Tow bar for Yaris Cross

[SinglePointSafety]

Hi everyone, I've had my YC since the start of the year, with a 'factory fitted' (but probably actually fitted in the UK) horizontal detachable tow bar. The description of this in the YC option list wasn't very enlightening, so I've included some photos showing the placement of the tow bar etc. It's very easy and quick to fit, taking literally seconds. It's also easy to remove, once you have mastered the manoeuvre of pushing in the dial and turning clockwise - and the important bit - as far as it will go until it 'locks', which prevents it springing back, so the tow bar achieves and retains the 'ready to mount' position (shown in the 3rd photo). The manual I have is a bit vague about this.....

Obviously the 'best' tow bar is the one that is hidden and then springs out when you pull a lever or press a button in the boot, but failing that, this YC arrangement is pretty much as pain-free as possible. The tow bar is made by Oris, if that helps. The small white arrow for the pull-out cover (which stops dirt getting in the mounting) was painted on by me - makes it easy to get the correct orientation when replacing. The electrics supplied by Toyota is a 13-pin plug (ideal, fits my bike carrier) with a 13 to 7-pin adapter. The tow bar (as expected) locks on with a key

Note that the 'waggle foot under bumper to open boot' is disabled when the tow bar is fitted (on my YC at least)

Hope that's useful info for some of you

[anchorman]

And this is why it cost so much fitting one.  There is a LOT of work.   
 

 

[Bernard Foy]

What is the maximum braked towing weight??

[SinglePointSafety]

750 kg (I think it's 450 kg unbraked - Google will tell you....). I only ever use a bike carrier, not tried towing with this car

As anchorman says, if you order this factory-fitted, it's far cheaper than retrofit

[bathtub tom]

Whatever happened to the 'good ole days' when I took the back bumper off my Moggie Minor, fitted a length of angle iron across the mountings, drilled it for a tow ball and used that to tow a dinghy? I did make a lighting board from ply, used HA Viva tail lights and triangular reflectors.

[anchorman]

44 minutes ago, bathtub tom said:

Whatever happened to the 'good ole days' when I took the back bumper off my Moggie Minor, fitted a length of angle iron across the mountings, drilled it for a tow ball and used that to tow a dinghy? I did make a lighting board from ply, used HA Viva tail lights and triangular reflectors.

You had to do it sharpish while there was still a boot floor to drill in to.  

[SinglePointSafety]

14 hours ago, anchorman said:

You had to do it sharpish while there was still a boot floor to drill in to

Harsh anchorman, harsh - but fair. I've been told that many cars made in the 60s were rust buckets by their 3rd or 4th birthdays. Big improvement from the 1970s onwards when rustproofing was taken seriously and they worked out how to do it. Some makes, though, never really 'got the message'....

[anchorman]

1 hour ago, SinglePointSafety said:

Harsh anchorman, harsh - but fair. I've been told that many cars made in the 60s were rust buckets by their 3rd or 4th birthdays. Big improvement from the 1970s onwards when rustproofing was taken seriously and they worked out how to do it. Some makes, though, never really 'got the message'....

I remember being quite envious of a lady that lived quite close to me as she had a new Ford Escort every two or three years.  A MkII turned up in 1975 and by its first birthday there was a hole in the passenger door so big you could clearly see the window regulator.  When I was at college, we had a field trip to Halewood and there were two blokes in the press shop throwing sheets of steel into the end of the press (these days it comes off a roll).  It was red rusty to start with and they were building cars with it.  

[SinglePointSafety]

Going back to my original post.... what I appreciate about the YC tow bar arrangement is that the receptor is only just behind the bumper, making it quick and easy to mount/remove the tow bar. Not all cars with detachable bars are like this! I recall looking at a Mazda several years ago, when the salesperson said "sorry, we don't offer a swivel tow bar, but I can show you a car with a detachable so you can see what it's like". The next bit was a total embarrassment: he had to get on his hands and knees to locate the receptor (set a long way back, presumably paired with a long swan neck bar) and fiddled and faffed for ages to get the tow bar located properly. In contrast, the YC arrangement is dead easy, just need to bend down a bit, job done, kudos to Toyota for doing this 'simple' job very well

Often the biggest pain is attaching the electrics, because some bike racks or trailers get in the way of the plug. Fortunately my bike rack (Yashima) is just fine. I found it useful to paint a thin white line on the bike rack plug so I could get the correct orientation first time to plug into the car

One slightly annoying thing is that with some cars, attaching anything to the electrics automatically cancels the rear parking sensors (all my VAG cars did this) but Toyota, for some reason, does not. The manual explains what to do....

