Genuine Towbars
Whether you’re exploring New Zealand with your caravan or towing your boat to the lake, you’re going to need a suitable towbar on your vehicle. Below, we break down why it’s important to invest in a genuine towbar over a cheaper aftermarket alternative.
Volkswagen genuine towbars are designed and engineered by Volkswagen. They’ve been built on the same production lines that produce Volkswagen vehicles and using them ensures your vehicle performs and protects as designed.
A genuine Volkswagen towbar is specifically tailored to fit your Volkswagen model. This means that it is designed to be installed precisely to fit the shape of your vehicle and most importantly, it is rated for your individual towing capacity.
Although a genuine towbar can be more expensive than some aftermarket options, it doesn’t compare to the value of what you’re towing and the risk of what fitting an incorrect part might have on yourself, your passengers, and other road users. Comparatively, the reasons to fit a genuine Volkswagen towbar are obvious.
Plus, all of our genuine towbars come with the assurance of expert advice, full manufacturer warranty, and support.
Communication Between Your Vehicle and Towbar
Technology features in newer vehicles are in place to give you peace of mind and help ensure your vehicle is the safest it can be for your driving scenario. The lights and sounds associated with these features notify you of a possible issue and work as you would expect under normal driving conditions. However, systems like manoeuvre assist (that brake automatically at slow reversing speeds) will need to ‘know’ when there’s – for example – a trailer behind it.
A genuine Volkswagen towbar complete with an E-Kit communicates information to the vehicle so it knows that something’s attached to it. Assistant features like the manoeuvre assist and the rear parking sensors are automatically deactivated. With an aftermarket towbar, these systems will need to be manually deactivated, and then manually reactivated once the trailer has been removed. On some vehicles, a genuine towbar can also work with the vehicle’s security system to help prevent theft of a trailer when the car is turned off and locked.
*E-Kit shown is for a Volkswagen Amarok.
E-Kits
An E-kit is an integrated electrical unit dedicated to controlling trailer lights and interacting with the other on-board vehicle control units, such as:
- Providing a trailer anti-theft feature, which engages when the vehicle is alarmed.
- Turning reversing sensors on and off when the trailer is attached.
- Compensating for additional loads on vehicles that have mapped cooling systems, to give additional engine cooling.
- Interacting with your vehicle’s Electric Stability Program (ESP), which includes an Automatic Anti-sway Mitigation feature, which compensates for the trailer in the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS).