JB Lawhon

Less than one month ago I purchased a CX ARE topper for my 2018 Ford F-150, which was installed on Dec. 19, 2017.

The dealer was unable to connect the brake light on the topper at the time of install, and told me he'd have to call ARE to find out how to do the job since it was a new truck. The topper dealer told me that despite doing "a lot of F-150s" that he'd never seen one like mine, a new 2018 model with an electronic parking break, which is what he said was causing the problem. He also said he couldn't find the "purple and white wire" to tie into for the brake light.

The dealer blew me off over the holidays despite a few calls and txt so I called him yesterday and he told me that he had finally spoken with ARE and that there was no way for him to connect the brake light. He said the ARE engineers they told him that only Ford could do it. He said that Ford would have the wiring schematic and that he didn't want to "mess with the wiring going into the computer because it could throw a code or worse." I told him that he'd likely be seeing more of these since it's now 2018, and that it was odd that there was no way for him to hook up the brake light.

He said I would have to take my truck to a Ford dealer - at my cost - to have the brake light hooked up because ARE didn't have a way to do it.

Is truly the guidance from ARE, the parent company, to its dealers? There is no way to hook up the break light on the topper on a 2018 F-150, and that people like me who spend $2000+ on a new ARE topper have to go to Ford and pay for them to hook the product up correctly to their vehicle?

If this is truly the case, I assume that all ARE dealers will have to put signs up at their shops saying that they can sell you a topper for your 2018 F-150 but they CANNOT hook up the topper to your vehicle properly.

Assuming that this is in fact the case, that ARE has no way of properly hooking up the brake light, I presume that ARE will reimburse me the cost of having the Ford dealership do the necessary work.

I paid an ARE-authorized dealer $2200 for a topper to be installed including the brake light, which he can't do and now it's my problem to deal with. This is BS in my opinion.

All ears for either a solution to the wiring problem or advice on dealing with ARE or the ARE dealer.

Please help F-150 Forum, you're my only hope...

fang2015

Thanks for the heads-up on this issue. Sounds like one that could be a problem going forward. Appreciate any updates. ARE is my favorite topper of late. The only one that we have purchased in the last ten plus years that did not arrive with major paint defects and that has held up well going forward.

techrep

iTrader: (1)

I would think you could just tap into the 7 way plug for trailer tow.. or your third brake light.

johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

OP, I can't imagine your dealer not showing you for free where to hook it up. I know on the 12th gen, there was a pigtail adjacent to the left front fender liner, in a wiring harness. Just run the wire yourself.

JB Lawhon

Thanks for the replies.

I called a local Leer dealer and asked if he'd installed any 2018s, and he said he'd done 10-15. He told me that if the ARE dealer had in fact run the necessary wire all the way to the drivers side sill plate that he'd hook it up for free. I drove to his shop and sure enough, he had the wire connected in less than 2 minutes. The necessary wire was behind the kick panel that covers the hood latch. Simple.

He showed me the Leer dealer website with the technical sheet and it was all right there in a PDF from Leer (attached). Seems crazy that Leer has the info but ARE doesn't. I asked him what I owed him and he said "just pay me for the $0.50 connector." I gave him a $10 and asked if that would do it and he smiled and "said absolutely!" I also gave him a two great online reviews (google and yelp) so hopefully that will help his business.

johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

Good to know where it is on a 13th gen.

tuckr2

This is great information. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. Currently have a tonneau but will surely replace at some point with a canopy/topper. Knowing this I can wire it myself if necessary.

cobrascott

2018 F-150 I can confirm that the wire for the CHMSL brake light is accessible behind the driver side kick panel. After lots of internet searches I found this thread and referred to the leer bulletin posted, turns out the wire is part of the black connector , not the white connector. there is a large rubber grommet in the firewall where a wire bundle and the hood release cable run thru that i poked a small hole in to run my wire. Simple connection to the purple and white wire. If you are not familiar with posi-lock reusable connectors i highly recommend them way better than traditional crimp style connectors

GoldyGopher

I would also leave a couple of honest reviews of your local ARE dealer. Explain exactly what happened, and just how far your ARE dealer was willing to go for his customer. I would also be sure to put the contact info of the LEER dealer that actually went out of his way to help his competitors customer. Quality service should be rewarded with as much business as possible.

artsr2002

Is the power wire running to the cargo lights in the 3rd brake light assembly also accessible from this panel? I would like to tap into that circuit and this would make it easier than running a tap light from the light assembly down the pillars to the driver/passenger side for some LED lights on my running boards. Thanks.