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-   -   S-Cross' suspicious build: Towing rips out the tow hook & front members (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/203093-s-cross-suspicious-build-towing-rips-out-tow-hook-front-members-2.html)

On the road to Niti Valley we have very bad segments, ditches, river crossings kind of. While we were returning back, we were noticing engine heating. Radiator leak, and decided to tow it as per the advise generally to the next town 5 to 10 kms away .

It was towed by a Scorpio with Tow rope and D shackle. Scorpio was none other than 5084 Express, India's most famous one :)

OMG, it's horrific. I recently had an experience of towing BHPian Sumit's Ritz when it had toppled. We used all the wrong techniques, as it was impossible to source correct tools at midnight. The Ritz was towed using a long iron rod and was being towed at 60-80kmph. Add to that, we had to cross some steep inclines and it was towed in this manner for 150kms :D









I am shocked at the failure in your case, despite you guys using all the correct techniques. :Shockked:

This is a terrible development.

Even for transport on a flat bed truck, a car is usually winched up ramps, isn't it? Ok, it might be done by lifting, but am I wrong to think winching is more common? And what if the vehicle is in a ditch? Or even in mud only? It must be able to be towed, and to withstand much greater strain than just towing on a flat road.

I wonder what Maruti will say.

This must be escalated with Maruti. This is shocking to say the least. Such awful engineering and research. And S-cross is among the 'solid' cars from Maruti!

Maruti must be shown these pictures and we need a concrete reply from them as to what these supposedly 'tow hooks' are for in the S Cross.

OMG, I'm shocked to see this in an S-Cross. I was under the impression that this was best vehicle in Maruti's stable in terms of Build quality. Now after seeing the pictures, I'm speechless.

As a Baleno owner, I'm more worried :(

Thats what I thought. I was so proactive in fetching the tow hook and attaching it at the designated point and waiting to be towed. Not even for a moment these kind of things will pan out crossed my mind.

I am really sad, did not expect this. I don't know but probably if the mods deem fit, they can separate this out to another thread, if it merits.

Just asking out of curiosity, do you have any videos of the mishap?

Your requirements are quite similar to what I had. I ended up buying the Scross zeta (3 months old piece) at old pricing.
I could not go further than 12, I blame my poor negotiation skills. Could not manage to get insurance from outside either, though they almost matched the quote I was getting from outside.

The experience was quite Maruti ish to me. Though I do know that Maruti is now a little worse.

Your thread was one of the reasons I went for the Scross. I booked my car in the last week of September and got the delivery on 13th October. If I had waited for a couple of weeks longer and seen your post, I would have most probably considered some other cars.

Why did the car have engine heating, did any of the other cars in your convoy (?) face similar issues?
I remember reading on some thread on the forum this car feels more European. Does it mean it has a secret thing for flatbeds? :Frustrati

I moved from a Honda Jazz to the Scross. The main reason was build quality as seen in the official review on the forum and a couple of other ownership threads. Seeing this issue, I already have my reservations and will need to be careful where we take the car. Our Jazz was completely reliable and the main reason not to go for a German car was to avoid being stranded somewhere. If the Scross has such underpinnings, it is a shame.

The responses from Nexa/ Maruti are not very confidence inspiring either. I hope this is turned into a new thread, hopefully it will get some leverage and get proper attention from Nexa/ Maruti. The Nexa SA I dealt with was also keenly asking us to consider it for mild offroading. I had half a thought to show this thread to him, but I am sure he would not care now that the sale has been done. Please note I use the words 'dealt with' and not 'interacted'.

So much for expecting premium sales/ service from Nexa. I hope your issue is resolved to full satisfaction. Like you, I too have tried my best to like this car. I will still do so and give it my complete efforts, with the hope that I am not let down like you were.

Here you go.

https://youtu.be/Mf_wh9XbixY



I just got him home. I need to attend to him changing bumper, tow members etc..etc. I did not yet go to my service center. The mechanics at Joshimath, got the bumper in place and tied with some metal strings to keep it in place. I lost confidence, and thinking I need to spend now for no fault of mine is bugging me. Life is such!!

Saddened to see such poor quality standards. These parts are never meant to fail. Is this by any chance effect of shoddy modification done as part of facelift?

Wow. Extremely sorry to hear this man!! Glad that you had the Famous scorpio and the man when this happened.

That said, Lalu, I don't think the front tow hook for any car is designed for Jerky long distance tows. Read: You have to use a kinematic tow rope. Not the usual ones available here. The jerks while towing cause serious damage to the chassis and drivetrain.

Hmm, so this type of towing and the particular incident on video would potentially affect any car. It would be wrong to assume build quality of S-Cross is poor and Suzuki engineers are stupid :Frustrati.

I was watching the developments and felt bad seeing the damage, but looking at the video, that definitely was a brutal jerk from the tow rope. And later it looks like you braked and the Scorpio again tried to take off. Maybe using a rigid towbar or a shorter rope would have not caused so much damage. The front cross member tore right at the point where the crumple zones are which is quite weak. I hope the jerk and subsequent breakage has not affected the alignment of the apron. Please get the wheel alignment checked when they repair this.

Really sorry to read about and see your experience. Many of us here have held S-Cross in high regard amongst all other offerings from MSIL.

Going purely by the video, it is not immediately apparent what was the need for the Scorpio Driver to start the towing with such a massive jerk to the tow rope?

From the looks of it:
- it was neither a significant incline,
- nor a bad road surface
- the Scorpio, particularly the 2.6 CrDe variant has great low end torque, and S-Cross isn’t exactly very heavy.

That, to me, is simply bad technique that exacerbated & exposed a relatively weak construction, unless there was an obstacle that needed to be overcome.

Can you shed some light on this please?