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The Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver is tailored specifically for your vehicle, providing a sleek, seamless look that integrates perfectly with your car's design. The concealed main body ensures that the only visible part is the receiver tube, giving you a factory-installed appearance without any noticeable protrusion.
Curt leverages precision robotic welding to offer unsurpassed strength and fit. This manufacturing process ensures that every weld is perfect, maximizing the hitch's strength for every towing journey. Whether you're hauling a trailer or carrying bikes, this hitch has got you covered.
Tired of products that rust and deteriorate over time? This hitch is protected by a durable high-gloss black powder coat finish, complemented by a co-cured rust-resistant liquid Bonderite coating, both inside and out. It's built to resist the harshest elements, ensuring your hitch remains in top condition for years to come.
Say goodbye to complex installations that require welding or special tools. The Curt trailer hitch features a bolt-on installation process, complete with a comprehensive hardware kit and installation instructions. It's so straightforward that even do-it-yourselfers can tackle the job with ease.
Engineered specifically to fit models like the Subaru Forester, this hitch provides the necessary clearance and compatibility, ensuring that components like the exhaust system remain vibration-free. It's designed to fit snugly yet securely, maintaining a comfortable ride without the noise.
No more grimy hitch receivers. The open-back design of the Curt hitch makes it simple to clean and maintain, preventing dirt and debris build-up. Keep your hitch pristine and performing at its best with minimal effort.
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (39 Customer Reviews)
This fully welded trailer hitch receiver bolts onto your vehicle's frame with no welding required. Powder coated steel is sturdy and corrosion resistant.
This Curt hitch is really well built and I was able to install it myself on my 2017 Subaru Forester XT. I watched the etrailer install video multiple times to learn how to install it, found the instructions very useful, especially as it showed how to install it without removing the entire rear bumper skin. I won’t say it was a piece of cake. You need to know your way around tools and have some experience working on cars. Especially if, like me, you don’t have access to a vehicle lift and will be installing this with the rear of your car elevated and crawling around on the ground underneath it. I’d also recommend having a helper. Otherwise be prepared to work like a turtle flipped upside down on its shell and have straps, wire, zip ties, clamps, twine or some such thing nearby to hold things in place while you maneuver this heavy, cumbersome, and unwieldy hunk of metal into place. That’s not a criticism, it’s a massive chunk if steel that was fabricated into a weird shape to mate with the rear of your car. At any rate, this hitch went in like a champ. Even better and faster than I expected. The hardware is cleverly designed to assist with the ease of install. So, why four stars? I don’t like doing this because it really is a top notch product, but this hitch was clearly not designed with the Forester XT in mind. In fact, I’d be willing to to bet it was never test fitted to an XT. If it was, it wasn’t test driven for any length of time. Had that been done, the designers would have learned very quickly that the dual mufflers on the XT fit very closely to a critical structural piece of the hitch and when reinstalled, the rubber exhaust hangers get smashed between the hitch and the exhaust hanger. This defeats all of the vibration dampening properties of the hanger and causes a reverberation through the car that you feel in your teeth and fills the interior of car with an echoing groan that sounds like the transmission is about to fly apart. It took me weeks of trying combinations of different exhaust hangers and bending the muffler hangers to finally create the space needed to allow the hangers to do their job of dampening vibration, allowing a little movement, and anchoring the exhaust while maintaining the proper clearance of the exhaust tips below the bumper. Someone with less experience with cars and metal would not have been able to remedy this and it could have been avoided with small changes to design and fabrication. So, five star fabrication, build quality, look, durability and function, four star design and advertisement as universal for all 2017 Foresters.
Also of note: when disconnecting your exhaust and lowering it, there is a metal exhaust bracket near the transmission that needs to be disconnected. I didn’t see it, so it snapped and for a couple of weeks I kept hearing this high pitched screeching while accelerating caused by the snapped metal edges rubbing together rapidly. It was an $8 part and easy to replace, but SO ANNOYING until I figured it out
Arrived quickly. Quality product. All parts were there. Video helpful but still took me longer (5 hours) mainly because I did not have a way to raise the car and I am 78 years old. Retired 18 years ago from industrial mechanic job but still have all the tools.
