Recently bought a Peugeot 3008 to tow a new to us Bailey Unicorn Valencia. Our car dealer fitted a tow bar on the 3008 (13 pin plug). On collecting our caravan last weekend the red/green light did not come on for the Al-ko ATC system. All other lights work OK. Our caravan dealer connected it to his vehicle and it all worked, including the ATC!
He told us the electrics have not been fitted properly on the tow bar and that there's a particular pin that should be live all the time (pin 9 -orange - live feed from battery).
As we're clueless novices with all this towing lark we just wondered if any of you could confirm this information is correct as our car dealer doesn't seen to know either!!!
Thanks.
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Yes pin 9 should be a live feed and pin 10 should be live with the engine running to power the fridge. Many dealers only fit 7 pin wiring for trailer lights even when fitting a 13 pin socket, you need to specify full 13 pin wiring for caravan use when ordering a tow bar and I'm not surprised that your dealer hasn't got a clue.
Another thought has also just occurred to me but you've probably double checked this already, how heavy is your caravan and how heavy is the car? I've always discounted the 3008 as it's fairly light and the early ones had a very low noseweight limit. Your caravan must be around 1500 MTPLM which is probably more than the car's kerbweight.
The dealer almost certainly didn't fit the tow bar themselves, they would have got a specialist tow bar fitter to do it for them, which is normal practice in the trade, so it's no surprise the dealer hasn't got a clue how your tow bar is wired.
As mentioned, it's not at all uncommon, unless you (or dealer) specifically ask for a 'fully wired' 13 pin tow bar socket, for only the basic road lights to be wired on 7 pins! For a modern caravan you need all 13 pins wired to give you power, for the fridge and the leisure battery charger when towing, and for the ATC controller. The ATC feed is permanently live on pin 9. The actual socket may have a 13 core cable with all pins connected, BUT that doesn't automatically mean that the other end of the cable in the car has all cores connected to anything, so a visual inspection alone is not enough to tell what you have.
There are also two levels of 'integration' of tow bar wiring into vehicle electrics, the basic universal integration unit which will give only the essential functions of lights etc., or the vehicle specific unit which will integrate fully into the vehicles electronic management, doing things such as disabling rear parking sensors, or electric tailgates when trailer hitched, also including trailer lights in bulb failure warnings etc., it all depends on the sophistication of car, some even modify stability controls to take account of attached trailer.
There is of course always the chance that something is simply faulty on your installation. It would be best if you were dealing with the tow bar installer, who will (hopefully!) have a thorough understanding, and be able to conduct function tests.
With the current new model 3008, the towing capacity spec varies between 1300 to 1500Kg depending on model/trim. The 2014-17 model Bailey Unicorn Valencia had a published MTPLM of 1493Kg, so as Rob & Tina have pointed out, you may be overweight and illegal towing it, we'd need more specific years, models etc. to be sure on that.
Apparently it is quite common for car dealers to just fit basic wiring when fitting towbars. The full 13 pin wiring is quite complex and requires a special vehicle-specific wiring harness, so if that's what you want you often need to tell them. It's usually quite a bit more expensive than a basic set-up as it's more time consuming as well. It is often better to go to a towing specialist rather than a car dealer.
Thank you all. The information is great if not slightly scary!
Our caravan dealer did a car/caravan Towsafe outfit match report for us BEFORE we bought the caravan and advised it was fine. I hope to God they got it right, because now I have that to worry about too!!!
Ours is a 17 reg 3008 2.0 diesel and 15 reg Valencia.
------------- More adventures in 2026 -
Feb - Steamer Quay CAMC, Totnes
May - Cheddar & Dulverton
June - Lake District
July - Devizes, New Forest & Dorset
September - TBA
Christmas - Ayr, St Ives
New Year - Hillhead CAMC, Brixham
You haven't given exact model details of the car and gearbox so this is just an example but a 3008 2.0 Allure Auto appears to have a kerbweight of 1480 kg so is lighter than the MTPLM of the caravan. You need to check the figures yourself, dealers will say anything to get a sale.
Come back with the exact model details and we may be able to get more information for you.
------------- More adventures in 2026 -
Feb - Steamer Quay CAMC, Totnes
May - Cheddar & Dulverton
June - Lake District
July - Devizes, New Forest & Dorset
September - TBA
Christmas - Ayr, St Ives
New Year - Hillhead CAMC, Brixham
According to Parkers car specs the manual has a kerbweight of 1425kg so I think you need to check your vehicle weights carefully. Somebody mentioned on UKCS last year that his insurance would not cover a caravan heavier than the towcar and I think some breakdown insurance schemes don't allow this either.
Quote: Originally posted by Kernow Camper on 31/3/2022
Thank you all. The information is great if not slightly scary!
Our caravan dealer did a car/caravan Towsafe outfit match report for us BEFORE we bought the caravan and advised it was fine. I hope to God they got it right, because now I have that to worry about too!!!
Ours is a 17 reg 3008 2.0 diesel and 15 reg Valencia.
I think you'll need to check this yourself with the exact details.
If you're a member of the CMHC or C&CC, they have accurate match information for your combination.
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Hi Sharon, Tina has just done a check on the CAMC matching site and I'm sorry to say the results are not looking very good.
The report states that "the club advises that your Peugeot 3008 should not tow a Bailey Unicorn Series 3 Valencia 2015, the ratio to kerbweight is 105%. The caravan's laden weight is more than the car's kerbweight. There is significant risk of stability problems, especially at higher speed. The police may consider this combination unroadworthy".
You need to check your weight details very carefully. When we bought our caravan the dealer did a weight check and gave us a report showing all the figures etc, did your dealer give you a copy of your report?
Sorry to say but as soon as I saw Peugeot 3008 mentioned I was pretty sure it would not be heavy enough to tow your caravan.
I have the same car and it has a very low tow limit and fairly low nose weight as well. Using the 85% rule and being new to towing when looking for are first caravan we kept to caravans weighing 1275 MTPLM or less.
We finally ended up getting a Trigano 310 with 850 MTPLM although now we are looking at getting a elddis xplore 304 which is still only MTPLM 1043kgs.
I know it's not what you want to hear in that the Peugeot is not really safe to tow your caravan and probably not legal as well but better now than later to find out.
Hope you manage to sort something out.
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Quote: Originally posted by blueexpo97 on 01/4/2022
85% is only a guidance figure, not a rule.
Yes that is definitely true, but I would advise anyone not very experienced to stick to it.
However, one thing I am curious about is where the 100% rule comes from. The manual version of my X Trail has a kerb weight of 1,625kg, but the maximum towing weight is 2,000kg. Surely that is well over 100%? Some vehicles weighing under 2,000kg have a towing limit of 3,000kg. If the 100% rule is law, how is it legal to tow 3,000kg with a vehicle weighing only 2,000kg?
My X Trail is an auto, which is restricted to 1,350kg but my caravan weighs less than 1,000kg so I hardly know it's on the back.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 01/4/2022
However, one thing I am curious about is where the 100% rule comes from. The manual version of my X Trail has a kerb weight of 1,625kg, but the maximum towing weight is 2,000kg. Surely that is well over 100%? Some vehicles weighing under 2,000kg have a towing limit of 3,000kg. If the 100% rule is law, how is it legal to tow 3,000kg with a vehicle weighing only 2,000kg?
Where are you getting the info that the 100% rule is law?
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Topic: AL-KO ATC 13-pin wiring issue
via mobile 01/4/2022 at 8:57am
