Model Y tow bar electrics not working

[james.ewence@g]

I had my MY towbar fitted on Friday, all completed fine and installation completed in about 2 hours at Bristol Service Centre.

I went to try it out today on my trailer which has LED lights, this has previously not given any problems even with modern BMWs towing (which can be fickle about LEDs).

I then tried it with my ATERA strada bike rack, and no lights on that either, I think that is also LED.

I will try and find a conventional bulb trailer board to try. I can add load resistors to the trailer, the bike rack will be more difficult due to space.

Has anyone else had issues with the electrics or have any other ideas?

 

[Adopado]

I had my MY towbar fitted on Friday, all completed fine and installation completed in about 2 hours at Bristol Service Centre.

I went to try it out today on my trailer which has LED lights, this has previously not given any problems even with modern BMWs towing (which can be fickle about LEDs).

I then tried it with my ATERA strada bike rack, and no lights on that either, I think that is also LED.

I will try and find a conventional bulb trailer board to try. I can add load resistors to the trailer, the bike rack will be more difficult due to space.

Has anyone else had issues with the electrics or have any other ideas?

My board has conventional bulbs and works fine. Try a search on the forum, I'm sure I read that LED boards did cause issues for some people (amazing, I know).

 

[Pandinium]

I have a Thule which is led I’m sure… worked fine - the only thing (unrelated) that I have seen is since having tow bar fitted the car doesn’t see vehicles u less they are wishing about 3 meters in front - and won’t auto park.

I don’t know if it matters but I have to use an adapter to fit the bike rack electronics to the Tesla - maybe enough impedance to make it work ?

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

How you turned on trailer mode? Can’t say I’ve ever actually towed but my last M3 had the towing option and was faulty for a while and I recall there was a specific mode. This is different to tow mode for when the car itself needs to be towed.

 

[Cardo]

My trailer has LED lights and I know some cars with older trailer electrics struggle to run the lights. The M3 hasn’t had any issues with it. However, the Y (and newer 4) towing electrics will be completely different as they have the new LiIon 12v battery, so there may be some incompatibilities? Though, you’d hope not as LED lights on trailers and carriers is pretty standard, these days. I know, not very helpful!

Edit:
If the car isn’t automatically recognising the carrier electrics, have you tried manually enabling “Trailer mode” in the driving settings?

 

[Adopado]

How you turned on trailer mode? Can’t say I’ve ever actually towed but my last M3 had the towing option and was faulty for a while and I recall there was a specific mode. This is different to tow mode for when the car itself needs to be towed.

Trailer Mode should kick in automatically but it's certainly worth trying to activate it manually ...

 

[Pandinium]

Yes towing mode does come on and off by itself normally - but there is option within car to change it off even when connected

 

[Cardo]

Yes towing mode does come on and off by itself normally - but there is option within car to change it off even when connected

It doesn’t actually turn off by itself. When the trailer electrics are disconnected, the trailer icon goes red in case there’s been a fault or the plug has fallen out. Trailer mode needs to be disabled manually to confirm it was intentional. Simple, but elegant, I feel.

 

[james.ewence@g]

Trailer Mode should kick in automatically but it's certainly worth trying to activate it manually ...

Hi, yes tried trailer mode. No difference unfortunately. Have bought some resistors and going to make up a box to wire in, concerned it might not fix it though.

Swperately, I can't see how I raise an issue in the App, not sure if this is because I am a company car driver and Lex would need to?

 

[garym999]

Long time lurker but first post since finally getting my MY after a bit of a bumpy start. Had the car just over a week now and with a pending holiday to France towing a trailer tent I thought I’d better check the trailer electrics. Hooked up the trailer and….. nothing. No icon, no lights whatsoever. The trailer has LED lighting so I thought I’d try an old skool filament trailer board for my bike rack, again nothing. The trailer tent is equipped with bypass resistors for the indicators. Both boards worked on previous motor which was all LED.

Tried setting the trailer mode manually. Car had just done a SW update to 2022.20.6 so gave it the two button salute to reboot but, you’ve guessed, nothing.

Ive raised a service request but wonder if there is anything else to check? Could it be missing fuse(s), loom not plugged in? suggests it was not checked.

 

[james.ewence@g]

Long time lurker but first post since finally getting my MY after a bit of a bumpy start. Had the car just over a week now and with a pending holiday to France towing a trailer tent I thought I’d better check the trailer electrics. Hooked up the trailer and….. nothing. No icon, no lights whatsoever. The trailer has LED lighting so I thought I’d try an old skool filament trailer board for my bike rack, again nothing. The trailer tent is equipped with bypass resistors for the indicators. Both boards worked on previous motor which was all LED.

Tried setting the trailer mode manually. Car had just done a SW update to 2022.20.6 so gave it the two button salute to reboot but, you’ve guessed, nothing.

