When I was looking for a tailgate bar, I noticed that many people in the reviews or asking questions about this being functional with their Blind Spot monitoring (aka Blind spot information system (BLIS), aka cross traffic, etc). I have a 2023 Ram Rebel 2500 with 'Tow Technology Group' (Blind Spot with Tag Trailer and Cross-path Detection (Mopar's Words)). According to OPT7 literature and their answer to a potential customer's question, the customer/me would have to hardwire/splice into the Taillights of their truck in order to keep these features. For others who don't have those systems or don't care about losing them, Opt7 and Curt both sell a pigtail to the back of your trailer wiring harness so that you can keep the original plug free (pointing outside of the bumper for eventual/potential trailer hookup) and wire the lightbar to the new purchased OPT7/Curt pigtail behind the bumper for a cleaner look. Just an Fyi even with this pigtail setup you will still need to hardwire/splice the reverse light from the lightbar into the OPT7/ Curtis pigtail, so it's not a true plug and play product. So I purchased this product fully anticipating that I would have to splice into my new trucks tail lights in order to get this working w/o messing up my Blind Spot/Cross traffic features. Well, when I got the bar, I decided to test it via the trailer harness on the bumper (Mind you I didn't test the reverse light yet cuz I wasn't going to splice things willy nilly if the turn signals, parking/brake lights didn't work). Now, here's where it gets interesting. My truck didn't pick up the lightbar as a connected trailer, meaning I still had full access/usage of my Crosstraffic/blindspot features. I then decided to drive with it in the neighborhood to see if I had to reach a certain speed or whatever and have cars come up on me (the bar was tucked away so it wouldn't bounce around but wasn't permanently 'mounted' either. Everything worked great, BLIS still worked, truck didn't think there was a trailer (I would squeeze the manual trailer brake inside the truck to test and the truck would say 'no trailer attached'), etc. I then purchased the Curt 55384 for a deal ($21 at the time) and took a chance. I spliced the reverse light into this new pigtail, and voilà everything works as it should: parking lights, turn signals, brake lights, reverse lights, hazards, BLIS still works, Cross traffic still works, Truck doesn't think there is a trailer attached (squeezed manual trailer brake inside the cab and truck would say 'no trailer attached'). Yes, I have towed before with this truck and yes the truck did think there was a trailer, HOWEVER, I don’t remember if I lost the blindspot/cross traffic feats when I towed that time.Several things::: The speed or 'synchronization' of the turn signals is a bit off with the turn signals from the taillights. I have full led taillights from the factory, and they are blinking ambers for turn signals. It starts off okay then gets progressively more off then back to being okay (maybe hardwiring into taillights will fix this???). I'm okay with it cuz the length of the lightbar is a determinate of this and since this a universal product I wouldn't expect OPT7 to have it lined up perfect to the rhythm/rate since every vehicle is a bit different in rhythm/rate.Also, with this wiring setup, the bar doesn't blink/come on when I press the key fob to lock/unlock (again maybe hardwiring into the taillights will fix this) at least not consistently, If I press lock/unlock 2x in rapid succession the ambers from the bar do come on but those are the only ones and still this is only sometimes, I haven’t figured out the puzzle yet as to when it does and does not come on - though I only need one press to lock/unlock my doors (I programmed it this way via vehicle options in my radio/dash setup personalization). All in all I’m not interested in that missing feature but again, maybe splicing into the taillights corrects this.Lastly, I used the provided clips...I measured, centered and used a 3/32 drill bit to drill a pilot hole and screwed the clips in. I only needed 2 clips, but they give you 4. Yes, it blocks the hole to lower the spare but with clips I am able to move the bar out of the way if need be and put back when in normal use. The clips are strong and secure, I'm not worried about them but you could just cut the bit of mounting tape already install on the bar and use that to secure to the clips as well, that way it's an extra mount plus if you do need to access the spare hole you are only ripping maybe 1/8" part of the tape that is connected to the clip and that’s easily replaceable. No I didn't remove the tailgate or spare while installing..would have it helped...I'm sure it would have...at least the spare when trying to put the Opt7/Curt pigtail on and securing loose wires, but you really didn't need to remove the tailgate (at least I didnt), I installed by myself and all in all took about 30-40 min, but my truck is new so cleaning wasn't really an issue and I have drill bit/screw driver extenders..so why so long?..testing, retesting, driving while testing (BLIS), measuring, and securing...could have saved 10-15 min If I removed the spare to install. I will give an update once I tow something with this bar attached/wired as I have it to see if anything is changed or altered. Though at this point I am happy with the purchase.UPDATE: I ended up towing a trailer a few days after this review and my truck did recognize the trailer so it seems as though hardwiring into the tailight is not necessary for 2023 Ram 2500 Rebel even if you have Blind spot and Trailer Assist. Everything works great, couldn't be happier.