[SamH]

Any advice on a bolt on trailer hitch and lighting harness?

 

[Wombat Ranger]

The OEM hitch is best, as it protrudes through the bumper instead of hanging below. I Installed one in my 2019 Latitude, along with a Curt 4-pin wiring kit. I deviated from the wiring instructions in a few places because I am strongly against "tapping" into oem wires, or drilling holes in the body when unnecessary. It was easy with a little bit of poking around with a meter to find an empty switched power source in the rear fuse panel, and I ran the ground to a body stud. Everything works well, I toted a small trailer a few hundred miles just yesterday, no problems holding 70mph up mountain passes, and still averaged 28mpg. These are great little cars!

 

[Jasmine]

Agreed, OEM is probably best because it was designed for the vehicle by the same company that built it. I got an aftermarket hitch for my Patriot (not my Compass). I went to my local guy and he recommended U-Haul for similar reasons. Theirs is a one-size-fits-all hitch, but hitches are what they do so they're reasonably good at it.

 

[byrnsie1122]

OEM is definitely the way to go. My father in-law had a U-Haul hitch installed on my Compass and while it does the job well, having hitch basket on the exhaust blows right onto the basket which melted a plastic tote I had.

Needless to say I bought everything I needed to put the OEM one on. All the stuff actually arrived this week, but with the arrival of my daughter, my tinkering time is limited.

Also aftermarket one sit lower which you will bottom out and hit stuff on all the time. There's a decline when I leave work and I can hear the hitch hit it every time I leave.