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Quickly and easily install a 4-way trailer connector on your Subaru Forester with this custom wiring harness. T-One connector plugs directly into existing wiring - no cutting, splicing or tapping required.
Features:
Specs:
Installation
This custom-fit T-One connector plugs into your vehicle's wiring harness, which is located in your rear cargo area, either behind the driver's-side trim panel or in the spare tire compartment. You will need to remove some interior paneling to access this harness. Once you've plugged in the connector, insert the provided fuse into the in-line fuse holder.
Once installation is complete, the 4-way flat connector will be stowed in your rear cargo area.
It is recommended that you use a small amount of grease on all electrical connections - the plug on your automobile and the 4-pole connector itself - to help prevent corrosion.
A ModuLite power module is built into this T-One connector. Because most trailers run on a two-wire system - wherein the brake and turn signals are carried on one wire - the separate brake and turn signals from your vehicle's three-wire system need to be combined so they are compatible with the wiring system of your trailer. This power module functions as a tail light converter to combine the brake and turn signal functions of your automobile so that they run on one wire to properly activate your trailer's tail lights. Note: This will not affect how the tail lights on your vehicle operate.
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Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today we're going to be taking a look at the T1 vehicle wiring harness with the four pole flat trailer connector. This product fits certain years and models of the Subaru Forester, Cross Trek and XV Cross Trek as well as the Subaru Outback wagon. To ensure that this is a fit for your vehicle you can use the vehicle fit guide located at etrailer.com. This unit provides a four way flat trailer connector at the back of your vehicle to power your trailer's signal lights. It is compatible with five pole, six pole, and seven pole adapters. Adapters are sold separately and it's going to come with a dust cap, that way you can cover up your connection points whenever your plug's not being used.
That wiring runs to this black box right here. This is the included Modu-Lite. This is going to ensure that your vehicle's wiring matches that of your trailer. The unit's going to feature protective connection terminals to resist corrosion, that way they last a long time and they're effective for a long time. The unit's designed to connect quickly and easily, you don't have to worry about cutting or splicing any wires, just locate the connection point in the rear cargo area and plug in the connector. Now this is custom fit for your vehicle, so it's going to plug in to the port on the vehicle, it's going to match up perfectly, it's going to snap lock together for a nice, tight, secure fit.
It also comes with a 10 amp mini fuse, it's in this fuse holder right here. Once you have that plugged in, you'll need to mount the Modu-Lite in a safe, out of the way location. The kit does come with a couple cable ties as well. Then once you're installation's complete, the connector's going to be stored in your rear cargo area. Plenty of wiring there that way you can extend it out the back of the vehicle when you're ready to use it and then you can bundle it back up, stow it away in the cargo area when it's not in use and it's going to keep it safe from the elements. It is recommended that you use a small amount of dielectric grease on all your electrical connections like the plug on the vehicle and the four pole connector itself.
That grease is designed to help prevent corrosion to those connection points. The grease is sold separately and available here at etrailer.com. When it comes to the maximum amperage for the stop and turn lights, we're looking at 2.1 amps per circuit and for the tail lights we're looking at 5.6 amps per circuit. The unit also comes with very detailed installation instructions to help walk you through that entire process step by step. That's going to do it for today's look at the T1 vehicle wiring harness with the four pole flat trailer connector.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (1142 Customer Reviews)
Quickly and easily install a 4-way trailer connector on your Subaru Forester with this custom wiring harness. T-One connector plugs directly into existing wiring - no cutting, splicing or tapping required.
