Trailer Lights Turn Off When Headlights on 2016 Honda Odyssey Are Turned On

Question:

I just installed the Hopkins trailer light kit for my odyssey and everything works fine but with the headlights on the trailer lights are not. Could it be the ground on the trailer kit?

asked by: Ramon F

Expert Reply:

Yes. Because the Hopkins Plug-In Simple # HM11143114 is a plug and play wiring harness which required no hard wiring, a bad or insufficient ground wire on the trailer is the most likely cause of the trailer lights not working when the head lights on the vehicle are turned on. You'll want to locate the ground wire and make sure that it is secured tightly to a paint and debris free surface; you may want to remove it completely and clear the area it is connected to off with some sandpaper or steel wool to make sure there isn't anything built up on the surface of the trailer frame where it is grounded.

If you reconnect the ground as mentioned above and that has not corrected your problem, please let me know and I can give you some other things to have a look at. I've also linked our help article on trailer wiring troubleshooting that you may want to reference back to at some point in this process.

expert reply by: Erik B