Best 2013 Toyota Highlander Trailer Wiring Options
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Best 2013 Toyota Highlander Trailer Wiring Options
Today we're going to be taking a look at the best wiring options for your 2013 Toyota Highlander. First we've got our CURT customer vehicle wiring harness, part number C56217. Then we've got our Tekonsha T1 vehicle wiring harness, part number 118449. Lastly we've got our CURT customer vehicle wiring harness, part number 56042. The first obvious difference that we're going to see here is that with this wiring harness over here this CURT does not have as much as the others. That's because if you have a Highlander that already has the tow package with the conveter mounted underneath the dash, this is all that you're going to need. But, if you don't, then one of these other two kits will be the right fit for you. The first difference that we're going to look at between the CURT and the Tekonsha wiring harnesses is the amperage rating on each circuit.
On the CURT it's going to be rated for 3 amps on the turn signal and brake circuit, and rated for 6 amps on the taillight circuit. Looking at the Tekonsha, it's going to be rated at 2.1 amps on the turn signal and brake circuit, and on the taillight circuit it's going to be rated for 5.6 amps. If you think you may need a little bit more rating because of the number of lights that you have on the trailer, this CURT is going to do well for that. The next thing we'll look at is the construction quality of each of those units. With the Tekonsha we've got this nice box that you can see is weather-sealed. You can just tell it's nice and durable.
Then it's also got this nice heat-shrink butt connector to make sure that that's weather-tight. The quality of the in-line fuse holder, you can feel how tightly that snaps and secures. When we look at the CURT, you can tell it's still a good construction but it doesn't have the same type of sealing and the box doesn't feel quite as durable as on the Tekonsha. Also, the in-line fuse holder here, it feels a little bit more flimsy. When it comes to mounting these wiring harnesses, both of them are going to come with double-sided sticky tape that you can put onto the backside of the box. What is really nice is that on the Tekonsha it also features this eyelet, so if you want you can put a self-tapping screw through there in order to provide a little bit more security if you're afraid it may come off of that adhesive.
That's a nice added security benefit. Another difference between these is that this CURT has a separate eyelet in order to ground this wiring harness to the body of the vehicle. That's going to require putting a hole in it with a self-tapping screw. On this Tekonsha wiring harness it's going to ground itself to the existing wiring that's built into the vehicle. For a brief summary on these wiring harnesses, this CURT, we found you're really only going to need it if you've already got the existing converter underneath the dash of your vehicle that's set up for the tow package. If I was looking for a wiring harness for my Toyota Highlander I would go with the Tekonsha just because of the construction quality of it. You can feel that it's much stronger, more durable and well made.
We hope this helps in the decision-making process for wiring for your Toyota Highlander.
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