'20 Buick Envision as a Towed Vehicle

[phil-t]

Anyone with experience towing a late model Buick Envision?  We just purchased a 2020 AWD Envision to replace the 2014 SRX we were towing.  Owner's manual lists as towable with no restrictions for distance or speed.  Two fuses to pull after starting, placing in neutral and turning off. (this is supposed to prevent battery drain).
I ordered the Roadmaster baseplate kit and had the dealer install it; and I installed the diode wiring kit for using the towed lights, and am installing (moving) the Invisibrake system from the SRX, using a new vehicle kit from Roadmaster.  All is going well.  I've since been reading other posts, etc. on other forums and recently found someone complaining about the towed vehicle battery being depleted after a day of towing.  Not sure what their exact setup is/was but suspect something not quite right in that setup.
Just wondering if anyone here has any comments about this vehicle as a towed and any issues you might have experienced.

 

[Kevin Means]

Lots of vehicles that can be flat-towed require one or more fuses to be pulled to prevent battery drain. Our Jeep's battery, for example, drains relatively slowly, but the battery in our Acura MDX would be dead after about five hours. Pulling fuses worked, but it was always a PITA.

I ended up installing one of these in both vehicles, and it solved the problem. https://rvibrake.com/products/towed-battery-charger-plus?variant=13115309260823&_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw-Hojc6C7AIVoCCtBh3DSQs7EAAYASAAEgIqqPD_BwE It gets power from the 7 pin cable and it keeps the towed vehicle's battery topped off while it's being towed. No more pulling fuses. There are cheaper versions available, but these have worked flawlessly in our vehicles and were very easy to install.

Kev

 

[phil-t]

Thanks Kev. I'm familiar with those towed battery chargers.  Use one like it on a dump trailer battery I have.  I'm going to monitor the Buick's battery pretty closely to see if the fuse bypass's I installed do the job (just two fuse extenders with a DPST switch in the line, flip off to tow, and flip on to drive).  I did bring the 12v charge wire back to the toad's underhood area from the 7-way.  It would be a pretty simple install if I need it.

 

[Laura & Charles]

Our very first trip towing, we only got about 100 miles out and the aux brake monitor in the coach started warning of low toad battery. Pulled into a rest area and tried to start it and got nothing. Thinking that maybe it had to be in park, shifted it and still nothing. Then found out it had to have battery to shift out of park. Sitting in a rest area with a nearly two ton anchor on the coach, I decided, ?never again?.  Wired that toad (and the current one) to charge from the coach via the umbilical.
(On that maiden voyage, SOMEBODY left the headlights in toad switched to on... not saying who, but she?s the prettier of the couple.)

 

[phil-t]

We have managed to get the new car all set for towing (mostly).  The invisibrake system charges the towed vehicle battery (up to2A) from the running light circuit off the MH, when switched on.
Now and the last part of this set up is to decide on the best way to protect the front of that new car.  Looking at Lebra covers, Roadmaster's Tow Defender and Guardian -  any comments on the effectiveness of those options?  Or any other ideas/solutions?  We are planning an Alaska adventure next siummer (given the border to Canada opens back up).

 

[Utclmjmpr]

Protect-a-tow  made in Canada and works very well for keeping the towed and all the tow equipment clean.>>>Dan

 

[phil-t]

Thanks, Dan.  I had not found that manufacturer.  Looks to function same as Roadmaster TowDefender at a substantial savings. Found info in the car's owners manual that says not to use a "plastic" type barrier in front of the car.  It will block air flow and void warrenty.  So, I think the screen type is going to be the way I go.

 

[NY_Dutch]

I'll second the Protect-A-Tow... Our's has been in service since 2008 with two different toads and does a good job. Hooking up or unhooking only takes a minute. We leave ours attached to the motorhome and just roll it up using a couple of small bungee cords to secure it when we're not towing.

 

[phil-t]

Just completed a 1600 mile trip to Cape Cod and Southern Maine.  The new Envision towed like a dream.  No problems with battery or anything else.  Speeds up to 70+ once or twice - I am a happy camper.  8)  Went with the Protect A Tow - thanks Dan and NY_Dutch.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Glad to see it all went well, Phil!

 

[Thedriftercya71]

Anyone with experience towing a late model Buick Envision? We just purchased a 2020 AWD Envision to replace the 2014 SRX we were towing. Owner's manual lists as towable with no restrictions for distance or speed. Two fuses to pull after starting, placing in neutral and turning off. (this is supposed to prevent battery drain).
I ordered the Roadmaster baseplate kit and had the dealer install it; and I installed the diode wiring kit for using the towed lights, and am installing (moving) the Invisibrake system from the SRX, using a new vehicle kit from Roadmaster. All is going well. I've since been reading other posts, etc. on other forums and recently found someone complaining about the towed vehicle battery being depleted after a day of towing. Not sure what their exact setup is/was but suspect something not quite right in that setup.
Just wondering if anyone here has any comments about this vehicle as a towed and any issues you might have experienced.

