That's up to you, of course. But that hitch allows me to insert a bicycle rack (the 1 Up USA) which is a really handy way to carry two bicycles. No scratches from a trunk rack, no lifting onto a roof rack, clearance into trunk even with the bicycles loaded.

The hitch really improves the utility of my great car, for my lifestyle. But if it isn't for you, that's fine.

Regards,
Jay

 

I just installed a Hidden Hitch on our TCH.

• It is barely visible. All you can see is the hitch connector.
• It appears to be very well made.
• The installation is not hard but does require some mechanical skill. It took about an hour.
• It does require drilling two holes through the pan under the spare tire.
• The instructions say you need to lower the exhaust but that is not required.
• The plastic cover on the driver's side must be trimmed if you want to replace it. I did.

I had first purchased a Curt hitch. It did not fit and was very obvious under the bumper.

I purchased both hitches from eTrailer.com

http://www.etrailer.com/

They were very good and helpful. They even paid for return shipping on the Curt hitch. I recommend them.

Will Mayall

 

Mayall can you post few pictures of the Hidden Hitch, I just tried to install Curt Hitch and it does look BAD. If passable one picture from the rear side and may be few from under car, I like to see how it looks near muffler. Thanks, Tim

 

Here are some pictures of Curt Hitch
It sticks out a lot.

 

I have three guesses why hybrids don't recommend towing. One has to do with strain on the electric engine that has an unusually long warranty in a hybrid and the computer that tells that engine how much to run, and the other has to do with the added weight hybrids already have at the back end due to the battery and how this might affect handling of the vehicle.

Guess No. 1: Based on Consumer Reports tests for avoidance maneuvers and emergency handling, as a general rule the small economical cars with 61-62% of the weight to the front and 38% or 39% to the rear tend to get the best scores (there are obviously exceptions).

And the small economical cars with at least 61% of the weight to the front tend to be rated for higher towing capacity and those with less than 61% of the weight to the front are most likely to not recommend towing at all. I'm no automobile design engineer, but perhaps this has to do with how much of the weight is on the wheels responsible for steering, and how likely a bounce or other temporary weight on the hitch tongue could briefly keep the front tires from making full contact with the road?

Hybrids already tend to have more weight to the rear due to the battery pack, so perhaps towing affects the way they handle in a swerve situation more than non-hybrid cars. Even if the only thing I ever hooked up to the hitch was a hitch-mount bike rack with two or three bikes on it, the Class II hitch might weight 50 lbs, the bike rack perhaps another 30 lbs, two or three mountain bikes another 80 lbs, and you've got an extra 160 lbs hanging way out there on top of the battery pack in the rear. Think about simple levers and where the hybrid's center of gravity already is, and how far the weight on a hitch-mounted bike rack is out behind the car.


Front Rear TowCap Avd RH EH Consumer Reports

Kia Spectra 04 64 36 1,874 50 3 3 August 2004
Hyundai Elantra 63 37 1,500 4 4 July 2008 gas-saving
VW Rabbit 62 38 1,000 55.5 5 4 June 2008 hatchbacks
Toyota Matrix 62 38 1,500 52 4 3 June 2008 hatchbacks
Toyota Corolla 62 38 1,500 4 3 July 2008 gas-saving
Saturn Astra 61 39 NR 54.5 4 4 June 2008 hatchbacks
Ford Focus 61 39 NR 53.5 4 3 July 2008 gas-saving
Chevy Cobalt 61 39 1,000 4 3 July 2008 gas-saving
Chevy Aveo 61 39 NR 3 3 July 2008 gas-saving
Honda Civic Si 02 61 39 NR 53 4 4 October 2002 sporty hatchbacks
VW Jetta TDI 02 61 39 NR 51 4 4 December 2002 Shades of green
Saturn SL 61 39 1,000 3 3 September 2000 small sedans
Scion XD 60 40 NR 56 4 4 June 2008 hatchbacks
Toyota Corolla01 60 40 1,500 51 4 3 February 2001 small sedans
Toyota Prius 00 60 40 NR 51 4 3 February 2001 small sedans
Toyota Echo 00 60 40 NR 4 3
Mini Cooper 59 41 NR 56 5 4 June 2008 hatchbacks
Prius 2004 59 41 NR 50.5 4 3 May 2004
HondaCivicHybr 02 58 42 NR 51.5 4 3 December 2002 Shades of green
Subaru Impreza 57 43 NR 52.5 4 3 July 2008 gas-saving

Avd = maximum miles per hour able to complete avoidance maneuver
RH = Routine handling (1-5, 5 is best)
EH = Emergency handling (1-5, 5 is best)


Guess No. 2: the 10-year/100,000 mile Warranty. Hybrids depend on a computer to continually tell how much for both the gas and electric engine to run, and they do this to optimize fuel efficiency. Toyota warranted the hybrid components for 10 years and 100,000 miles to give consumers confidence in the technology. I suspect they don't want to risk anyone straining the electric engine or otherwise damaging the hybrid components by towing weight outside the engine's normal parameters. If you're towing a trailer with a conventional vehicle, you simply adjust and step more on the accelerator. However if the computer doesn't realize it's towing extra weight, I can only speculate whether this would cause strain on the electric engine or have other unintended consequences. Perhaps there's no way hybrid manufacturers can verify if you actually towed weight so the easiest way to protect against damage from towing excess weight is to insist you don't add a hitch at all.

Even among hybrid trucks and SUVs, so far I've only seen one ad for any model hybrid SUV/truck that says it's really suited to towing. Perhaps they want or need to fine-tune these hybrid systems as passenger vehicles before they add in the complexity of dealing with potentially huge differences in payload and handling with a trailer behind.

Guess No. 3: The computer is supposed to "learn" from your driving habits and it would probably be hard for the computer to figure out how to optimize the two engines if the computer has no way to realize whether it's towing extra weight at some times and not at others, and that throws its calculations off with a lot of added "random noise".

Guess No. 4: While the electric motor delivers high torque, when towing I expect it could drain the battery quickly and then you'd be driving a 4-cylinder already carrying quite a few hundred extra pounds compared with a conventional 4-cylinder model, even before you consider the added towed weight. Especially if you're powering an air conditioner that also drains the battery. Then those customers would complain about poor hybrid performance.

These are all just guesses. And since Toyota isn't telling why installing hitches void the warranty, about all we can do is make educated guesses.