Center Exhaust on 2013 Hyundai Veloster Can Melt Plastic Trailer Hitch Accessories

Question:

I purchased one of these less than a week ago. One trip in the vehicle for an hour and the entire lower section where the handle is located for the tilt feature is now unusable. It is constructed of plastic, which is not very exhaust friendly. The handle and housing is badly melted and fused together. Can this product please include a warning that it WILL NOT work for center exhaust vehicles. I bought this product out of recommendations from Hyundai Veloster forums. My vehicleHyundai Veloster 2013 I am currently in process of constructing a shielding for the unit but would to know if a metal handle is available for this unit and or a exhaust deflecting unit is available for it. Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks,

asked by: James

Expert Reply:

The center exhaust on the 2013 Hyundai Veloster is fairly high up in relationship to where a hitch receiver would be. That is going to be a problem for any hitch mounted accessory. Interestingly enough the bike rack probably ended up protecting the bikes. The only option for this is to have an exhaust down turn, see link, to direct the exhaust downward instead of straight out. The only problem with this is finding one that fits the exhaust on a Veloster.

A metal handle is not available for the Apex # TH9024XT. The best option that I can come up with is to raise the bike rack up so that it is not in the direct path of the exhaust. There are a couple of possible problems with this. First, the rise on an adapter, like # HT5R, may not be enough to get the rack out of the exhaust path. And the other issue is that using an adapter will reduce the tongue weight capacity of the hitch by 50 percent.

If you are using hitch # C11254 then that would put the reduced tongue weight capacity at only 50 pounds and the bike rack alone takes up about 35 pounds of that leaving you with only 15 pounds you could put on the rack.

I will also pass on the issue so we can determine where the best place would be to put a warning.

expert reply by: Michael H