[Glene]

The panels mostly pulled straight away from the mounted position. One part I need to check is did the ac vent to the middle row line up when the panel went back into position. The panel went on but I did not check if the ac / heat vent connected to the louvre on the panel.

 

[Glene]

Here is the huckleberry….. the “Hands Free Lift-gate Feature” now doesn’t work. My guess is that it gets frustrated by the ‘shadow’ cast by the hitch. I did check that I hadn’t turned the feature off in the Mazda Connect control panel. It was on.
I didn’t buy the 90 for that feature. I did buy it for the better towing capacity. So I’m not overly disappointed by loosing that hands-free feature.

 

[joe.pindler.salas]

Have you tried going slightly to the left or right of the center? On the Honda pilot, some people described a similar issue, but they were able to use the hands free lift gate / sensor by going slightly to the left or right.

 

[Billy_McSkintos]

I believe its the sensor to right of center when looking from behind.

 

[joe.pindler.salas]

sorry, I’m referring to the placement of the foot. By going to the left and/or right with the foot, there’s a possibility that the sensor still works

 

[Etex]

Not sure where sensor is but woks left of center.

 

[Billy_McSkintos]

Serves me right for trusting the salesman.

 

[CarsByKev]

I ordered my tow package and was told the tow mode will show up with aftermarket or factory Hitch once it's wired in. That's what my trusted dealer said.

Yeah, I test drove a brand-spanking-new Demo (12 miles on it) and it had tow mode in the menu. The one I bought is EXACTLY the same model (PHEV PPlus, same color, everything) but Tow Mode is not active in the menu...Strange. I wonder why the Demo had it activated. It DID NOT have a hitch.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

Once you have a Hitch wired as soon as you plug a trailer in the dash says iActive disengaged and show tow mode now available, new screen animation.

 

[InlineSix]

That’s really cool

 

[plaroche]

@ToneDeafMonk - I'm in Canada, and they had Uhaul install the hitch and wiring for me - which I think was mainly because no one in Mazda Canada knew how to. I had no issues with Uhaul, but I have yet to see the tow mode option. I have not plugged a trailer in through. Do you know if it shows up only once a trailer is plugged in?

They only gave me a four-prong plug, which I'm on the fence about complaining about or not...

 

[Corazu]

@ToneDeafMonk - I'm in Canada, and they had Uhaul install the hitch and wiring for me - which I think was mainly because no one in Mazda Canada knew how to. I had no issues with Uhaul, but I have yet to see the tow mode option. I have not plugged a trailer in through. Do you know if it shows up only once a trailer is plugged in?

They only gave me a four-prong plug, which I'm on the fence about complaining about or not...

I can't be certain who did mine, I'm under the impression that the dealership did, they didn't say otherwise. So apparently there's someone in Canada! Unless they had Uhaul come in or something. But I got the vehicle with 8km on it, so I don't think it left the dealership.

The wire harness is what it is. I think I have the same one. Tow mode shows up in my list but I can't select it unless I plug in a trailer.

 

[plaroche]

I can't be certain who did mine, I'm under the impression that the dealership did, they didn't say otherwise. So apparently there's someone in Canada! Unless they had Uhaul come in or something. But I got the vehicle with 8km on it, so I don't think it left the dealership.

The wire harness is what it is. I think I have the same one. Tow mode shows up in my list but I can't select it unless I plug in a trailer.

Thank you! If you don’t mind sharing, what dealership? I may ask mine to call yours to find out

 

[Corazu]

Thank you! If you don’t mind sharing, what dealership? I may ask mine to call yours to find out

Moffat's Mazda in Barrie.

I will note they did say the hitch is on backorder for them now, I got lucky.

 

[Allan]

It is my understanding that the towing mode on my PHEV won’t appear until I add the towing accessories. It also appears that towing mode will only appear with Mazda oem equipment installed. Is that bs? If I get a towing hitch and harness at uhaul and save hundreds, will I be unable to see towing mode?

Once you have the OEM harness installed, TOWING will appear in the list, but, be grayed out and you'll be unable to select it for a drive option until you plug in a trailer cable OR a test light! I just had the factory Tow pkg installed and that's exactly how it will go!

 

[Allan]

To Add: I can't say either way about a non-OEM trailer harness allowing the activation of the Tow mode, but, the OEM and non-OEM harnesses basically tie into the electrical system the same way so I can't see why not. The Receiver is not the issue here, just the OEM vs non-OEM Trailer harness.

Amazon.Com has no splice plug in "T" adapters (CURT) to wire a standard Trailer elec harness to the CX-90. You could always try one, plug in a Trailer Plug Tester as I did (plugs in like a standard plug) and has LEDs to check that all connections are working correctly, and that Tester WILL activate the Tow mode (same as a Trailer connection would) on your CX-90 assuming non-OEM will work as well. If you don't see TOW mode showing at all (grayed out and faintly visable in display), after trying a non-OEM harness, that'll answer your question right there!

 

[Bklyncx90]

Couple of questions as I've never towed before if anyone can assist. I have the OEM THH Towing Hitch and Wiring Harness, it came on the car from the dealer.

1. Ive seen in some pictures that people use brake controllers for trailers that I assume have brake assist. Is this the only way to control the braking on a trailer if I ever use one that has this feature.

2. If I do use a trailer I will most likely rent an enclosed one from Uhaul and either help family with a move, so a 4x8 or a 5x8, no mention of braking system so I assume my electric connection powers the brake lights. Am I all set with regards to the occasional furniture move and maybe transport a dirtbike etc?

3. I'm really interested in purchasing either a bike behind the gate , or more likely, a cargo carrier to transport luggage. I fiddled with the roof top vinyl types and it was a pain.
** How much weight can this take and I assume that when bolted to the chassis the hitch can pull a lot of weight but no necessarily Hold much. Is this a use at your own risk aftermarket add on.
HAUL-MASTER500 lb. Steel Cargo Carrier

 

[DougK]

I had my dealer in Spokane install the Mazda OEM hitch and wiring on my CX-90 Preferred Plus. Price was $900 (not bad), comes with a 7-pin trailer socket and it looks good. HOWEVER, there is another "control module" (about $400) for the trailer brakes controller. They have it in stock, it's a clean addition but I did not do that because I don't plan to pull anything more than a utility trailer. We'll see what happens when I connect the wiring to the 7-to-4 pin adapter.

 

[tornichoe]

You typically don't see trailer brakes on ones with carrying capacity below 3000lbs. The smaller uhauls have a 4pin flat connector and the oem trailer harness is a 7 pin round. You’ll need an adapter to connect that trailer to the car. I got this one and it's worked alright the couple of times I used it https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HG17URC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Those small uhaul trailers don’t have brakes.

Someone with more trailering experience can chime in.
The brake controller helps adjust the brake pressure the trailer brakes apply. Think they are usually only positive (ie amplify more than what the vehicle is sending). I'm not knowledgeable enough if a controller is needed for a trailer with brakes coz the electrical signal via the connector is basically ON-OFF and you need something to tell the trailer brakes how much pressure to apply when it gets the ON signal.

The weight you can carry on those hitch carriers is upto the max tongue weight; which typically is 10-15% of total towing capacity (which in the CX90's case is 5000lb) or the specified max tongue weight (which I don't believe is specifically called out in the manual or specs)

 

[Bklyncx90]

Thanks for the reply, The converter at $13 is an easy purchse thanks for the link. And thanks for the heads up on the 10-15%. Bikes will be east to mount on the back then and luggage should exceed 500 lbs.

This car is Long, yet unless both rear seats are down I dont see much space. I'll get a better understanding of space on my next trip.