The electric towbar is great. Push a button, the towhook drops down, one sharp lift into place and its locked. To put away, push the button, towhook drops, push up into place. So easy, and there is nothing to show it is fitted unless it has been deployed.

I'm sure it it great. I had just assumed for the price all you'd need to to deploy/retract is press the button and watch it do it's thing.

Just saw the fixed bar so putting it out there as a cheaper option.

I see what you are saying, but agree with others, its really very good and the process of pushing it into position is ultra simple and takes less than a second, it literally requires no force at all. In contrast, my brother has an X5 with a tow bar which deploys completely electronically, but it is so tediously slow I actually prefer the Volvo unit (have seen this same unit on a Touareg too).

Also on price, 1k might be pricey, but my father bought a brand new X5 back in December, literally the first one of the new generation out of the showroom (it was actually used at the launch event). He was promised that a retrofit would come available for the tow bar within a few months. It has now, and the price.... 3.5k!!!!

:wq

Totally agree with this.
My last car was a 5-series with the fully electric towbar - same principal as the Volvo unit in that you press a button in the boot for it to be extended or retracted, however, it would take about 30secs to run through the cycle as opposed to a couple for the Volvo unit. If you get impatient and try to move the car whilst the unit is deploying it will stop and log an error code, meaning that you have to press the button again when you've moved the car to finish it off. After a number of error codes being logged (think it's 5 but I could be wrong), it will disable the towbar and you have to take the car to the dealer for the codes to be cleared before it will work again.

When you then add in the fact that BMW UK only support trailer electrics from factory, meaning a further £450 bill to upgrade the factory 13-pin electrics to that they support a caravan (ATC, fridge & battery charging), suddenly the BMW offering becomes much less attractive.

Ultimately, the fully electric BMW solution is fancy, but the Volvo semi-electric is sooo much more practical and, as a result, a much finer offering in my view.

Atc
 

I have a Volvo fitted towbar/electrics on plugging in the ATC does not self test until a door is opened and the car "wakes up" that I find a unusual compared to previous cars, the main problem is the ATC goes through the self test on starting the engine and every subsequent restart at say a petrol station or following a driving break. The permanent supply is not permanent and I suspect fed from the ignition rather than the battery. Can anyone confirm how their car operates before I take the car back to Volvo again.

Mine is the same, unlike on my previous Volvo cars which self tested on connection. The spa car needs waking up. And go back to sleep after so many minutes after ignition turned off.

Exactly the same in my experience - S80 & Gen 1 XC60 both permanent, SPA V90 goes to sleep. Not a particular concern from my perspective - I can just open or close the boot to reactivate it if required.

Thanks for replies but can you confirm if the car is awake i.e. ATC is green following its initial self test, then engine is started does your ATC self test again i.e. is your permanent feed interrupted by starting the engine each and every time?

Do you mean a momentary blip in the power supply as engine starts, similar to the USB power supply when charging phone and you hear the phone chime as power goes off then back on. I have never checked the ATC if that does it. It may do.
My ATC self tests after stopping and parking up for some time and restarting engine, I always check the green light is on before setting off but I can't check it at the moment as caravan is not at my house.
A few times when removing van from the storage compound I have noticed it stays flashing after connecting up but after driving a few yards and stopping to open the gate it has changed to steady green. This could be because starting the engine causes the power blip and it re-tests.

i just got my V90 T4 in August. was put off with £1100 Volvo folding costs. i wanted a fixed towbar as my last brand new car was hit in the rear whilst parked at 2 weeks old requiring a complete back end - my towbar at that time was removed. As a result after that accident i always keep it fitted.

i managed to track down a new V90 fixed towbar from a dealer which had it in stock. Volvo stopped selling in the UK in 2017/18 due to lack of demand so now do not acknowledge their existence. it is EU approved with all stickers/certificates etc. https://accessories.volvocars.com/In...20(17-)%202020

its easy to fit - c.2 hours - remove bumper with c.4 screws/bolts either side; remove crash bar; fit towbar; cut underside of bumper; feed electrics through. remove rear offside boot lining. connect up - fit fuses. all back together. job done.
i also bought the Trailer/Towbar module - but volvo said it wasn't possible to download the software as my car is MY20 and the fixed towbar software is only available to MY18... so it wouldn't activate it so the supplied electrics wouldn't work. :(

i originally tried the Volvo electrics as i didn't want to be cutting any wires.
interestingly though, i tracked this down - https://www.towbarandtrailercentre.c...l-048-13u.html
just plug and plays into existing volvo module for everything exluding the fog light. the fog light would require a splice into fog light wire, but i've not yet got around to doing that. rest of lights work okay and no error codes.

fitted this and connected up to Volvo towbar - works perfectly. it doesn't require a software download. but it doesn't change ABS/Stability settings when towing - i wasn't bothered about this as i only tow a small trailer to the allotment or a towbar bike carrier.



end result - £50 for genuine towbar; £50 courier for towbar; £110 for electrics.