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Receiver Hitch for Ioniq

29K views 32 replies 16 participants last post by  mtsarpilot 
#1 ·
Has anyone looked into and found a 2" receiver hitch for the Ioniq? I have no intention of towing a trailer of course, this if for mounting my bicycle rack. I have a 2" receiver on my Toyota Prius (that will be sold when I buy my Ioniq) and it works great, though I get lots of comments about what I could be towing with a Prius :) The hitch mount bike rack has a MUCH lower gas mileage and performance impact than putting bikes on the roof.
 
#2 ·
Welcome Mtsarpilot

please introduce yourself over on New Member Introductions - Hyundai Ioniq Forum

a number of members have looked into tow hitches for bike carriers, currently the Ioniq is not rated for towing, but I believe several towbar manufacturers are looking at making a tow hitch for bike transport only, so far nothing has been confirm

look at http://www.ioniqforum.com/forum/313-exterior/3049-bicycle-rack.html

https://www.google.com/url?q=http:/...409-attaching-bike-rack-trunk-us-boot-uk.html
 
#3 ·
Thanks bluecar1. That's pretty much what I suspected. The car design is too new and the market for such a hitch is probably quite small so it will take a while for someone to create one. I'll keep watching out for a solution.
 
#7 ·
I'm going to guess the limited number of Ioniq EV's delivered in the USA makes it a very small market. With so few cars then think about the limited percentage of those owners that are looking for a hitch and the manufacturers are probably not seeing it a viable market worthy of their investment yet.
 
#9 ·
yep,

Hybrid / plugin have independent rear suspension

EV had torsion beam suspension to make more room available for the larger battery pack, so the whole underside at the rear is different
 
#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
I just Googled ("Can I put a trailer hitch on Hyundai Ionic Hybrid") and there are at least two 1 1/2" hitches available. (And this forum post obviously)

www.etrailer.com/hitch-2017_Hyundai_Ioniq.htm (shows 2 hitches but they might actually be the same one). Note that you also need the other parts (mount, ball, clips, etc).

Cross referencing with the U-Hall site, they're selling the same one for the 2018:

Obviously this would also need the ball mount, ball and clips. I don't know if the wiring is needed for bicycles or not. Maybe that depends on your location.

I'm not affiliated with any of the above. I just bought a new 2018 Ioniq and am an avid bicyclist. :nerd:
 
#13 ·
I just installed the Curt hitch purchased from etrailer.com. I'm a mechanically handy type person and engineer that does a lot of tinkering and has all the tools to install. It took me about 1.5 hours to install, 90% of which was by myself. I had my wife hold one end of the hitch while I put the first bolts in the other side. The rest was by myself. Half the time was jacking up the car, bolting in the hitch, lowering and cleaning up everything. The other half the time was doing the cut out of the plastic material on the driver's rear side corner that has to be trimmed for the hitch. I am meticulous and wanted to do remove the least amount of material so carefully measured, remeasured, and engineered the cutouts to leave the most material in place. Particularly did not want to cut off the second screw mount point of the plastic. The cutout diagram showed a simpler cutout but would lose this mount point to hold the plastic piece back in place. So even being detailed about it, it was an easy installation.

I went with the Curt over the Draw Tight because the two ends of the crossbar are at different heights in their attachment to the mount brackets. This will give a touch more stiffness in the downward twist applied by tongue weight. At least that's what me and another mechanical engineer felt. So was worth the extra $20. On my old Prius I had a problem with the hitch bending with the bike rack which forced me to weld on another support bar. I wanted the strongest solution that was available.

In the end, both of these are Class 1 hitches. 200lb maximum tongue weight. tabletguy, you have not indicated where you live. Assuming the USA for now. No wiring is needed in the USA to put a hitch mounted bike rack on. Though if what you put on the rack obscures your tail lights, the police may have a discussion with you.

The car is not rated for towing, so use it for racks only. I imagine you could stress the engine in ways it is not intended if you tow with the vehicle. The regenerative braking is certainly not designed to take the load of a trailer pushing the car forward.
 
#20 ·
In the end, both of these are Class 1 hitches. 200lb maximum tongue weight. tabletguy, you have not indicated where you live. Assuming the USA for now. No wiring is needed in the USA to put a hitch mounted bike rack on. Though if what you put on the rack obscures your tail lights, the police may have a discussion with you.

The car is not rated for towing, so use it for racks only. I imagine you could stress the engine in ways it is not intended if you tow with the vehicle. The regenerative braking is certainly not designed to take the load of a trailer pushing the car forward.
Thanks!

I live in Minnesota. Sorry I didn't mention that.

My thought was that I might want to tow a light sailboat, and so I had the wiring installed. However, I agree it's not needed for a bike rack. And I agree the 1 1/4" receiver isn't suited to a larger tongue weight. That effectively means a maximum of two bikes on the rack as far as I know. I can get 1 or two bikes inside as well if I take off the front wheels, but I don't want to be bothered with that! haha.

The only downside for me so far is that the back bike rack seems to allow more dirt to stick to the back of the car, probably from the different aerodynamics pulling dirt from the air :(
 
#22 ·
My thought was that I might want to tow a light sailboat, and so I had the wiring installed. However, I agree it's not needed for a bike rack. And I agree the 1 1/4" receiver isn't suited to a larger tongue weight. That effectively means a maximum of two bikes on the rack as far as I know. I can get 1 or two bikes inside as well if I take off the front wheels, but I don't want to be bothered with that!(
That 1 1/4" hitch should be able to handle a 3 bike rack easily.
 
#14 ·
Hitch Inlet End and Bumper

I just bought and had installed a Draw Tite trailer hitch and am concerned that the pinhole on the inlet tube is about 3inches back from the end of the bumper. I have ordered a bike rack, Duat Beta, which will be delivered tomorrow and am concerned that there will not be enough clearance for the rack. I particularly like the Duat because it was compact and low weight.

