Hybrid towing

[Colo_Native]

Has anybody towed a Fusion hybrid either 4 down or on a dolly? I have a 2011 and can't decide which way to go. Thanks

[rocmoc]

Colo. newbie wrote:
Does anybody know if you have to run a wire for the brakes lites, because the brake buddy or simular devices, turn the brake lites on, or is that mainly for the turn signals?

I would run wire for brake light. If your battery went dead, which can happen on a hybrid, you wouldn't have brake lights if you don't run the wire. Run the wire! Cheap & easy at the time of install.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

[Colo_Native]

Does anybody know if you have to run a wire for the brakes lites, because the brake buddy or simular devices, turn the brake lites on, or is that mainly for the turn signals?

[DouglasC]

I have towed a 2008 Mercury Mariner hybrid for almost 20,000 miles and now a 2012 Ford Fusion hybrid for over 5,000 miles. I always turn the key back as far as it will go after putting the transmission in Neutral. That key position is not ACC and will not cause the battery to drain. I have traveled for as long as 3 days (staying overnight in campgrounds with pull-thrus) with the key in the ignition and have never run the battery down - - nor have I ever had any problems with these vehicles by doing this.

No charge line is necessary when you turn the key all the way back towards off since you don't drain the battery. Also, when the key is not in the ACC or On/Start positions, the electric brake assist is not on and so when I used my Brake Buddy, there is minmal drain on the battery (only when the air resevoir needs to be refilled if the Brake Buddy actuates often - - which it almost never does the way I drive).

And to re-inforce what others have said - - these Ford hybrids are the easiest to tow - - no fuses to pull - - nor battery cables to disconnect, etc.

BTW: I use a Roadmaster Falcon 2 tow bar and am now on my 2nd Roadmaster tow bar. Have been towing vehicles 4 wheels down now for 20 years!

Doug

[willald]

Colo. newbie wrote:
Ok, with all that said I will tow my Hybrid 4 down but is any towbar better for hybrids? Also is there kits for running charge lines?

Not sure that any particular tow bar would be better than any other for a hybrid necessarily, but I do highly, highly recommend the ReadyBrute Elite tow bar, made by ReadyBrake. You get a great braking system and tow bar, for 'bout the same price as you'd pay for just a tow bar alone from anyone else. Assuming you plan to get/use a supplemental braking system, this approach saves you a TON of $$.

If you go with another braking system, make certain it is one that will work with active power brakes. With Ford's hybrids, the power brake assist is on all the time, even when towing. Readybrake handles that just fine, some other systems do not.

As to a kit for a charge line: The Toad Charge system would be one such kit that would work fine. I'm sure there are others, but thats only one that comes to mind. You can save yourself a lot of $$, and keep it much more simple, though, by just buying you some wire, connectors, fuse links, etc. and run the wire yourself. Its very easy to do, and if you search some on here, you'll find several posts talking about how to do such.

Will

[Colo_Native]

Ok, with all that said I will tow my Hybrid 4 down but is any towbar better for hybrids? Also is there kits for running charge lines?

[willald]

the_armadillo wrote:
We tow a 4WD FEH four down which had the same basic components as the FFH thru 2012. We do follow the instructions for leaving the key in ACC position and use a charge line from the RV..

Yes, you bring up a good point here - With Ford's hybrids, a charge line from the MH is almost a requirement.

With ours I confirmed with an ammeter that there is a constant drain on the battery of around 3 amps when you leave key in ACC position. Even more if you have a supplemental braking system pushing on the brake pedal, as Ford's electric powered brake assist stays on all the time when towing.

With these hybrids, in most cases you're going to have to run a charge line, or will deal with a lot of dead batteries and jump starts. Very, very easy and simple to do, though, and eliminates worries completely of running down the toad battery.

Will

[rocmoc]

We have a Ford C-Max Hybrid we tow 4 down.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

[the_armadillo]

We tow a 4WD FEH four down which had the same basic components as the FFH thru 2012. We do follow the instructions for leaving the key in ACC position and use a charge line from the RV. We do have to turn off the display on the nav system by pushing the Disp button twice. Great Toad.

[willald]

I have a 2013 Fusion hybrid, and we tow it 4 down.

As already said, Ford's hybrids are great for towing 4 down, IMO one of the easiest and most simple there is. Highly recommend if you own one of these hybrids, that you go with 4 down towing. You'll like it much better. You've already got over half the battle won - you already own a vehicle that supports 4 down towing very well.

..To save some typing and give you probably more info than you want on this subject, check out THIS thread, where this same basic question was asked, and answered in pretty good detail.

[conmoto]

We tow our 2011 FFH 4 down and find it is very easy to hook up and go. With the CVT it is one of the easier cars to tow 4 down. You will be getting the full story from a member here soon. Enjoy!