is, or isn't an over-ride.
Thanks in advance.

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Tweed2

Opensauce

13/1/2017 at 8:30am
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Regarding 13pin wiring. You need to establish if 13pin socket on car is fully wired. If it is not then an extra loom is required to activate all pins.

Francais

13/1/2017 at 8:40am
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Could be worth investing in a 13pin socket tester, around £20 on eBay, most seem to check the continuas 12v supply required for the fridge etc.

Tweed2

13/1/2017 at 10:30am
Location: Cambridge area
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Thanks Francais/Opensauce... that tester sounds like a handy bit of kit to have.
As far as getting it wired, I've had a chat with a local German car specialist (German Tech, Cambridge) and they have done the job before, albeit on a 5 Series, but fingers crossed that won't be a problem.
The fly in the ointment with this fancy bloody tow-bar seems to be there might not be a manual over-ride. I really can't believe BMW have taken their eye 'off the ball' to that extent and there's no way of using it in the case of a problem with the motor.

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Tweed2

Scoobz

14/1/2017 at 5:49pm
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Hi Tweed2. My brother bought an X3 2.0 Auto MSport last year brand new. He got the electric tow bar fitted (Fantastic bit of kit). He had a nightmare trying to get the salesman to understand that he needed all pins live on the tow bar.
Bottom line is would you believe they have no were on the paper work to state that all pins to be live. So what ended up was when the car arrived BMW Williams fitted the extra loom to make all pins live.
Now the best advice I can give you is go back to your dealer show this post if you want or quote it and say that's what you require doing as part of the deal or two things will happen. Either they will try and charge you an additional £350 for the extra loom and fitting. Or if you go elsewhere to get the extra pins made live and god forbid anything breaks down then your warranty will be void as they didn't fit it.
That's what they told me anyway. My brother told them unless they fitted the extra loom at no additional charge then the deal was off,guess what they did ?. Also my brother was speaking to one of there engineers who told him that the reason it was so expensive for the extra loom was the rear bumper had to come of again and the loom fed through the car to connect to the ECU and re programmed, Otherwise a light comes on stating fault all the time. That's what they told my brother, whether it's true or not I don't know.
Hope that helps ,Scoobz.

Tweed2

14/1/2017 at 6:45pm
Location: Cambridge area
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Thanks Scoobz, unfortunately I'm not buying a new car so not in a position to jump up and down too much on the salesman :) It's on a 14 plate with some BMW warranty on it but I don't think that will carry much weight in this instance.
I'd be very grateful if you could ask your bro though if there is a way to deploy the bar manually.

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Tweed2

mdb123

18/1/2017 at 7:07pm
Location: West Midlands
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I have a BMW X3 with the factory fitted tow bar and its a question i have asked both sales and service and neither seem to know if there is a manual release so i guess its fingers crossed it always works!!!

Very good tow bar although you do have to give it a good clean each time as there is no protector cap so dirt gets on it from road spray etc which causes creaking from the Alko hitch if you fail to clean properly.

Had mine 2 years and still no answer from BMW.

Tweed2

23/1/2017 at 2:10pm
Location: Cambridge area
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Hiya mdb123, sorry not to get back before but been away for couple of days R&R!
Yes, the silence is deafening when I have asked the question of BMW ... strange how they are all over you like a bad suit when you're buying the car!
So, I rang a company that will retro-fit one of these bars to a new car .. ( https://www.cartronics.co.uk/BMW-3-series-retrofit-folding-electric-towbar ) ... and asked them if there was a way of manually deploying the bar in case of a malfunction.
Their response was 'It won't fail'.
I asked 'Humour me ...what if it does?'
He said 'Call your breakdown service and they will come out and fix it!!'

The explanation for the missing pins in the '13' socket leaves a bit to be desired too. I would have thought a 'top end' car manufacturer that sells a reasonable percentage of it's product in the UK would cater for that market.
Or am I just being a bit too 'old-school'?

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Tweed2

katycymru

23/1/2017 at 8:25pm
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Forgive me for being incredibly naive or insensitive, but I don't seem to see the issue. If your windscreen wiper or starter motor failed, you'd have to call breakdown/garage as you couldn't continue. There's no manual solution for that, so why the absolute necessity for this? If it fails to deploy, I'd have no problems calling someone out or going somewhere, especially considering the very small chance of it happening.

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Tweed2

24/1/2017 at 1:52am
Location: Cambridge area
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katycymru If you really cannot see the difference between the two probably best we leave it at that.

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Tweed2

Skoda Bob

24/1/2017 at 3:39pm
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I would be more concerned that the indicators work, many BMW owners have never known how to activate them

Tweed2

24/1/2017 at 4:37pm
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Yeah Yeah Yeah ....

I've heard they were an optional extra!

More annoying is when some drivers want to turn right, they just stop .... no pulling over to the middle of the road! Funnily enough, most of them seem to Skoda drivers..

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Tweed2

HumberWolf

24/1/2017 at 5:04pm
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While it may be a rare occurrence, failure of the electric towbar can occur, and when it does causes considerable problems; just read the BMW forums on this subject.

The problems appear to be failure to deploy, getting stuck in the halfway position or fully deploying but presenting fault codes or a flashing light suggesting it hasn't engaged properly. Relying on a breakdown service to fix it would seem to be very optimistic as owners report the BMW dealers struggle with the problem, which often necessitates a new motor and towball, a very expensive fix. Even cleaning the mechanism requires removal of the bumper on some (all?) models.

Like all detachable/extending towbars they need to be activated regularly to prevent them from seizing up. With the electric model it might be best to do this at home and not halfway through a holiday, just to be sure you don't get stuck.

Tweed2

24/1/2017 at 5:44pm
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Thanks HumberWolf, seems the solution is:- Use it for as long as it works, when it doesn't take it off and chuck it in the bin, then go and have a detachable one fitted!
I'm beginning to think I should have taken the bar off my A6 and persevered with my search for a Quattro!

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Tweed2

Dave11

24/1/2017 at 11:05pm
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Just a thought , I have the electric retractable tow bar on my X5.

To make sure I never get stuck with the towbar not deploying, when I am away with the van, I always leave the tow bar out and pop a cap on, then only retract it when back home just in case!

Tweed2

25/1/2017 at 1:16am
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Hi Dave11, yes that is an option ... kind of defeats the object of having it though. Probably because I've spent my life in engineering, I like things to work as they were intended ... and if they don't it's because they're not fit for purpose through bad design.
It's all a bit hypothetical so fingers crossed it keeps on doing what it should.

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Tweed2

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