13 pin plug realignment problem

I don't know why people are getting so prickly over such a small item. Use one or don't, it matters not.

Only ever had vans with N & S plugs. Sounds like poor design to me. It should be "plonker proof".

Of all the 13 pin plugs in use, most obviously manage ok

Very little is truly plonker proof.

Agree with ''M', have used the 13 pin for a number of years and if turned anti clockwise the full 90 degrees before extracting, then there should be no need of this green thingy. Mine does move easily when turning until the last where a little more effort is required until it reaches the stop.

Got a blue alignment tool with the caravan.

Was told of this issue by friends.

Lives in the crate in the car boot with all the other essentials like battery drill for steadies, plastic blocks for under the steadies if required, wheel lock, hitch lock.

Used twice. Yesterday as leaving Black Knowl. Realised pins misaligned, reached into said crate, re-aligned pins, plugged in and orf we popped. 

Both occasions after a night of thunderstorms  so can only surmise its the electrickery in the skies wot does shift the pins 

On my 2017 Swift it's the plug that is A poor design and the pins can easily Move and mis align no matter how careful you are wiTh this particular design of plug. The little Green plug works well, one in the Caravan box of bits and a spare in the boot!! Every time I had trouble as you would expect was peeing dOwn normally knee deep!! Beats Trying to twist the pins with two pairs of pliers, a screwdriver all the time trying to keep the rain of my glasses. Mine came from Amazon

I think its probably more to do with the ease of access to the socket on the car.  I have used mine on two different ML's.. The first one had a dealer fitted tow bar.  The socket was very difficult to see, quite concealed, but at least facing towards you. The plug was relatively easy to turn once you located the socket.

The newer car has a factory fitted tow bar that springs out when a button is pushed on the tail gate.  The socket is integral with the  tow hitch itself, BUT it faces not towards you, but at 90 degrees, i.e. towards the nearside of the car.  With this new and seemingly better tow bar I have had several instances of socket misalignment, and as a result have often needed to resort to the green tool.  It is clearly down to me not disconnecting properly, and pulling the caravan socket out of the car one before completing the turning motion. The turning action is made more difficult by the closeness of the car bodywork, you actually have to risk skinning the back of your hand whilst doing it!  I agree bad design, it should not let you do that!

TF

We had a similar "problem" with the socket on our last car it was underneath the car and difficult to access (it was a cases of kneeling),but the tow bar fitted to our latest car the socket is near the hook pointing to the rear the plug is easy to insert and turn

ours is a bit like that, it swivels down by 90 degrees from underneath the bumper, I have to then kneel quite low and push the last mm of the bumper out of the way while pushing the plug in. It was factory fitted as well. The old 7 pin plugs were far easier IMHO