We just had the BlueOx Base Plate & AirForce One supplementel brake system ad wiring instalked at lazydays in Tampa tech was skiled and knowledgeable. He showed us how to hook up the 2020 Buick Envision to the motorhome. Then wife started car, put transmission in neutral, shut engine off and set the switch to tow mode that keeps from pullig the two fuses . Then we heade back to Orlando. Car towed fine, after reaching home.Shut

Anyone with experience towing a late model Buick Envision? We just purchased a 2020 AWD Envision to replace the 2014 SRX we were towing. Owner's manual lists as towable with no restrictions for distance or speed. Two fuses to pull after starting, placing in neutral and turning off. (this is supposed to prevent battery drain).
I ordered the Roadmaster baseplate kit and had the dealer install it; and I installed the diode wiring kit for using the towed lights, and am installing (moving) the Invisibrake system from the SRX, using a new vehicle kit from Roadmaster. All is going well. I've since been reading other posts, etc. on other forums and recently found someone complaining about the towed vehicle battery being depleted after a day of towing. Not sure what their exact setup is/was but suspect something not quite right in that setup.
Just wondering if anyone here has any comments about this vehicle as a towed and any issues you might have experienced.

 

[Thedriftercya71]

We just had the BlueOx Base Plate & AirForce One supplementel brake system and wiring installed at lazydays in Tampa tech was skiled and knowledgeable. He showed us how to hook up the 2020 Buick Envision to the motorhome. Then wife started car, put transmission in neutral, shut engine off and set the switch to tow mode that keeps from pullig the two fuses . Then we heade back to Orlando. Car towed fine, after reaching home.Shut the motorhome off. Walked back to Buick tow car and ENGINE WAS RUNING!! Since this car has auto stop & stop engine when brakes applied. I think I need to disable that before stopping car engine during tow mode set uo...Anyone experiece this?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Think you need to discuss that with a Buick dealer, who will probably need to discuss with factory engineering people. I and others have prior experience with GM owner manuals being either incomplete or flat-wrong about recreational towing procedures.

 

[Thedriftercya71]

Think you need to discuss that with a Buick dealer, who will probably need to discuss with factory engineering people. I and others have prior experience with GM owner manuals being either incomplete or flat-wrong about Thank you for your response

Thank you Gary for your response .My daugter came up with a suggestion. Since my 2020 Buick Envision has a Stop Start button to disengage that feature when at stop loghts it shuts te engine off .when you relrase the brske the engine restarts So i pushed the button snd desingaged it Everything worked fine on a tesr tow drive.
Im going to contact Buick to make them awaee of this.

 

[phil-t]

I have not had that issue. We have ove 3000 towing miles on the setup. Ours is set to autostop all the time. Here is the excerpt from the owners manual:
Dinghy Towing
To dinghy tow the vehicle from the front with all four wheels on the ground:
1. Position the vehicle to tow and then secure it to the towing vehicle.
2. Turn the ignition on, and shift the transmission to N (Neutral).
3. With the transmission in N (Neutral), turn the ignition off.
4. To prevent the battery from draining while the vehicle is being towed, remove fuses
29 and 32 (Body Control Module) from the instrument panel fuse block. Remember to reinstall
the fuses once the destination has been reached.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

My daugter came up with a suggestion. Since my 2020 Buick Envision has a Stop Start button to disengage that feature when at stop loghts it shuts te engine off .when you relrase the brske the engine restarts So i pushed the button snd desingaged it Everything worked fine on a tesr tow drive.
Im going to contact Buick to make them awaee of this.

On my Cadillac XT5 the auto-restart engages after two minutes, regardless of brake pedal.

I'm extremely skeptical how the auto-restart could be involved at all once the ignition is off. I don't think that is the source of your problem. Since phil-t is towing his without an issue, I suspect a "user error" in your towing set-up, either the fuses or the shut-down procedure

 

[phil-t]

My brother also tows a 2020 Envision - no issues in over 10k miles. Gotta be either a problem with the car, the fuse bypass that was installed (though that would only cause the battery to discharge while under tow) I would really look hard at your hookup process. I'll bet the car was running when you started out and you didn't notice. I know I park ours in the garage and often get out without shutting it off. I think I hit the start/off button before I get it into park. Never hear it running - my wife asks - "are you going to shut the car off"?

 

[Thedriftercya71]

On my Cadillac XT5 the auto-restart engages after two minutes, regardless of brake pedal.

I'm extremely skeptical how the auto-restart could be involved at all once the ignition is off. I don't think that is the source of your problem. Since phil-t is towing his without an issue, I suspect a "user error" in your towing set-up, either the fuses or the shut-down procedure

Our stop /stop is activated once the car is started. It stops the engine periodically then what a BRAKE is released the engine auto restarts .Our tow setup is operatered by my air brake pressure via Air Force One to tow car Brake pedal..itis possible the installer may hsve done somthing wrong. However, hes done 3 other 2020 Buick Envisions.

 

[phil-t]

Still, if the car is off, the brake should have nothing to do with the auto start. AND the auto start is more complex than the simple action of coming to a stop. More criteria have to be met for it to shut the engine off. If you feel it is the auto start/stop feature, simply disable it. There is a lot of information available on this feature - do a Google Search for "2020 Buick Envision autostop".

 

[docj]

We tow a 2014 Honda CR-V and I got tired of battery drain issues even with a charging line, so I finally took the bull by the horns and install a battery cutoff. Since we use a ReadyBrute tow bar it doesn't matter if power is on in the toad. The only downside I can see is that the CR-V's clock has to be reset when I restore power. Even the radio stations stay the same but who listens to radio these days anyway?