My dealer also said pretty much the same thing - go away. They did not want to get involved since Ford did not offer a branded hitch. I am pretty gun shy about towing since I needed to replace a Subaru Legacy transmission ($1,400 after much discussion with Subaru) only after a very small amount of towing of a light Jon boat (the Tintanic). Are you planning on just connecting a bike rack or actually doing any towing? If a rack, we have a 4-bike Thule that works great. Get the one that folds away from the car with the built in hefty cable.