Carmel Mach E Auto
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- Joined
- Oct 30, 2020
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- Location
- Canton, MI
- Vehicles
- Mach E GT PE, Focus Electric
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- #1
Is anyone actively investigating the possibility of sourcing this for installation on their Mach-E in the US?
Update: Thanks to member I.Adams we now know that the OEM hitch is manufactured by European company Brink (not to be confused with Brinks, a US brand that also makes trailer hitches). Researching the product on their website has been enlightening. I've learned a couple things that will have been obvious to European readers or those familiar with European trailer hitches, but which were surprising to me.
https://translate.google.com/transl...trekhaak/2483493?model=mustangmache&year=2020
And here's a link to the Uebler X31s bike carrier in the same catalog:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.ford-accessoires.nl/transport/transport-achter/fietsendrager-achter/1948383?model=mustangmache&year=2020
I've also found a document on the Brink website that lists all the bike carriers that they support:
https://brink.eu/app/uploads/2017/04/RMC-Bike-carriers-2021-02-22-INT-EN.pdf
Another thing that I've learned from reading the Brink website is that they have two very similar types of hitches that differ in an important way: one is rated for towing while the other is not. The non-towing type has a rod through the ball that prevents a trailer from being attached. I presume this is to appease regulatory bodies who want to make sure that vehicles that are not rated to tow are not being used to do so. At any rate, since the Mach-E is rated to tow in Europe, presumably the product Ford is selling is the towing-type. However, it should still be usable for a bike rack. And a European tow bar is probably not legal for towing in the US anyway, even if the Mach-E were rated to tow here.
This would obviously be an expensive way to add a hitch and bike rack. However, at the time, this is the only solution on the market for an "invisible" hitch. The ecoHitch is available today, and it looks like a great product, but it's not a hidden type hitch. And the Stealth Hitch product for the Mach-E is still months away from release.
Update: Thanks to member I.Adams we now know that the OEM hitch is manufactured by European company Brink (not to be confused with Brinks, a US brand that also makes trailer hitches). Researching the product on their website has been enlightening. I've learned a couple things that will have been obvious to European readers or those familiar with European trailer hitches, but which were surprising to me.
- In Europe, bike racks and storage systems actually mount onto - rather than instead of - the tow hitch. So they do not take the place of a hitch like they do in the US, they actually fasten directly onto the tow ball itself. Watching Youtube movies of this was eye-opening. Before I viewed those, I thought to myself, how can that possibly work effectively?
- In Europe, hitch mounted bike racks and storage systems require their own tail lights, including blinkers and brake lights. So every European product in these categories has lights and a wiring harness to connect them. This makes them more expensive on average than US equivalents. It also obviously means that, if you want those features to work, you have to install the vehicle side of the wiring harness for the rack to plug into.
https://translate.google.com/transl...trekhaak/2483493?model=mustangmache&year=2020
And here's a link to the Uebler X31s bike carrier in the same catalog:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.ford-accessoires.nl/transport/transport-achter/fietsendrager-achter/1948383?model=mustangmache&year=2020
I've also found a document on the Brink website that lists all the bike carriers that they support:
https://brink.eu/app/uploads/2017/04/RMC-Bike-carriers-2021-02-22-INT-EN.pdf
Another thing that I've learned from reading the Brink website is that they have two very similar types of hitches that differ in an important way: one is rated for towing while the other is not. The non-towing type has a rod through the ball that prevents a trailer from being attached. I presume this is to appease regulatory bodies who want to make sure that vehicles that are not rated to tow are not being used to do so. At any rate, since the Mach-E is rated to tow in Europe, presumably the product Ford is selling is the towing-type. However, it should still be usable for a bike rack. And a European tow bar is probably not legal for towing in the US anyway, even if the Mach-E were rated to tow here.
This would obviously be an expensive way to add a hitch and bike rack. However, at the time, this is the only solution on the market for an "invisible" hitch. The ecoHitch is available today, and it looks like a great product, but it's not a hidden type hitch. And the Stealth Hitch product for the Mach-E is still months away from release.
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