This harness fit my Subaru Forester 2012 perfectly. Installed just like in the video on the website illustrated. Still works fine after a year. Since it spends most of its time inside the vehicle away from the elements I've had no issues with its function - it delivers every time. The wiring on my trailer is of course another matter haha! 574788
Wasted an hour following the video installations for the 2017 and 2018 Subaru Outback models as I could not locate the cars wiring plug and it was extremely difficult and painful reaching under the panel and I have relatively small hands. Finally read some other reviews and unbolted the tie down hook which easily exposed the wiring plug. The tie down hooks bolt is exposed by popping the plastic cover in the middle of the hook with a screwdriver and removing the 10mm bolt. I think the video should be edited to show this alternate procedure. Otherwise tested and works correctly. Except for the installation frustration I am satisfied. 544041
Your video on how to install hitch and wiring was so simple to follow and easy to understand that I did not even need the instruction sheets. This video convinced me to do it myself and save money allot of money! The only problem while installing hitch I had was in enlarging the holes in my car. This was because of the material this section was made of , aluminum. or something of the kind, very soft. A die grinder would have made short work of this task. This part took the most time, about 30 min. the rest of the job was complete in another 15 min. I am speaking about the hitch, wiring took another 30 min., you will see why when you view my pictures. The wiring harness connectors fit into my cars harness like it was manufactured a the plant which built my car. The car dealer where I bought the car tried to sell me on them installing hitch and wiring because they claimed your products would need a lot of retrofitting. This was not the case at all. Everything you supplied fit perfect without any necessary modifications, however I did make a modification to the wiring harness to fit my own needs. I did not like the idea of sticking it out the trunk, so I went to local parts store and picked up a special bracket and connector to install onto the trailer hitch, thus having connector outside car as it should be. If I did not make this mod it would have only taken 10 min. to install. You can see this connector mod in the picture I am sending you. I have recommended this site to many other people in my fishing club and at work. My brother-in law has just ordered one for his car, seeing how easy my in-stallion was. With your help and a desire to save allot of money anyone can install a hitch, even if you never did one before. The two wire feeders for the bolts worked great, I never saw this technique before. Without them the job would have been tough to say the least. As you mentioned, it is wise to have another person help when it comes time to lift the hitch into position. My brother in -law helped me, now he is buying a hitch and I shall help him lift it into position. Maybe if I was not 63 I could have done the job myself. 14565
It was easy to install and does just what I wanted. 575216
I am very happy with the trailer wiring harness which plugged in and has worked flawlessly since I was finally able to get it connected. Because my car was new I was very cautious about the install. The directions were good and clear. The only problem I had was in "finding" the wiring from the driver's side of the rear compartment. I removed all of the loose styrofoam and other parts that were in the way. This went easily and according to the directions. Retrieving the wire from under the carpet/sound-proofing above the wheel well was the only difficult part. Because the car was new and I didn't want to damage the fabric glued to the body, I reviewed the Video and even went to my dealership to be sure I had not over-looked a step. With my big hands, I was finally able to reach and pull out the wire and plug in the harness without any damage to the sound barrier or wires. The rest was easy. Since I only use a trailer periodically, I chose to leave the trailer connector in the Tire well and not mount it permanently on the outside with the hitch. Looks and works great and I am happy to let friends know I did it myself and save probably over $100. 433695
Ken R - 09/19/2018The product is good, but the directions are terrible. I had a very difficult time finding the wiring plug on the Subaru Crosstrek with the direction included. I had to go to Subaru and look at their wiring instructions. Even theirs took a while to figure it out. 127488
Rich A - 04/26/2015I installed this harness in my 2013 Outback. The plug in the Outback was difficult to find and pull out even with the fine instructions from etrailer.com, I blame Subaru for that. The only issue that I have with this harness is that once plugged in the fuse and controller module are very difficult to situate in such a way as to enable the replacement of the Subaru's interior panels. Both the fuse and controller could be placed closer to the middle of the harness enabling them to be stored in the spare tire well. I ended up shoving them under the side wheel panel with difficulty and running the rest of the wires around the left trunk perimeter and into the spare tire well. From there it was easy to remove the rear most rubber drain plug in the well and cut a slit in it for the harness (see picture) to run through before placing the plug back in its place. Longer zip ties would have been helpful for securing the harness to the hitch. 95565
Trailer plug works great , the directions not so great . Opened the rear hatch removed carpet and center storage unit removed the driver side panel as instructed trying to find the harness. It’s not in the location it’s supposed to be. It’s on the driver side rear . Remove one #2 Philips and pull side panel and it’s right there near the tail light. Unplug the cap and install the plug . Run wire down and out the bottom. Easy if you know where it is! 558893
WOW! George, has it been a year? That hitch is still sitting in my workshop waiting for me to install it! LOL! However, it is very near the top of my to-do list and i suspect I'll be putting it on in the next month or so. Procrastination is my specialty! Cheers... 574876
