Most towbar wiring kits contain a vehicle specific wiring harness, a control unit with vehicle connectors, customised relays, a loom with corresponding plug in connectors, power and communication cables, fully detailed illustrated instructions and a high quality 7 or 13 pin socket.
Other items you should look for in a decent tow bar wiring kits are cable ties, fuses, and all the grommets required to finish the installation. You can get universal tow bar wiring kits but customised kits are specially designed to work specifically with your vehicle's electronic system.
Towbar wiring kits activate the dash trailer indicator warning light, deactivate parking aids and the rear fog lamps - depending on the model of your vehicle. Decent Tow Bar Wiring Kits are overall not that hard to fit and detailed instructions help a lot. The installation process should take no longer than a few hours, then you may need coding on your vehicle diagnostics. The customised kits generally give you more automation and control over systems like trailer stability, suspension, traction control and anti-lock braking.
Most Tow Bar Wiring Kits offer three types of warning system. A beep, a special visual warning light when indicating, and your vehicle's warning light will flash at twice the normal speed when the trailer indicator isn't working. In most cases diagnostic coding will not be required, but extra safety features are normally available if you do. Full coding details should come with the kit.
Activates your vehicle's TSP (Trailer Stability Program), correcting the trailer 'snaking' action
Adapts brake settings which provides optimal emergency stopping & enhanced hill start assistance
Engages your vehicle's light health check monitoring system to provide warning of any bulb failures
Disables your vehicle's rear parking sensors to prevent unnecessary & distracting 'beeps'
Disables your vehicle's rear fog lights - but not the trailer's - to prevent rear view mirror glare
Adapts new gear ratio settings for automatics to allow for additional tow load
Disables the vehicle's stop / start economy system prevent unsafe stalling
