Detachable towbar removal

The reason the swan neck detaches is so that the ANPR cameras can read the number plate, and you don't get pulled by the police.

I've been stuck on my tow bar which I think is different, but to be honest I think I'm glad I was as it stopped other things being caught.

If you think of going down a near vertical but short decent, when the back comes down, if the hill is as tall as the spare wheel, you don't want the spare wheel getting ripped off the rear door! I think my tow bar saved me from doing that once and just pushed the rear that bit further out from the hill to save the rear wheel.

I can't remember if that was in our old SJ or the Jimny but it matters not!

Kirkynut

not sure how much of the numberplate is obscured by the towbar to make it attractive to the Bib, or the inability of ANPR to not beable to see it .... looking at ours, it is visible from a steep angle, and the thickness of the shaft isnt too obstructive.

Ill ask a mate to pop around with the local Area Car next time he is on shift and see if their ANPR can hit the plate and read it. IMHO the non removable ones are the worst for plate visability as they have the electrics and sometimes deflectors that sit quite close to the vehicle.

Incidently, my MOT tester is quite strict (wouldnet even pass the Jeep on non standard tyres, dispite knowing the legal road tures were in the rear, and insisted they were fitted to the vehicle first ... he hasnt failed or even mentioned the towbar obscuring the Numberplate and its been though 2x MOT's with him

From the MOT Testers manual section 6.3

Reason for rejection:

1. A registration plate:
a. missing or incorrect

b. so insecure that it is likely to fall off

c. letter or figure missing or incomplete

d. faded, dirty, deteriorated or obscured, (for example by a towbar so that it is likely to be misread or is not easily legible by a person standing approximately 20 metres to the front/rear of the vehicle)

dont get me wrong, im not saying that a towbar or any other item obscuring the MOT isnt a failure point, what im saying is on the two occasiona ours has gone for its mot the positionp of the Number Plate and the towbar has not been deemed to be in breech of point D that you have posted there.
with a standard removable bar fitted, the Reg Plate can be read easily

I bought my Jimny new with a new tow bar so I have all the originally paperwork that came with it and it comes with a warning about number plate obstruction and states something along the lines of you must remove it if you are driving without a trailer attached as the tow ball is in front of the number plate its OK with the trailer as it has its own number plate