Very well built. Kind of a pain to get at Subaru connector. Subaru could make this more accessible. 86789
penoby - 06/30/2014The Tekonsha wiring harness arrived without delay and was exactly as expected. Installation on my 2018 Subaru Outback went smoothly thanks to the excellent instructions and video that e-Trailer.com provides. The feedback and reviews of other customer are also very helpful. I reviewed the instruction video several times and read some of the reviews. I had absolutely no issue to install it in a few minutes. It is a little tricky getting my big fingers behind the panel to pull the connector down that is taped up with blue tape. Once you have that down, the rest is a piece of cake. I would also like to comment that I also installed the DrawTite 2" Receiver hitch. This installation went quite well, although I must say that the e-Trailer video, and instructions supplied with the hitch are not as good as the explanations of some of the reviewers. For example, it is much easier to pass the bolts and spacers from the top (inside the truck area) by enlarging the existing holes in the cargo area floor, rather than drilling a new hole in the bottom of the frame as per the instructions. I also discovered that it is possible to do this by only enlarging the two forward holes in the cargo floor, rather than all four. It is very easy to fish the rear bolts from the front hole if you pass the fish wire in from the bottom rear hole in the frame. Another trick from other reviewers that was very helpful is to mark the heat shield with a Sharpie from inside before you remove it and then drill it rather than trim it with metal shears. It gives a much nicer looking job. Finally, I discovered a trick that really helps to align the hitch when bolting it up. Take four of the M6 bolts that were removed from the heat shields and put them into their holes through the hitch. Once this is done, the hitch is perfectly aligned and you can tighten and torque the four large nuts holding the hitch in place. If you do this, your heat shield will bolt up easily without any issue of the bolts not aligning with the holes. Actually, there was one issue that is not mentioned in any of the reviews that I read, and it would be really nice if DrawTite could fix. This is that fact that the 2 forward original M6 bolts for the heat shields next to the frame that must pass through the hitch flange are too short with the spacer washer placed as per the instructions. The installation kit should include replacement bolts that are about 1/2 inch longer so that they can pass through the hitch flange and the spacer. Unfortunately, the original bolts are too short and stripped when trying to install because they were only holding with a few treads. Now I have to go an buy some longer bolts and repeat the process of lowering the mufflers and exhaust pipe to install them. It would have been nice to know before as I could have easily purchased them in advance. I am very satisfied with e-Trailer.com and their excellent website and service. It certainly is my first stop when looking for anything related to trailers. 516819
The hardest part of the trailer light install is getting to the factory connector. Watch the etrailer video and remove the 10 mm bolt on the forward rear tie down as another customer advised. The instructions in the light wiring harness are too vague, but the etrailer video makes up for this. Once I got to the factory connector, finishing takes about 2 minutes. 574560
Product arrived on time. Installation went well once I removed the metric 10 holding the tie down. ( cover pops off to expose bolt) Some good hand scratches without gloves trying to find the connector without removing the tie down. Otherwise the video instructions were great. Took it to local trailer rental place and they checked lighting connections. All good. 547234
The harness was very easy to plug in. I had to use a self-tapping screw to mount the module as the "double sided" tape that was supposed to be included was not in the box. That said, it could not have been simpler! 637132
I've had this wiring kit for about a year. The installation was very easy. One thing to note, instead of running the wire out the rear hatch of my 2017 Subaru Forester I ran it through the rubber plug that is in the bottom of the spare tire well. I simply cut a slit in the plug and slid it around the wire. I then put the plug in place and sealed it with some silicone caulk. The 4 pin connector is corrosion free thanks to the rubber cover that is molded into the plug. 563632
It took me longer to remove all the foam trays and liners from my car than it did to remove the old wiring harness and install this new harness. It works fine. In my opinion, the Subaru 2009 Forester (and others I guess) has a bad system where the wires for trailer lights have to lay through the rear hatch and are pinched in the door seal. Evidently, over time, that lead to the failure of the right turn signal wire on the previous wiring harness. The installer of the previous harness had put a wire protector (split black corrugated plastic sleeve) over the wires which I think contributed to the failure. I'm going to keep the wires for the new harness "bare" and make sure they lay flat where they go through the door seal. Hopefully that will reduce the pinching of the wires. All in all a great design; nothing to do but plug it in and go. And etrailer's service was superb; I called to make sure I was ordering the correct wiring harness, got the shipping arranged to my mom's house in Ohio where I was visiting (from PA), and etrailer kept me posted on the shipping progress. No problems and I would definitely recommend etrailer. THANKS! 206824
