etrailer | Curt T-Connector Vehicle Wiring Harness Installation - 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan

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Full transcript: www.etrailer.com/tv-install-t...
Hey everybody, Ryan here at etrailer. Today, on our 2021 Volkswagen Tiguan, we're gonna be taking a look at and showing you how to install the Curt trailer wiring harness with a four-way flat connector. So, a lot of our Tiguan customers, you know use their SUVs to do a little bit of everything, and it makes sense, you know these are really capable. And so that does include quite a bit of towing, actually. And whenever you're pulling a trailer down the road, you know you want those lights to work like they should. That way, people can see you, it'll keep you safe, and keep you legal.
And so a trailer wiring kit like this is going to get that job done. It's going to plug into your trailer, get all those lights illuminated and keep you safe. But not only that, a lot of hitch-mounted accessories nowadays have lights on them too, kind of a popular thing that we're seeing more and more of. And a lot of those are gonna have that same type of connector. So, this will power those up as well.
It's gonna have that four-way flat connector, super common. A lot of different trailers and everything else will have this type of connector on there. And today, we have ours mounted outside, so I used a bracket to mount up to our hitch. Keep it out here, that way, it's easily accessible. Something I recommend doing especially if you plan on using it a lot, but the good news is too this can also be stored on the inside of a vehicle out of the elements, that way if you only use it every now and again, you know you're not going to have to worry about, you know this staying outside.
Something I do suggest though, so regardless of where you store it, just apply some dielectric grease to those terminals every now and again, that'll help keep them protected and prevent any corrosion from building up. There is something that I do want to mention and something we definitely want to check to make sure this wiring kit will work with your car. So if you pull this little panel down you can see how to do that here in a minute during the installation video but you want to locate your factory connector and look at the wires there. So in our case, this Curt wiring worked with this type of setup. So it has three wires.
If you're wondering we tried the other kit that's available the Tekonsha kit, and that did not work and chances are pretty good, if your wiring connector has a single red wire the Tekonsha kit will work with that one, and the Curt kit will work with this setup. So something I figured was worth mentioning and something you definitely want to check on your own Tiguan before you choose a specific wiring kit. But other than that, you know, a pretty nice kit. These things are well-built and should hold out for quite some time. And if you want your trailer lights to work on something you're definitely going to have to do. Now as far as the installation goes, really not too bad, remains relatively easy to get to. This is a little time consuming though just having to route all the wires and things like that but I'm going to stay focused. Really shouldn't give you any issues. Speaking of which, let's go ahead and put it all together now. Begin our installation, we're going to be here at the back of her Volkswagen and we need to remove our floor coverings. So with these, you can just lift them up, pull them out and set them off to the side. Now we can get this threshold removed and out of the way, what you're going to do is start on one corner and take a trim tool like this and just kind of pry up on it, moving it along. And what you're trying to do is release some of the fasteners underneath there. So that's what those fasteners look like. So once this pops out, set it off to the side. And we're also just going to grab this foam tray with some of our tire tools and get this out of the way as well. Now on each side of our vehicle, you can remove these trays, these just pull right up, set them out of the way for now. Right up under here, we're going to have an access vent more or less, we can remove that, that way we can get access to the back of our tail lights where the connector is just take a trim tool, flathead screwdriver or something like that. And just pry down on it. We'll release. We'll do that on each side. Now what we need to do is kind of loosen this side panel up a little bit. That way it'll be easier to kind of get our wires up in here and everything else. So what you're going to do is again take a trim tool or a flathead and there's kind of several clips that are behind here. And pretty much just like the threshold you can kind of just work your way along there. And get this r

[@duhluth]

This would not have been DIY if relying off the Curt manual - super helpful tutorial!! A couple of notes:
The ring connector for hooking up to the + battery terminal bolt will only work if you remove the bolt, with much force, and replace it with an M6x20mm bolt and M6 nut, coated with dielectric grease. The OEM bolt/nut is 'force fit,' I imagine to prevent ppl from losing the nut and burning their car down. It is not removable without destroying the threads. Another option is to get a little fork connector (make sure you use yellow gauge) or to cut the provided ring connector and wrap around the terminal bolt.
Secondly, this video skips the handling of the body gasket that the trailer end harness and black power wire route thru. This gasket (above the driver side exhaust tip) is only easily accessible from beneath (unless you tear out a lot of trim in the rear cargo area). I used a very sharp kitchen scissors to pierce the center of the gasket from underneath, spread the blades, and pulled the plug/gasket out. Then I fished the black cable thru the gasket to the appropriate slack/length, routed it to the crago bay, and used a flathead screwdriver to finesse the gasket back into place in the sheet metal hole. The hole for one wire can be tiny and snug (I still glued it with waterproof glue). The whole plug & harness is the exact width of the gasket & will require a cut the whole diameter of the inside circle if the gasket. If you intend to keep your cargo bay watertight, I imagine you'll need a lot of silicone. My install kept the harness plug/cable inside, so I didn't have to deal with this little engineering conundrum.
Hoping that these notes are helpful to 18-22 Tiguan owners wanting to do this project DIY! Cheers and happy towing 🎉

[@jonakee342]

This is the BEST step-by-step tutorial on the internet by far. Thank you! Also, I kept all the wiring internal by connecting the hot lead to the cigarette lighter in the trunk. The lighter itself is fused and I'm hoping the lights aren't too much of a draw.

[@etrailer]

Thank you for the feedback. You may have some issues with overloading the factory fuse depending on what size it is. This would result in lost of trailer lighting. This is why the manufacturer strongly advises to attach the power wire directly to the battery.
www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-Vehicle-Wiring/Curt/C56403.html

[@BeefSupreme66666]

Cutting the ring terminal is awkward as the provided ring terminal diameter is way bigger than the bolt/nut on my 2020 Tiguan, so it sort of 'floats'. Inside the fuse box there's a bolt/terminal labelled '508', can that be used as an alternative connection point for this kit on the 2020 Tiguan? (similar to th-cam.com/video/BaOpwT8xpWE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=rqg4WavS74HRpmm-&t=371)

[@amr-us3tx]

Could you please tell me where I can buy the wiring harness for the trailer hitch? Thanks
I am in Canada

[@etrailer]

You can get the Curt # C56403 from us by using the link below:
www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-Vehicle-Wiring/CURT/C56403.html

[@amr-us3tx]

@@etrailer Thanks