In order to tow a car on all 4 wheels it must be capable of rolling in true neutral and be capable of “4-Down towing”. You must check the vehicle manual to be certain that the exact configuration you want/have can be towed 4-Down, also called flat towing.
The most common vehicles that are towed are Jeeps because they have the most number of vehicles in configurations that can be towed.
In order to flat tow a vehicle it must be equipped with a “base plate” which enables it to be connected via a tow-bar and associated electrical connections.
Our needs did not include the off-road capabilities of Jeep vehicles. Unfortunately, there are a decreasing number of vehicles capable of being flat towed. We needed AWD for weather conditions at home, and we wanted something relatively comfortable.
Surprisingly, the newer Ford Escape Hybrids can be flat towed but not the standard Escape. As far as we know this is the only Hybrid that can be towed. The wrinkle came in because we were buying a newly refreshed 2024 Escape and manufacturers had no base plate for the revised model.
We talked with both Roadmaster and BlueOx. BlueOx indicated we could work directly with the team that creates the base plates.
There was some confusion in communication inside BlueOx which required some escalation; BlueOx did come through and worked with us to get the car setup. The measure of a company is not what it does when things go right, it is what they do when there are issues. BlueOx
stepped up and delivered, their staff was great to work with, and the tow bar and related equipment has worked great. BlueOx also has a nice free campground for customers if you need maintenance on BlueOx equipment. We can absolutely recommend BlueOx equipment.
Tow bar base plates mount to the frame and
have a pair of connection points where removable connectors attach to join the vehicle to the tow bar. There is an emergency pull tab that will activate the in car braking system. In case of catastrophic failure and the vehicle becomes detached the cars brakes will be applied to immediately stop the car. The electrical connection is typically a standard 7-pin electrical connection for brake lights, turn signals, and optionally electricity to the car battery.
Tow Bar TIPs, make sure the age of any used equipment is within manufacturer specs as most do not recommend using them more than a finite number of years. Our motorhome came to us with a BlueOx tow bar but it had been used on other the sellers prior motorhome and was about 14 years old so it was replaced. We have a drop hitch because the tow bar should be close to level, exact is not required, just somewhat close.
