They don’t have tow hooks behind them, they have a threaded hole behind them. The vehicles you see these on, are all brought from overseas on ships. They have to be tied down while on the ship. There is a great big eyebolt that screws into the threaded hole, and the longshoremen use on of those in the front and a tie down point in the rear to secure the car to the ship. Sometimes the rear tie down point is another eyebolt, sometimes it is a special hook designed into the rear suspension.
Some cars (my Volvo for instance) supply one of the eyebolts in the tool kit in case the car has to be towed. (tow truck guys have a real bad habit of attaching their hook to things that bend. This causes no end of problems. The use of the tow hook is much easier.
Ahhh, that makes much more sense. Not a tow hook, but a mounting point for a tow hook (so the tow hook extends beyond the body). Also, I suppose by ‘high end cars’ what I actually noticed them on was foreign cars.
Now, are they a new thing or did I just start noticing them?
Well, yeah I meant to say that’s where the tow hook goes (via an eyebolt), not that there is an actual hook behind it.
Joey P, they put the tow hook there access there because obviously you want it to be attached to the structural bumper right behind that location. With most sports cars like these having a low front end profile and air dam, it’s impractical to reach under the front end then up to the bumper to attach a tow line. That would surely cause more damage.
In general, all “after market” coatings and such are considered an over-priced scam. Sold by a Toyota dealer, it makes it nearly certain to be a scam. If indeed it does anything, it likely could have been had from an outside contractor for 25% of the price you paid.
So how you explain the one on the rear bumper of my Volvo?
Can you say coincidence? High end furrin cars cars have tow hook attachment point and they quite often have outside temp sensors. The presence of a cover does not necessarily mean it is the outside temp sensor. In fact it does not.
FTR the outside temp sensors on a Volvo (there are two, one for the engine management, one for the climate system and dash) are a small nub on the underside of the mirrors. If you walk next to a newer Volvo, you can reach under the mirror and feel the temp sensor.
I’ll post some pictures of the tow hook tomorrow
