The wording is a little tricky, it says not recommended, maybe a little loophole. The North American manuals will not give you a towing capacity but Australian and European will. You will not get an answer on why it is not recommended in North America, some say it is because North America does not have trailer brake regulations. Initially when I checked here in Ontario, the MTO and insurance didn't care. I made a few trips with my utility trailer this summer and it pulled like a dream. The only issue I had was backing uphill slowly it was a little jerky so you might want to keep an eye on the temp. The Curt class 1 trailer hitch is rated for 2000 lbs
This site I think sums it up quite well Can a Kia Seltos Tow a Trailer?
Perfect very helpful infos thanks
The article does make a error! He says Kia doesn't make a hitch for seltos, but they DO indeed make one, the option is caller a "life style hitch" which is a $300 option. It is a 1 1\4" Reese style hitch.
Well yes it does "There are factory accessory lifestyle hitches available for the Kia Seltos but beware. These hitches are meant for holding bike racks or other accessories, not for towing "
Is there something different in the hitch itself so it isn't capable of towing? Because it seems like the Seltos can tow in other markets, and it seems silly to have two sets of mounting points for a hitch where one can support towing and one can't. That leads me to believe the lifestyle hitch mounts in the same manner as a hitch in other markets that can tow, so if the lifestyle hitch can't tow, it is due to the hitch itself (or due to warranty considerations just for the US and our litigious society).
It uses the same mounting location, I don't know if the factory one has a towing capacity. It has open holes in frame that you use fish wire to pull the fasteners through.
I had one installed at a "hitch shop", not at Kia. It fits perfect. The mecanics who installed it (with the cable for the lights) told me that pulling a small trailer ou trailer camper is less rough on the car than having a bike support that puts more pressure on the frame specially when you have some bumps in the road, so the issue is with the engine capacity to pull when you have good hills or with braking capacity.
We had a 2002 Odyssey minivan that we put a hitch on, and then carried four bicycles on a sturdy and heavy bike rack. All that weight cantilevered off the back seriously affected driving stability. The weight would compress the rear suspension over bumps, leading to the front suspension extending with the resulting camber and toe changes that would make the Odyssey wander all over the road as if I were drunk. I installed airbags in the rear springs to provide additional support and that fixed the problem but fully agree that a heavy load hanging off the back is not ideal.
Per Kia and the operation manual, towing is NOT recommended. Read the manual carefully. Tricky wording. The transmissions in these vehicles will really suffer if you use it for towing. My brother owns a transmission shop in the Northeast. He laughed when I told him I wanted to tow a very small boat.
Correct. It has a 200 pound limit. Also, although it is listed at $300 I was quoted $615 to have it installed at the dealership. $300 must just be for the part.
