Moe Zhoost

If it's like the one on my car, it's a rotary switch mounted on a steering column stalk.

t2p

agree

had receiver hitches made for a few vehicles - including a Honda Civic and Prelude and an Isuzu Vehicross ... the Vehicross required some careful bumper cover / valance surgery - but when complete the hitch was barely visible

the hitches were installed primarily for plug-in bike rack and cargo carrier use - but I even pulled an 8x10 flat bed trailer with the Prelude - once loaded with a 400 lb snowmobile and another time with a 600 lb tractor

mdarnton

My rack rides very low on the back window, right on the bottom of the wiper. I've got a wrench and a small gear puller for the wiper. If I need the wiper, I don't need the bike.

Pop N Wood

Pretty much anything hanging on the back of a car will interfere with parking sensors, rear view cameras and cross traffic alerts. Not an issue particular to a hitch rack.

Yeah, some cars aren't built for it, but for the most part I'm impressed with the number of cars come from the factory with the idea of a receiver hitch in mind. Aftermarket kits wouldn't exist if cars weren't built that way from the get go. Just look to see if a kit exists before one starts worrying about crumple zones and "recalibrating" cameras.

chaadster

The existence of an aftermarket kit does not mean the car was designed and built to accommodate a hitch. Caveat emptor…which is precisely the point msu2001la was making earlier when they said “if your car wasn’t designed to accommodate a hitch from the factory, I’d proceed with caution [emphasis mine] on getting one installed.”

Calsun

Why not put a piece of duct tape over the switch? Not elegant but it should work well enough.

GetUpnGo

When the front wipers are on and you put the car in reverse, the rear wiper turns on automatically. Duct tape will only help if it's not raining.

GetUpnGo

Unfortunately my rack sits 1/2" above the wiper, which is what broke it. Thanks for your comment about the feasibility of removing the wiper. The new wiper arm arrived today and it came with a nice wrench. To the best of my knowledge, a gear puller isn't needed on my car. I believe the arm just lifts off the motor shaft.

Pop N Wood

I completely disagree. The vehicles have square bolt holes build into what amounts to the unibody frame rails. They were also built with an access point for fishing in the bolts. it wouldn't be possible to sell a bolt on kit without that foresight from the manufactures.

Install one yourself, anyone can do it, and see what I mean.

chaadster

Dude, c’mon. I’ve put a supercharger kit on a Porsche engine, but I’m totally certain that Porsche did not design the engine with that in mind. People make all sorts of things for the aftermarket all the time which fit and work and are totally outside the scope of the original design intent.

dedhed

Reasons for frame holes
​​​​​​E-Coat drain holes
Water / road salt drainout
Welding / assembly fixture locating holes
Tie down holes for rail transport
Measuring holes for collision repair
Recommended attach points for tow truck use
Adjustments made late in development program to tweak crash performance

msu2001la

I don't really understand why my comment is causing so much grumbling. There isn't a kit available for my car in the link above, but they do make one for older models that looks like it might work. It's nearly $600 (plus tax) and described as 10/10 installation difficulty. Steps required include:

• Remove the interior side panels of the trunk, remove the rear bumper/facia, both tail lights, both rear wheel well liners and the rear factory reinforcement beam.
• Disconnect and pull the hands-free trunk opening sensor out of the rear facia (it's embedded inside).
• Use a saw to cut out and remove an 11" x 4" section of the rear facia, which is also the location where the hands-free trunk opening sensor is embedded by the factory.
• Re-attach the hands-free trunk sensor to the outside of the facia around the hole using zip ties
• Bolt the hitch kit onto the chassis using the bolt holes for the factory reinforcement beam. The beam gets installed on top of the hitch kit, using longer aftermarket bolts (is this safe?).
• Re-install the tail lights, rear facia/bumper cover, wheel well liners. Hopefully those panel gaps all line up OK. Note says that parking/self driving sensors may need to be recalibrated by a dealer.

The installation photos show the use of a hydraulic lift to access the bottom of the car. I doubt the ground clearance on my car is high enough to use ramps, so I'd probably need some kind of floor jack and stands to access the underside of the rear facia? I'd also need an electric saw, a set of torx drivers, a file and a bigger torque wrench.This is not a cheap or easy solution, even assuming I can successfully DIY this in my driveway. There is also a potential that I have to pay the car dealership to re-calibrate sensors. I'd also likely void my car's factory warranty on anything related to the rear sensors, bumper and tail lights.

I stand by my original post: If your car isn't designed to accommodate a hitch from the factory, I'd proceed with caution on getting one installed. Just because someone makes a kit or says they can do it doesn't mean it's a good idea. I'm sure on some cars it's no big deal.

phughes

As someone who worked in a glass shop many years ago, just say no to Seasucker racks. The back glass is not made to support a load. It will be fine until it's not. One good jolt can cause the back glass to break.

rsbob 

I stand corrected. Thanks. (I bet the large glass shops have partial ownership of See-sucker.)

Get a roof rack instead but hang something on your rear view mirror when you have a bike on top so you don’t forget its there and drive into a garage or other low hanging objects.

msu2001la

This might be true for some cars, but not all.
I specifically asked Audi about mounting a Seasucker rack on rear hatch glass, or the panoramic glass roof of my car and they told me that there is no problem with either location. Audi sells SeaSucker racks as a factory direct product.

phughes

The glass is the same. I know Audi sells them, and I know they say it is okay. Of course they sell them, so of course they will say it is okay. The majority of people will have no issues with them, most likely. The glass can still break. I prefer to not use glass to support a load. Use at your own risk, and carefully follow their instructions. They actually modified their instructions a while back since people were having issues with glass breakage.

phughes

That is a great suggestion. Maybe something like this.

chaadster

All glass is the same, eh? That’s a credibility red flag.

phughes

Oh lord, you know what I meant. It is tempered glass though.

chaadster

No, I don’t know what you mean, nor do I believe what you’re talking about. I think you’re just repeating internet blather, and not speaking to the matter with any real substance. I don’t even believe the paradigm you posit, that the rear glass supporting bike weight leads to breakage, first because when the car is in motion, the air pressure is *lifting* the bike off the glass, and second, because what any given rear glass can support depends on the size of the window and where the weight is applied. But you don’t talk about any of that stufff, so yeah, red flag.

rsbob 

Oh good, an argument over something trivial.

phughes

Not to worry. I said what I was going to say. Evidently I make stuff up. I do know many use the rack and do so successfully, or they wouldn't make it. I simply said I wouldn't use it because of my past experience working in a glass shop. As with anything, follow the directions and know the risks.

rsbob 

Bummer. 🙁. Was hoping for a knock down drag out character assassination casting aspersions as to legitimacy of parentage devolving into something having to do with barnyard animals. Sigh.

phughes

chaadster

You worked in glass shop 40 years ago, right? That’s more than 2 decades before Seasucker even existed, so your experience is not with Seasucker, it’s with glass from around 1985, a time when when rear window defrosters and power windows were optional extras on most American cars.

I think it’s important people understand that context to your comments, because the way you state it, “As someone who worked in a glass shop….just say no to Seasucker,” implies you have some work experience with Seasuckers breaking glass, which you do not.

And you also intend to mislead when you say Seasucker modified their instructions because of glass breakage, but that was not a general revision and was done only for Tesla Model 3 because of what they attributed to rare problems with Teslas roof glass and was actually a recommendation to move the front piece of the Talon rack off the roof and onto to the back glass. Yet, you rail on about Seasuckers and back glass…