Fit perfectly. Instructions were clear. The installation video from etrailer was very helpful. A few notes, mentioned by others in comments or in the video: (1) The hitch receiver heavy. It would help to have another person available when you need to lift it up to the frame of the car. I was able to do it alone by putting the hitch receiver up on a makeshift scaffold (concrete blocks). (2) Pay attention to the issue of having to put the small lip at the rear edge of the hitch receiver up over the bolts at the back of the car frame (shown in the video at 8:11). It helps to angle the front side of the unit down while lifting it up to the frame. I snugged up one side of the hitch receiver to the frame before making sure the lip was over the bolt on the other side and had to loosen up the snugged side and get the lip in place on both sides before snugging up either. (3) I had to cut about a 1/2 inch more of the bumper away than is outlined in the instructions (video at 5:35) -- 3 inches up instead of 2.5 inches, but I was able to do that additional trimming at the end of the install. It wasn't super hard to deal with these issues. I am glad I purchased this receiver; it's worth the little bit of extra effort to have the hitch up tight to the bumper with minimal protrusion. It's clean and sharp.
This hitch is not bad, but it is NOT fully compatible with Forester XT!
XT has dual mufflers which are large and causes muffler hangers to rest on hitch severely amplifying noise. This happens because side cutouts are too small. Not sure if much can be done to fix this - may need to cut some metal out to make room for hangers.
Sierra K.
8/16/2021
This is actually a common issue that can be easily fixed. I would not advise to cut anything. You can either bend the muffler hanger so that it pulls the exhaust away from the hitch with a pry bar. Or you can use a different rubber isolator between the exhaust and exhaust hanger. Rubber isolators can be purchased at local hardware stores and it may to easier to take it to a muffler shop to install.
The shipping box did not survive the trip. Part of the hitch had punctured the box and was sticking out. NO damage was visible on the hitch. This hitch was purchased and installed so I can use a swing out spare tire carrier and finally have a full size spare instead of a useless doughnut. Immediately after the dealer installed the hitch I was driving home and noticed an intermittent hum coming from the rear passenger side of the vehicle. I believe the hum is from something related to the installation of the hitch but not the hitch itself. If anyone is wondering the cost of having my vehicle dealer install the hitch was about $500.00. It took them about two hours and it looks great.
The product was excellent. I do believe the included instructions could have been a little bit clearer, however, the video was excellent. I did find the installation much more difficult than was suggested. The hitch fit perfectly. Couple observations make sure you wash out the back of your car before installing this product there is so much dirt in the facia. Also one does not have to actually remove the Muffler as suggested. I also did not have to remove the bumper assembly after removing the facia. one just needs to unscrew the lower of the 3 bumper screws about a 1/2 an inch for the unit to clear. Thank you etrailer for a quality product at a quality price this is my 2nd purchase. 2015 Subaru Forester.
Great fit on the Subaru and wonderful customer service!
Great service. Great website. I received my hitch in two days! I'll need my husband to pick up the box....it's heavy! Thank you etrailer.com
The hitch bolted up easy . The dimensions to cut the bumper were to small so extra trimming was required.
Quality unit, easy enough to install with a little finagling. Many thanks to the other buyers who posted detailed instructions, photos, and observations. Well worth a look.
I picked this hitch specifically because it does not protrude as far from the rear bumper as others do. It was very tight to install on my 2017 Subaru Forrester XT. It required some slight modifications to some bolts that prevented the hitch from sliding into place which may have been because of the dual mufflers. The hitch remains very tight against the mufflers which causes some significant vibrations under load. Likely easily correctable by a muffler shop. All in all, good product and meets my needs.
Heather A.
5/7/2021
Thank you for your review. Exhaust rattles do occur on some vehicles but most of the time it can be fixed. I have attached a helpful article that outlines a couple of techniques to potentially eliminate or reduce the rattle.
Helpful Links
This hitch does a great job pulling a trailer. It was fairly easy to install (the muffler re-install is a pain with the tight clearances). My only complaint is the clearances with the muffler, which causes rattling where they come in contact. I'm working on trying different muffler hangers to improve that, but it would be helpful if they were included or if that was a note indicating that they would be necessary.
Tom
7/28/2022
Update: I did find some longer muffler hangers which fixed the problem on my 15 Forester. No more rattling after ping the muffler an inch or so. I dont remember the hole diameter
While I love this style of “hidden” hitch it was not a direct fit on my Forester XT. The dual exhaust of the XT seems to be the issue - the hangers hit up against the hitch and cause some awful rattling/vibration. The hitch shop that installed it had to do some modifications in order to get it to fit without issue. Works great but it was a headache to get it right.