Ive raised a service request but wonder if there is anything else to check? Could it be missing fuse(s), loom not plugged in? suggests it was not checked.

Sorry to hear you have the same problem, I'm going to call into the service centre tomorrow and get them to check it. Will let you know how I get on! Will take my bike rack with me.

 

[Cardo]

Long time lurker but first post since finally getting my MY after a bit of a bumpy start. Had the car just over a week now and with a pending holiday to France towing a trailer tent I thought I’d better check the trailer electrics. Hooked up the trailer and….. nothing. No icon, no lights whatsoever. The trailer has LED lighting so I thought I’d try an old skool filament trailer board for my bike rack, again nothing. The trailer tent is equipped with bypass resistors for the indicators. Both boards worked on previous motor which was all LED.

Tried setting the trailer mode manually. Car had just done a SW update to 2022.20.6 so gave it the two button salute to reboot but, you’ve guessed, nothing.

Ive raised a service request but wonder if there is anything else to check? Could it be missing fuse(s), loom not plugged in? suggests it was not checked.

I’ll be honest, sounds like a software fault, seeing how software dependent Teslas are. I’m aware they changed the whole trailer electrics configuration due to the swap over to the LiIon 12v battery, so maybe they’ve managed to break something. LED lights on trailers are pretty much a given, these days, so it’s not like this would be different and unexpected. I’m curious to know what Tesla say when they look into it.

Ps. Which trailer tent do you have?

 

[james.ewence@g]

Switch On Towbar Electrics?

Just to check I am not being an idiot before putting in a service request. I can't get the electrics to work on the tow bar with a trailer. I tried two different light boards. Both cases I selected trailer mode and it just shows a red caravan picture. First time I have tried anything on the...

teslamotorsclub.com

Just found this thread from 2 years ago.... hoping this is the issue...

 

[garym999]

Trigano Olympe. It’s huge, quick to put up, easy to tow, made a bike rack so can safely add 4 bikes. Proper Alko braked chassis. Going to be an adventure. 210 mile trip to Plymouth, ferry to Roscoff and then about a hour travel on the French side. This is my first EV so a good experiment on range.

Hope it’s not software as it could be an age to get a fix unless it was a tick box missed somewhere. Due to leave in 2 Fridays time.

 

[Adopado]

Hope it’s not software as it could be an age to get a fix unless it was a tick box missed somewhere. Due to leave in 2 Fridays time.

Keep your fingers crossed… sometimes software issues are responded to quickly and successfully resolved.

 

[Cardo]

Trigano Olympe. It’s huge, quick to put up, easy to tow, made a bike rack so can safely add 4 bikes. Proper Alko braked chassis. Going to be an adventure. 210 mile trip to Plymouth, ferry to Roscoff and then about a hour travel on the French side. This is my first EV so a good experiment on range.

Hope it’s not software as it could be an age to get a fix unless it was a tick box missed somewhere. Due to leave in 2 Fridays time.

That’s a roomy tent! And the trailer is nice and light. You’ll have no issues towing that; you’ll barely notice it’s back there. Our Opus is a beast and yet the 3 barely knows it’s back there (apart from the obscured view!).

Fingers crossed the electrics are an easy fix!

 

[james.ewence@g]

That’s a roomy tent! And the trailer is nice and light. You’ll have no issues towing that; you’ll barely notice it’s back there. Our Opus is a beast and yet the 3 barely knows it’s back there (apart from the obscured view!).

Fingers crossed the electrics are an easy fix!

Keep your fingers crossed… sometimes software issues are responded to quickly and successfully resolved.

I called into the Tesla service centre in Bristol this morning. They are working on my car still, and have now diagnosed that the wrong vehicle control module was fitted at build in China and won't hold the memory for the towbar for more than an hour, sounds very odd. They are trying to source a replacement.

 

[james.ewence@g]

I called into the Tesla service centre in Bristol this morning. They are working on my car still, and have now diagnosed that the wrong vehicle control module was fitted at build in China and won't hold the memory for the towbar for more than an hour, sounds very odd. They are trying to source a replacement.

Further info - memory chip is missing apparently so it is not storing the car configuration. Now on back order for several weeks... thankfully I still have my ICE 3 litre BMW so will have to swap to that.

 

[garym999]

Further info - memory chip is missing apparently so it is not storing the car configuration. Now on back order for several weeks... thankfully I still have my ICE 3 litre BMW so will have to swap to that.

Ouch, that does bode well for me then! My contact sent me the link to the owners manual section covering the tow bar. But that was no help. Although my trailer boards were working with my previous car I tested the filament bike trailer board with a 12V supply and all the connections match the plug and work which you would expect.

My towbar was fitted at the LHR service centre pre-delivery and they said it was working.

As to a missing memory chip sounds very odd kinda fundemental to it working at all.

 

[garym999]

Anyone know how the socket is wired and where the loom goes? I dont want to get creative but migtht have too.