Gregory K - 06/24/20162017 Outback- 2" Hitch and Wiring Harness - I was too cheap to pay for the quicker delivery. No problem! The box arrived within the week (and that was with snow and zero degree temps throughout the nation!). Great start! I bought a step drill. Best $17.00 purchase ever. I just followed the directions from the box. That, and after watching the installation videos several times, gave me a good idea of what to expect. Exhaust came off perfectly. I had a can of silicone lube, which worked great for removing AND installing the rubbers in the exhaust hangers. Drilling the two holes - Drilling the access holes worked great with the step drill. Just drill until the fittings will go through. Wear some type of eye protection, and watch for the hot metal falling down into your shirt sleeves as you are drilling (Ask me how I know...). Thread the fishing wire in with the plate and bolt, and it does go right through the frame and into the smaller hole with no problem. I didn't think it could be that easy...but it was! Everything aligned perfectly. Don't remove the fishing line from the bolts. You'll do that AFTER the hitch is up and in place (so that the bolts are not pushed back up into the frame. They would be a bear to get back out!). At that point, I was ready to push the hitch up, and remove the fishing wires as I put on each nut. I figured that I could work out a way to do it by myself. After 30 minutes, I gave in and called my wife out to give me a hand. (I should have done that a half hour earlier...). I held up the hitch, she removed each wire from the bolts in the rear and threaded on the nuts. 2 minutes later, ALL the nuts were on. Maybe you can figure out a way to do it easy by yourself, but just a couple of minutes of help will save a lot of time! Tighten up the nuts... Heat shield back on (simple to trim it)...Spray a little more lube on the rubber hangers (never can use TOO much lube)...And look at what you just completed! 1:45 to complete the hitch install...including 30 minutes of "investigative time" until my wife saved the day. Installing the wiring harness - Yes, this can be 5 minutes...or an hour...depending on how quickly you can locate the wiring harness inside the panel. Removing all of the panels to get down to the spare tire was quick. Maybe a 6 year old could get their hand inside that drivers side panel, but that wire harness was very allusive. I finally cut a small (1/2") slit in the fabric panel right at the lower corner of the tie down hook. That way, I was able to lift the panel out away from the hook, and was able to see the famous "Blue Tape" and the white harness, right next to the left side of the tie down. I grabbed the harness, released it from that blue tape, yanked it down where I could plug in the new harness...and was very happy! Now that I know exactly where the harness is mounted, I could get to it a little easier. First time is always the hardest! I ran the wire through the bottom of the spare tire well. Just a small slit in the rubber grommet keeps a good seal, and then zip tie to the hitch (or a permanent mount), and it's ready to go! Thanks to etrailer.com for the great products, installation videos, and service! 335728
2014 Forester factory trailer plug location - FYI The plug is located in the upper aft corner of the drivers side cargo panel. You must remove the tail gate panel, remove the cargo hold down and one screw from the upper bag holder. Then pop the aft edge of the trim panel out. The plug is not accessible from below the panel. 141183
This is the 2nd time I've bought a wiring kit from etrailer that was "Plug & Play". The stock Subaru trailer connector was right where they showed to be in the video & was easy to get to. I don't care for the idea of running it over the tailgate & body seal so I chose to run it through a conveniently placed rubbed plug in the spare tire well. The tire is held up off the harness by the hard insulation in the tire well bottom. A little silicone sealant around the harness where I snipped the plug to keep the water out & we're done! 179584
I bought the hitch, wiring harness, and window deflectors. I think the deflectors took me all of 15 minutes to install and the hitch about 45 minutes and a half hour for wire harness. The harness isn't hard to hook up it's just finding it in your car. All and all very easy installation and really like it because I had given up my pick up and this is a great alternative to having a pick up not to mention double the fuel mileage. Went back to the dealer to get a hitch and they wanted $750. . with wiring and did it myself so thank you everyone at Etrailer for helping. When I place the order I could not have ask for a nicer person to help me out and the follow up to make sure I got everything and was satisfied. My only problem now is my buddy wants me to order another one and do his car with it so that will be coming up in a week or so. Thanks again. 545901
I kept going back to the instructional video because I thought "this can't be this easy"- but it was. 555320
Apparently the wiring behind the trim panel is a bit different in the 2018 Outback. There was no harness to untape and pull down below the trim panel to connect the trailer harness to. The connector was solidly affixed to something behind the trim panel. What I had to do was fold the left side rear side down, unclip and fold up the floor panel, and remove the tie down bracket in the side wall just behind the rear seat. The Subaru connector was easily pushed out through that opening. Then I back fed the trailer harness connector under the side trim panel and out the same hole. Plugged the two together, pushed them back in, and the rest of the instructions were fine. 456828
I was not at all pleased with the single sheet of installation instructions. They are not complete and the photos are not correctly labeled. I watched the etrailer installation video and it was not helpful. The connector was not easily reached in the side panel behind the left seat. The instructions are incomplete as to where the connector is actually located and how one reaches it without taking out the side panel. The video makes it look too easy. The baggage loop prevents one from reaching forward and up behind the side panel. The clearance below the side panel was too small to get my arm under its edge. I found the seat back release cable but not the electrical connection cable. 457354
Heather A - 12/08/2017The only thing difficult about installing this is finding the Subaru plug on the vehicle. On my car (2017 Outback) it was of great help to remove the front most tie down ring on the driver's side. Unsnap the plastic center vertical bar on the mount using something like a screwdriver. That will expose a 10mm bolt. Remove the bolt and the assemble will pull out. You will then be able to see the plug (look for blue tape) and you will be able to get your hand behind the panel. 375146
Super easy to install! Just watch the video and make sure to note where the plug is! 771488
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