I would really like to hear what other people have bought and experienced.

Thanks!!
 
#15 ·
I installed the Curt hitch and use a Kuat Transfer 2 bike rack. Similar to what you are describing, the hitch and hitch pin are well forward of the back of the hitch. Even so, my rack is well positioned on the car. When it is folded up, the hatchback misses it by about 1/2 an inch. Perfect fit.
 
#17 ·
I have the Curt installed and use a 1UP rack (made in Wisconsin). It only contacts the tires on the bike and is adjustable, in and out, at the receiver for clearance at the hatch when folded. I can post a photo after the sun comes up :)
 
#19 ·
mtsarpilot: Interesting that you put a 2" hitch on your Prius. I'm guessing that it was a 2010-2015, in which case the only 2" hitch I could find for my 2010 was the TorkLift. It was expensive ($350) and weighed a ton! It was so heavy that I ended up not using it at all and selling it on Craigslist for $100! I, too, really only wanted to carry bikes on the hitch. We're looking for something for the new Ioniq but it will be a 1-1/4" hitch with a 2" adapter for the bike rack.
 
#21 ·
ktm29564, my Prius was a 2006. The hitch was fairly inexpensive, around $100, though it also could not handle much weight without bending so I had an additional bar welded onto it to stabilize it, which made it rock solid. I went with 2" solely because the bike rack I had was 2".

I originally was looking to go 2" on the Ioniq but since only 1 1/4" hitches are available, I bought a new 2 bike rack (much nicer than the old rack so I'm happy) in 1 1/4". A couple things to be aware of if you are thinking of using a 1 1/4" to 2" converter:

1. That will push your bike rack back another 6" or more, increasing the torque on the hitch when you have a couple bikes on it. You have to decide if you are comfortable with that

2. The adapters don't fit snugly into the 1 1/4" hitch, thus your rack will rock side to side. I want my rack to be rock solid on the car, not rocking around. There are anti-rattle bolt systems you can use to stabilize the connection such as this one from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Towever-Corrosion-Resistant-Tightener-Stabilizer/dp/B01N4K91GI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527131222&sr=8-1&keywords=1+1%2F4%22+to+2%22+hitch+adapter+bolt . Just one more thing you have to bolt into place whenever you put the rack on. Not convenient, but it works.
 
#23 ·
I had a follow up PM about which hitch I actually installed. My post count is too low to allow replies to private messages (which seems a little pointless -- making it the same as writing a NEW PM but...) so I have to post the answer here. It makes a certain amount of sense anyway.

I also had the electrical connections installed, in case I ever want to pull a very light-weight trailer or sailboat, but it is NOT needed for using a bike rack.

​Hitch
https://www.etrailer.com/hitch-2017_Hyundai_Ioniq.htm

Installation Video
 
#26 ·
You will only void the warranty in the US if your modifications are directly related to an otherwise warranty related failure. If your engine blows up, that is not related to the tow hitch and you are covered.
 
#28 ·
I worry if there was ever a drivetrain issue they *COULD* make the claim that you towed a heavy trailer instead of a couple of bikes on a hitch rack. Use that as an excuse to deny warranty work. That's the prob if there is no "Official" policy in place. I haven't found any other info about Hyundai USA on the issue and so far no answer from my dealer.

It is also not clear what your insurance company will do when you lost control on a bending road while you had a heavy load (for example 300 kg) on this tow hitch.
True, although bikes on a rack would have a high CG, at max 3 bikes plus the rack and hitch weigh nothing close to 300kg.
 
#27 ·
It is also not clear what your insurance company will do when you lost control on a bending road while you had a heavy load (for example 300 kg) on this tow hitch.
 
#29 ·
Yes, I exaggerated to make the point very clear from the perspective of the insurance company. Now the next step is the question what would be acceptable weight? If there is an official approval, then this always comes with a maximal allowed nr of kg's, for example 50 kg. But in our cases that there is no official approval, this number is automatically set at 0 kg. So, you can imagine what insurance companies may do, knowing this.
 
#30 ·
The insurance company doesn't ensure the warrantied drivetrain. They may be able to claim driver negligence if they can prove a crash was initiated by a trailer that the manufacturer doesn't allow, but they would be hard pressed to prove a bicycle rack was the cause of a crash.

One advantage of the US legal system is that we are not paranoid (most of us) about such things. We also have extensive consumer protection laws, good contract law, and a marketplace that punishes manufacturers (and insurance companies) for doing stupid stuff. I do understand that such things are very different in other countries but the person initiating this query lives in the US.
 
#31 · (Edited)
For insurance companies the important issue is whether they can convince a judge that there is a causal relation from weight behind the rear wheels to less grip of the front wheels. It is known from physics that such a causal relation exists. The more weight behind the rear wheels, the more chance that your front wheels will lose grip if the the road surface is not perfect. For this reason there are limitation regulations in what weight you should carry behind the rear wheels, inside or outside.
 
#32 · (Edited)
It looks like Uhaul has a trailer hitch made by Sportframe listed on their site for the 2018 (but not 2017?) Ioniq Electric.

Here's the link to the product: https://www.uhaul.com/Trailer-Hitches/2018/Hyundai/Ioniq-Electric/Front-Wheel-Drive/?ddl

And the instructions on the install:
https://www.uhaul.com/Trailer-Hitches/Installation-Guide/CMF11486/

I'll be contacting my dealership and asking if they can install this for me (car is leased). Hopefully it'll all work out!

**Update**

After some further investigation it looks like the trailer hitch is the exact same part number as the one for the Hybrid so it might be a site error. *womp womp* The search continues....
 
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