Do you know why my Kia Sportage is not suitable to carry a towball bike-rack?
Asked by Pablo
I recently purchased the new model Kia Sportage. On the Kia website, they advertise a Towbar Kit with Trailer Wiring, but it says it's ‘Not suitable for a towball bicycle carrier’. I’ve tried asking my local dealership and Kia head office why it’s not suitable, and their response amounted to ‘it just is’. I’m hoping CarsGuide can assist in getting an answer as to why it is not suitable to carry a towball bike-rack?
Answered by CarsGuide
30 Apr 2022While the weight of a towball bike rack and a couple of bicycles won’t be the issue, the problem will probably be down to the potential for those bikes and rack to obscure the parking sensors or reversing camera, or even making the rear hatch impossible to open with the rack in place. In cars with reverse autonomous braking, the sensors and cameras that allow that function to exist could also be compromised. And suddenly, the car you think has reverse AEB, suddenly doesn’t.
Car-makers spend a lot of time and money making that sort of technology work, only to have an aftermarket bike-rack company come along and render it useless. Bull-bars on four-wheel-drives are another great example: Aftermarket protection bars don’t always take into account the operation of the vehicle’s air-bag systems, potentially making the car less safe in a crash.
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