Click for more info and reviews of this CURT Trailer Hitch:
https://www.etrailer.com/TrailerHitc...
https://www.etrailer.com
Don’t forget to subscribe!
   / etrailertv  

Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tvinstallc...
Hello neighbors, it's Brad here at etrailer and today we're taking a look and installing the Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver on a 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan. Now here's how your hitch is gonna look like when it's installed on Tiguan and the great part is it's a hidden cross tube which means the only thing that you're gonna see is the receiver opening here and the rest of it hides behind the fascia to give you a nice clean OEMstyle look. Now this is a two inch by two inch receiver tube opening which is pretty well the standard when it comes to hitches which means you're gonna have tons of options when it comes to bike racks, cargo carriers, or even a ball mount. And all of your accessories are gonna stay in place with a five eights pin and clip which is not included with the hitch. A lot of times your accessories though will come with one but if you wanted to pick up a locking version, those are really nice, you can leave your accessories on, lock it in place and know that no one's gonna walk away with it. You can pick plenty of options here at etrailer and that way they stay secure.

Now if you plan on towing a trailer you do have a rolled style safety chain loop, nice and open for your standard S hooks or even a larger clevis style hook is gonna work just great with this. Now speaking of towing, you're gonna want to adhere to the weight capacities not only of the hitch but also of the vehicle. So check your owner's manual to see what it's capable of and compare it with the numbers of the hitch which come in at a pretty good rating of 3,500 pounds of your gross trailer weight rating. And that's gonna be the weight of the trailer plus the accessories loaded onto it. And you also have a tongue weight rating of 525 pounds and that's gonna be that downward pressure that's put on the inside of the receiver tube opening and that's gonna be important for your cargo carriers, your bike racks, you're not gonna want to go over that weight limit, but honestly at 525 you'll be able to load up a fourbike bike rack and not have to worry about exceeding that weight limit.

Now a few quick measurements from the center of the hitch pin hole to the furthest point of the rear fascia, we're looking right at about 5 inches and that's gonna be important for some of your folding accessories like a cargo carrier or bike rack. As they're in the stowed position you wanna make sure they don't hit the rear fascia of your vehicle. So that's something to look at when choosing accessories. Now as far as your ground clearance, when you come in right at about one foot, so that's pretty decent. It's something to consider when you have loaded accessories like a cargo carrier or bike crack as they are suspended, as you go up an incline they're gonna want to tilt towards the ground so keep that in mind when driving with accessories on or going over any steep or rough inclines.

Something else to consider too is if you are planning on towing a trailer that measurement's gonna help you determine if you need a rise or a drop. So you can measure the coupler height of your trailer and match that to based on the difference. Now if you're wondering if your handsfree lift gate is gonna work with the hitch, the answer is yes. Now as far as installation goes this one looks like it's pretty simple and that's because it's just four bolts that go through the frame rail. You're gonna fish wire those out and the hitch will bolt up but you do need to lower the exhaust which is pretty simple here.

And we did run into some variances that the instructions really don't point out but I'll show you those. And main thing is you're gonna have to scrape away at some undercoating to really get the hitch up in place. So we'll take a look at the installation and you can follow along to make sure you get your hitch installed. Now to begin our installation, we're gonna be removing the plastic shroud that's in between the muffler and then attaches to the rear fascia. And this is gonna allow us to have that space for the hitch to live so we will not be putting this back up. So once we remove it, you can set that aside. And to get this off, pretty easy you have some torx bits that run along the bottom here. So with the T25 torx bit we'll go ahead and get these removed. (drill running) So just work your way along this edge. (drill running) It looks like we have five of them. (drill running) There's also gonna be two 10 millimeter plastic nuts and these are gonna be kind of tucked in this opening here as well as on the other side. So go ahead and you can get those removed. (drill running) Now they may stay attached to t