Why this Struggle?

[Pralay]

Found this interesting video on YouTube yesterday:-

 

 

 

It is claimed to be captured in Kasol, Himachal Pradesh. The road is extremely muddy no doubt about that.

 

During 2:50 alto crawled through the patch mainly due to momentum & good grip I guess. Here comes the matter of discussion, from 2:58 it can be seen the EcoSport is struggling on the same patch which the alto just crawled through effortlessly. At around 5:34 another alto came in which after struggling on 1^st attempt crossed the patch in the second attempt around 12:15. In between, One Chevvy Travera (around 11:20), another alto (11: 23), Mahindra Scorpio(11:33) can be seen crossing at 1^st attempt without any issue which somewhat caused further damage to the patch due to the sheer weight of these two big SUV. Even after that, the 1^st alto managed to cross the patch around 12:15. Finally around 13:15 after struggling in the right to left to patch of the road for around 10 minutes The EcoSport crossed the patch. Again a pointer, around 13:39 it is seen that a White Grand i10 is waiting to cross which crossed around 14:25; that means the Grand i10 also managed to crawl through the patch effortlessly.

 

CarToq came up with an explanation to this,

 

1) Poor Condition of the tyre

2) Lack of momentum and

3) Experience of driving on hilly/muddy road.   

 

Here is the link of the article of CarToq:-

 

https://www.cartoq.com/ford-ecosport-gets-stuck-but-maruti-alto-crosses-slippery-road-easily-we-explain-why-video/amp/

 

My two cents, it is only the experience of the drivers which played the role. Tyres are not in that bad condition for which the car struggled like this. You can see the condition of the tyre in multiple occasions like 9:15, 11:29 etc. Yes some flatness can be seen in the middle section of the tyres but I guess that’s only because of high wheel spin, which was not there in the initially.  All the vehicles crossed easily were having HP number plate, while the white punto is from MH (From Pune, can be heard from their conversation) and the Ecosport is with DL(but the guys are from Kerala, again thanks to the conversation). What do you think members? What exactly caused ecosport to stuggle like this?

 

Video Courtesy, a big shout-out for putting this on YouTube: Snehasis Chatterjee! Posted here only for discussion purpose and nothing else.

[Gowtham]

In simple words, poor driving skills.

Lack of momentum is the main culprit.

 

I'm sure driver will ruin the poor EcoSport clutch /tires by the time he completes his trip.

 

During our Spiti trip in monsoon, we faced numerous issues.(landslides/water crossings/slush)

 

But most of the drivers handled the situation well on those narrow roads, no chance of making an error for a second attempt.

 

If you loose momentum you need to drive back 100 meters to gain the momentum.

 

Personally, I feel there is no major advantage between an Alto and a Fortuner (4x2)

Except for a high GC.

 

Most of the Alto's perform flawless in Himalayas.

 

It is all about driving skills.

 

[ksa171983]

1 hour ago, Ranger said:

In simple words, poor driving skills.

Lack of momentum is the main culprit.

completely agree..

i faced similar situation on my suv in chikmanglur.. i sort of have negligible experience driving through slush muddy roads..

Momentum plays very important role on such roads.. but if you are unable to reverse due to worse situation behind (in my case) there is no other option but to go forward steadily ..revving the engine and half clutch would not help as the spinning wheel would further create more slush and the wheel would go in deeper..

In my case there was no need to get the RPM above 2500 . i kept it at 1k to 1500 and the car crawled out slowly ..

 

1 hour ago, Ranger said:

Most of the Alto's perform flawless in Himalayas.

I have heard about the skills of the alto drivers and always wanted to drive like one of them .. would probably gain that experience slowly

Edited August 7, 2018 by ksa171983

[RajG]

Clearly driver error.

Poor Zoomcar.

If I am not wrong that clutch wont last more than 40k.

 

EcoSport is a very capable car.

Not an issue with power, but the driver is giving more than required power, leading to wheel spin.

 

2 hours ago, Pralay said:

What do you think members?

 

I feel traction control (TC) can help in this kind of scenarios. 

It will help in controlling the excess wheel spin. 

 

It is similar to getting stuck in sand.

Excess power you will dig in deep without any traction.
 

I heard from few off road experts that we can use second gear instead of first in such cases..Is it true? 

Edited August 7, 2018 by RajG

[ksa171983]

3 minutes ago, RajG said:

EcoSport is a very capable car.

Not an issue with power, but the driver is giving more than required power, leading to wheel spin.

True ...

 

5 minutes ago, RajG said:

I feel traction control (TC) can help in this kind of scenarios. 

TC is available only in the new cars now..

5 minutes ago, RajG said:

I heard from few off road experts that we can use second gear instead of first in such cases..Is it true?

yes that is true provided there is momentum

[Naveen1]

2 hours ago, Pralay said:

1) Poor Condition of the tyre

2) Lack of momentum and

3) Experience of driving on hilly/muddy road.   

 

Poor condition of the tire may not be true.

From the video, I can see that it is new EcoSport and has decent grip.

 

We don't need offroad tires for such scenarios. 

In this case it is clearly excess revving, heck he is even stalling the car.

He is not able to get the sweet spot..? 

One should balance clutch+accelerator+traction and gain momentum. 

 

There are some cases where the traction is extremely low. 

 

Example in Vikarabad during rains it is very difficult to drive.

Even in a 4x4 Pajero, we felt it is very tough. 

I think it is something to do with kind of mud. 
 

[ksa171983]

https://www.carwale.com/features/when-mud-slush-and-more-mud-beckons-mahindra-offroad-media-challenge-16837/

[sagar]

It definitely happened due to the lack of initial momentum while climbing the ascent and the driver was just ruining it to the worst by time.

Excess luggage in the rear added to this can also be another reason.

To me the Tiers looked pretty good enough to cross the path. Unnecessary over wheeling of it must have surely ruined the tires and the clutches.  

 

@Ranger If only you remember our incident at the Prashar lake while climbing down  

[Gowtham]

24 minutes ago, sagar said:

If only you remember our incident at the Prashar lake while climbing down

 

haha yeah, heart in mouth, very scary situation. 
Car turned more than 45 degrees without any warning on a narrow road. 
Reason Slush.

 

Prashar lake drive during monsoon and winter should be done very cautiously. 

 

Even we faced similar situation in snow during Chitkul drive, zero traction. 

[karthik]

lol, it is funny to see his excitement after crossing the slipper section. 

 

5 hours ago, Pralay said:

My two cents, it is only the experience of the drivers which played the role.

 

100% right.

 

3 hours ago, RajG said:

I heard from few off road experts that we can use second gear instead of first in such cases..Is it true? 

 

True to certain extent. Main reason for using second gear is control the wheel spin due to less traction.

Our Innova got stuck on the beach in Goa.

We tried all the text book methods but failed to pull it out. 

It dug in further deep. 

 

A local cab guy came to us and said they will charge us 3k, they can take it out.

Since we don't have any other option we agreed to him.

After waiting around 20 minutes, he gathered around 8 members.

 

He slotted into second gear and those guys are pushing the car from side ways.

4 peoples standing on both sides.
Innova is shaking violently (side ways..?), side wheels are almost in Air. 

Movement is similar to pendulum.

 

Slowly it gained momentum and we are out. 

Never heard or seen this technique before.