do you need lights on the car being towed
Yes.
Depends on the state your driving in, most require them. I wouldn’t tow one without, if it’s a law or not.
I agree. It’s safer to tow the vehicle with lights on.
You need to either wire the trailer harness to the car’s lights, or mount magnetic tail lights on the back car being towed.
No lights on a towed vehicle means you can get ticketed by law enforcement or worse, get rammed from behind and face a lawsuit or criminal charges if someone is hurt or killed.
Just a couple of years ago here in OK a couple of people were killed when them rammed a black horse trailer that was being towed at night and this trailer had no lighting on it.
The horse trailer was obscuring the filthy rear lamps on the farm pickup that was towing it and they never even saw it until it was too late.
If you are talking a short distance you can probably tow a car a few miles (10 or so) with the emergency flashers on the towed vehicle turned on.
If you are towing in an urban area, on busy roads, or a longer distance you need some tail and brakes lights working on the towed vehicle to be safe. Magnet stick on temporary lights are available and work fine.
The only reason I see to tap into the towed vehicles wiring directly is if you tow the vehicle frequently as in pulled behind a motorhome. If direct wiring connections are what you need; I’d suggest going to a dealer that sells trailers, motorhomes, and installs hitches.
Yes, but there’s a good solution. There are common on the market taillights with magnetic bases that can be stuck to the car under tow and operated with the tow vehicles circuits by hooking them up as if they were trailer lights. This prevents having to tap into the circuits on the towed vehicle.