Sierra K.
10/6/2021
Bending the exhaust hangers are a common and necessary part of installation in some models.
Overall great product. Install was a bit of a pain. Would recommend not to try this solo. A second set of hands made all the difference here. Also cut out “diagram” was more of a wing it situation that happened to work out. All in all great product good parts.
Works as advertised. Quality product with good instructions. I would recommend it to friends and family.
Jon
8/16/2023
It has been a year since I purchased Curts trailer hitch and it is working perfectly. I would highly recommend it. On the Subaru Forrester with dual exhaust, it is a tight fit. SO when installing follow the helpful video on Curts website.
Very study hitch. However, it is a "little" tricky on the install as it just barely (by about 1/4" or less) clears the body bolts on the back to sit flush. Also, the support gussets that make it a "hidden hitch" extend too far outboard IMHO than needed and it takes some tweaking to keep the exhaust from vibrating against it. However, the bolt fishing wire installation was very smooth and trouble free. The instructions for the heat plate modifications is right on the money! Many installation of this type of hitch on this model say to just remove the heat shield, but I like this best practices method of modifying the plate to allow the hitch to sit flush to the mounting body rail, while still providing the heat protection it was installed from the factory for. The cut-out instructions for the rear valance are a "best guess" and it is really better for you to use the hitch itself to make the area to be cut out for better results. The hitch still "sticks out" a little more than I'd like, but it is much more recessed than any of the other options for this model outside of the exorbitantly priced factory option. All in all thai is an excellent hitch for this price point!!! (photo shows tools needed to "adjust" exhaust pipe for clearances)
Great product, very helpful video.Support went out of their way to help me with a re-route to my order.
I was able to complete the install without much trouble with minimal tools and 1 person. It did take 5 hours but I am a slow worker.
I found a prevous review by Ralph H described my experience perfectly in a previous review so I am quoting here for anyone thinking of doing this install themselves.
" (1) The hitch receiver heavy. It would help to have another person available when you need to lift it up to the frame of the car. I was able to do it alone by putting the hitch receiver up on a makeshift scaffold (concrete blocks). (2) Pay attention to the issue of having to put the small lip at the rear edge of the hitch receiver up over the bolts at the back of the car frame (shown in the video at 8:11). It helps to angle the front side of the unit down while lifting it up to the frame. I snugged up one side of the hitch receiver to the frame before making sure the lip was over the bolt on the other side and had to loosen up the snugged side and get the lip in place on both sides before snugging up either. (3) I had to cut about a 1/2 inch more of the bumper away than is outlined in the instructions (video at 5:35) -- 3 inches up instead of 2.5 inches, but I was able to do that additional trimming at the end of the install. It wasn't super hard to deal with these issues. I am glad I purchased this receiver; it's worth the little bit of extra effort to have the hitch up tight to the bumper with minimal protrusion. It's clean and sharp."
Needed a hitch for the bike rack on our second car. Works great. Just used it this past weekend to take the bike for a road trip.
I was surprised at how quickly I received my order. Product was as expected.
Heavy Duty/Solid. Directions were ok as this will not fit snug against the frame unless you back out (2) 14mm subframe bolts. it's just too tight of a fit but that is ok, because once this hitch on tight, it isn't going anywhere. Shipping was great too, Big thanks to Carol C!
The hitch for my Subaru Forester is great and installed well. The instructions for cutting the rear bumper are not accurate. Not enough material is removed to allow the bumper to move back into its former position. Other than that it went well, and I look forward to using my new hitch.
Well made. Easy to install. Paint is good. Packaging was excellent. Above average quality. Would be excellent if somebody removed the piece of wire from a bad start welding. I almost cut my hand on it.
Michael C.
8/14/2022
The paint powder coating has held up well to a winter and the salt that comes with it. It continues to do the job of towing just fine.
Super easy install, especially with the video provided. Extremely happy with the purchase and will be coming back to etrailer for any future needs!
Quick service, easy install with supplied kit. It took me less than 30 minutes and looks like a factory install.
Fits well with a low profile. Trim of the heat shield with snips was easy and the rear fascia trimmed quick with a grinder.
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Brooke M.
3/17/2025
Wow, I really appreciate you for taking the time to write all this out. The tips and tricks you shared and the realistic experience is super valuable in a review! Would you happen to have any photos of the finished product youd be willing to post here?