Tesla tow hitch - safe to leave on?

[xdcthedoc]

I have tried out my tow hitch this week (official Tesla one) with my bike rack - all worked well.

However... it would be a bit of a pain for me having to remove and reinsert the tow hitch every time i want to use it.

I would ideally just leave it attached all the time now.... maybe just taking it off if I was doing a long journey without the bike and wanted to get the tiny bit of aerodynamic efficiency back that I presumably lose with it on.

Is there a reason I shouldn't do that? Every other car I have had has had the hitch on all the time.

 

[TonyT]

Many cars will scrape the hitch against the ground at some point (at least all my cars). it's fine If you don't mind that.

 

[efusco]

We leave ours on almost continuously. Only remove on occasion.

 

[Vecii]

Depending on how much road salt your car sees, you might want to put some anti-seize in the receiver so that the ball mount doesn't rust into it. I've had to beat a few out with 5lb hammers that had seen a few years of bad weather.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Lots of people leave their hitches on all the time...at least until they knock their shins a couple times

Hitch will defeat the shock absorbing feature of modern bumpers. A slight tap from behind can do thousands of damage to the car hitting you. Also will transfer impact directly to your frame/chassis. Best to remove when not being used.

 

[TonyT]

Lots of people leave their hitches on all the time...at least until they knock their shins a couple times

Hitch will defeat the shock absorbing feature of modern bumpers. A slight tap from behind can do thousands of damage to the car hitting you. Also will transfer impact directly to your frame/chassis. Best to remove when not being used.

True, slight taps with some of my old cars only had damage on the person who reared me.. So far no frame damage, but I can see how that can happen.

 

[Uncle Paul]

You could have significant frame/unibody damage, but without body shop measurements would never know.