Need to know - fitting a tow bar and electrics!!

Just check that a Mazda 6 car is really suitable for a towbar to be fitted. 

A fair point, there are still some cars that are not type approved for towing but the Mazda 6 is not one of them.  Brochure lists a towbar as an accessory and towing limits are given.  The tow bar must also be type approved.

Brochure:

Mazda 6

The brocure doesn't give the train weight, so if you want to be super certain find one and check the plate :)  The fact that no train weight is listed suggests to me that it is not train weight limited.

You might not be surprised to learn that that matching tool will tell you that no caravan matches, at least for the Mazda 6 I just looked up, because the kerbweight is listed as "unknown";  but the other data, if correct, indicate that train weight will not be an issue if the towing weight limited and loading limits are complied with.

.....There is one downside - if anyone asks you to tow a trailer for them that has 7 pin lights there is a problem  ....

that's easily sorted with one of these You can getthem the other way round too ie 13 pin plug on the caravan to plug into a 12N socket on the car ..... they just power the lights

Write your comments here...Yes I knew you could get one - but on a Saturday afternoon when someone is stranded.......in the depths of the Devon Countryside - hand signals did it but I may get one for emergencies.  However the first one I tried didn't fit my socket which was too close to the bumper. 

 .......Yes I knew you could get one - but on a Saturday afternoon when someone is stranded.......in the depths of the Devon Countryside - hand signals did it but I may get one for emergencies.  However the first one I tried didn't fit my socket which was too close to the bumper. 

like Polyp I now carry both adapters as a few years back when I got recovered by a local firm, the driver had never heard of or seen a 13 pin plug/socket, so the caravan was recovered with no road lights. 

We tow with a Mazda 6 and this is our second one both different versions. Mazda publish kerb weight, gross vehicle weights, towing limits and gross train weights. Not knowing what model the OP has I cannot give a firm figure for the car invol ed. The kerb weight is generally 1500 kg to 1750 kg the older ones being heavier. The towing limit should be 1400 kg for petrol engines and 1600 kg for diesels but the registration document should give the information needed.

A new tow bar fitted in the UK has to be type approved, with an approval sticker and has to incorporate a breakaway attachment point, so there's no need to add one as an earlier post suggests. Type approval accounts for appropriate fixing points to the car, so that's another concern that has been raised, solved. We're not fans of adaptor cables because they introduce additional connections/ unreliability. Instead, because we tow both a 13 pin caravan and a 7 pin trailer, we have both the 13pin and a 7 pin socket installed. The extra cost was no more than that for an adaptor.

Some cars need a computer patch to the lighting CPU to get the warning and other lights and maybe other things working.

The days when you could splice into the wiring harness are long gone,

Rgds

if your car is under warrentee, it MUST be done by a N.T.A. towbar fitter, dont let a dealer tell you they have to do it, they will charge you the earth and still send it to them

 if your car is under warrentee, it MUST be done by a N.T.A. towbar fitter

Any evidence to support that statement Dakota? 

I personally prefer a fixed bar rather than detachable. We are all different!

My fixed towbar offers some security should some mumpty carelessly bump into my rear end!  Type is a matter of choice.  Ensure you get the electrics vehicle specific and yes, if you can find one, an independent Fitter should be much less than going through a franchised dealer who would probably sub contract the work anyway and add his markup!  I have a 13 pinn connector and also tow a trailer with a 7 pin connector, a simple adaptor solves that problem