In the videos on etrailer, they show taking off what they call appearance panels to get to the frame of the vehicle to bold the tow hitch on.

They then replace the passenger side and say you can cut the driver side to fit, but they're just going to leave it off.

Can you leave both off? Do they serve any purpose other than aesthetics?

Thank you

If your ride doesn't have sonar you can omit the driver's side panel with no issues. If you have sonar, omitting it will expose the outer sensor to lots of road spray and may eventually screw it up. So modify the panel as shown in the vid and reinstall it.

If you plan to actually tow as opposed to using the hitch for a cargo carrier or bike rack, install a trans cooler and change your CVT fluid frequently!

how about the passenger side?

And by sonar, you mean the foot operated liftgate or the auto rear braking?

and thank you

The passenger's side is a must-keep, I'm sure you saw the Evap Canister up there and it has several electrical connectors that could suffer from road splash in addition to the outer sensor on that side.

By sonar I mean the RAB/parking aids (the little "warts" in the rear bumper cover). The hands-free liftgate should be pretty much unaffected by the presence of a hitch. On some models (Muranos, for instance) the hands-free sensor needs to be relocated, but not on gen2 Rogues.

That's so strange as etrailer says they're not necessary. Arghhh

You won't notice any difference if you leave them out, but eventually the electrical connectors will. I'd estimate probably 15% of all the evap problems we see turn out to be water intrusion into the sensor or solenoid connectors. For the sake of 3 pushclips, it's kind of silly to risk it.

I bought new pushclips from the dealer anyways as they seem to break easily. I was just thinking the easiest solution of all would be to leave them off entirely. Thanks for the advice/info

You're quite welcome, happy motoring!

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 28, 2021 8:20 am

The passenger's side is a must-keep, I'm sure you saw the Evap Canister up there and it has several electrical connectors that could suffer from road splash in addition to the outer sensor on that side.

By sonar I mean the RAB/parking aids (the little "warts" in the rear bumper cover). The hands-free liftgate should be pretty much unaffected by the presence of a hitch. On some models (Muranos, for instance) the hands-free sensor needs to be relocated, but not on gen2 Rogues.

I installed a 2" hitch receiver for a bike carrier rack on our '18 Rogue that I purhcased from etrailer. I don't have the sonar that VStar650CL mentioned, but I did reinstall both panels. Cutting the driver's side was pretty easy using a razor utility knife.

The hands-free sensor for the rear hatch works so infrequently since we installed the receiver that we don't even try it anymore, standing there kicking away and nothing happening, or suddenly working on the 10th try . We either use the keyfob button or the release pad on the hatch. I knew that it wouldn't work as well as before, but it's worse than I expected.

if there were a relocation kit for the sensor, I'd get it.

The kick sensor barely works anyways. If I had paid extra specifically for that feature I'd be pissed.

But thank you... all this "easy to do" talk is reassuring

Both of y'all try kicking slightly soccer-style and not straight in. It helps.