[TonyHSD]

On 9/30/2023 at 7:43 PM, anchorman said:

And this is why it cost so much fitting one.  There is a LOT of work.   
 

 

What is this G6 module behind the rear bumper left corner ? 
If this is can bus thieves will be pleasantly surprised to see it’s location 🫢

[anchorman]

6 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

What is this G6 module behind the rear bumper left corner ? 
If this is can bus thieves will be pleasantly surprised to see it’s location 🫢

Not drama from you as well Tony 😉.  It’s the blind spot monitor.   

[YarisHybrid2016]

On 10/2/2023 at 11:53 AM, TonyHSD said:

What is this G6 module behind the rear bumper left corner ? 
If this is can bus thieves will be pleasantly surprised to see it’s location 🫢

It's the sonar unit for RCTA and BSM.

[web4160]

I agree the tow bar is easy to fit and release. What I can't work out is how you release the key when the towbar is off the vehicle. Any suggestions?

[SinglePointSafety]

David, read your post and just went out and tried it. I'm now thinking that the key will only come out when the towbar is mounted on the car, which is kind of logical I suppose

[web4160]

Yes the guy who fitted it couldn't get the key out when the towbar was off the car. Oddly the first time I removed it the key did come out but I can't remember how I did it!

[Gren]

Why do you want to remove the towball?  It's an excellent bumper-protection device when other cars park up too close.  I've had a few incients like that, in supermarket car parks etc, where the car behind went into my towbar, crunched their bumper or numberplate, not a scratch on mine.

Downside of leaving it on is occasionally catching it with my leg when loading the boot.  Ouch!

[SinglePointSafety]

Removable towbar because if SWMBO hits her leg on it, it will be a trip to A&E - not for her, for me....🚑

[Dimitriscy]

Just fitted mine yesterday, and found out that the most difficult part of the procedure (besides the electrics) it's the bumper removal...
When you locate all the important pins and screws to remove, incuding the rear lights and the side fenders holding the pumber, you are ok. 
Push rivets, screws, bolts, clips in several positions. Th middle black part mostly clips on the rest of the bumper by itself.
As for the towbar, its actually holding on the chassis by 4 bolts, and another 4 attach the main body of the bar.
Beside that, a small 4cm x 23 cm cutting is needed  on the black part (not visible).
Now the electrics its another story. I used my multimeter to check if i have the needed wires in any of the loose plugs i found, with no luck.
I will do a little research, and my safe route is to connect everything from the tail lights looms.

P.S. I was pretty sure that black plug u can see hanging there, was for towbar electrics, but i get no voltage in any of the pins (+earth)😤

[anchorman]

3 hours ago, Dimitriscy said:

Just fitted mine yesterday, and found out that the most difficult part of the procedure (besides the electrics) it's the bumper removal...
When you locate all the important pins and screws to remove, incuding the rear lights and the side fenders holding the pumber, you are ok. 
Push rivets, screws, bolts, clips in several positions. Th middle black part mostly clips on the rest of the bumper by itself.
As for the towbar, its actually holding on the chassis by 4 bolts, and another 4 attach the main body of the bar.
Beside that, a small 4cm x 23 cm cutting is needed  on the black part (not visible).
Now the electrics its another story. I used my multimeter to check if i have the needed wires in any of the loose plugs i found, with no luck.
I will do a little research, and my safe route is to connect everything from the tail lights looms.

P.S. I was pretty sure that black plug u can see hanging there, was for towbar electrics, but i get no voltage in any of the pins (+earth)😤

Good job.  You won’t get any voltage, it’s for the parking sensors that you unplugged to get the bumper off.  By the way if anyone is contemplating this job at this time of year, warm the area under the tail lights to the rear quarter to ease getting the bumper off.  

[anchorman]

The wiring instructions for every Toyota are online.  
 

https://www.toyota-tech.eu/aimuploads/1b33f30d-2934-4904-82b9-723c32ab77c8/Yaris-Cross_2WD_Towbar_wiring_kit_13pin_PW5D0_0D002_AIM_005_044_5.pdf

[Dimitriscy]

 Parking sensors was my second quess for that plug. Thanks for the info and the link!

I have a 7 UNIVERSAL wire kit, but there are many usefull pics there.

[Dimitriscy]

Sorted the electrics, using the rear lights's looms.

Just needed, lights, brakes, left indicator from LEFT, and right indicator from RIGHT loom.

Thick Purple = Lights
Thin Purple =Left  Indicator 
Green = Brakes
(Forgot which color is the right indicator🙈)