[Cruz'n]

A lot of discussion about the towing capabilities as well as parts and accessories needed to tow with a Santa Cruz.

So whether you have naturally aspirated Cruz, rated for 3500lb towing or a Turbo and its 5,000lb rating, lets talk towing here!

Hoping to see updates on a 7 pin connection becoming available. As well as if there will be a plug and play input for an external brake controller.

Anyone else planning on towing?

If so, post up pics and discuss here!

 

[Cruz'n]

As soon as a Santa Cruz is available with a 7 pin and brake control input avaialble as a factory option or dealer installed accessory... I will be using it to tow my 1700BH Winnebago.

The local Hyundai dealer has quoted a trade on on my MB in the picture.

Hoping the Cruz will be up to the task.

My 17' Winnie is 3100lbs dry and has trailer brakes. Add battery, propane, water and gear, it will have a combined 3700lbs (trailer scale weighed) to lug around.

We had planned to tow the Winnie with an Ascent (5000lb rated), but plans abruptly changed so we need to sell the Benz to get a vehicle that can tow.

 

[Tiredofwaiting]

I wanted the SC for towing but went with Maverick because they have the towing package. What were they thinking?

 

[LittleBokey]

I wanted the SC for towing but went with Maverick because they have the towing package. What were they thinking?

I hear that... much too much confusion. NOW it is sorted out. There is now both a 4 and 7 pin cable. 7 pin will be a late delivery. Tow bar has been there all along, but early confusion on 7 pin pushed interested SC ppl to make a change to a Maverick. That could have been better planned, given the 5k towing is a big selling point. Just saying..

 

[Mephistopheles]

I hear that... much too much confusion. NOW it is sorted out. There is now both a 4 and 7 pin cable. 7 pin will be a late delivery. Tow bar has been there all along, but early confusion on 7 pin pushed interested SC ppl to make a change to a Maverick. That could have been better planned, given the 5k towing is a big selling point. Just saying..

Well there's also the argument that the Maverick comes with a tow controller as part of the 4K package, versus add an external cost you have to add.

Also at Hyundai being pretty new to the higher tow capacity game, so much so that they don't even have a 7 pin connector yet available oh, it does bring some concerns as to whether or not they really verify those ratings for the same extent Ford did.

I'm still up in the air, but it does concern me that Hyundai pretty much forgot that Towing 5000 lb requires a tow hitch with a brake controller. The fact that they're shipping the 2.5 Turbo with any Towing kit that doesn't include a 7 pin connector is shameful. Unless they're willing to do a swap uru in 6 months for free that's just robbery cuz that just tacked on another $400 or however much for an accessory that you're going to have to replace. I think the wiring harness itself is only like a hundred fifty bucks but who knows of a dealership blacks week Swap and install that for that amount of money, and you're still out the 150 for the 4-pin connector you didn't need.

Overall impressed with the fact that Santa Cruz has better ratings overall, and looks sharp, but I I'm definitely pissed at their piss poor execution, and it brings into question whether or not they're the company I really want to have a 36000 to $40,000 vehicle with, if they can't even get the launch correct.

Selling someone a vehicle is usually the easiest part, the hard part is to get them to support of afterward. That's a scary thought when they can't really keep us all informed on the release.

 

[Chuck]

I hear that... much too much confusion. NOW it is sorted out. There is now both a 4 and 7 pin cable. 7 pin will be a late delivery. Tow bar has been there all along, but early confusion on 7 pin pushed interested SC ppl to make a change to a Maverick. That could have been better planned, given the 5k towing is a big selling point. Just saying..

I don't know why 7 pins is such an issue with Hyundai. But, for people that want it now, the Kia Telluride 7 pin harness should be plug & play to the prewiring on the SC. On Santa Fe forums, multiple people bought the Kia harness & had their Hyundai dealer install the harness with their hitch. The Santa Fe/Santa Cruz take the same 4 pin harness, so in theory it should work on the SC.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I don't know why 7 pins is such an issue with Hyundai. But, for people that want it now, the Kia Telluride 7 pin harness should be plug & play to the prewiring on the SC. On Santa Fe forums, multiple people bought the Kia harness & had their Hyundai dealer install the harness with their hitch. The Santa Fe/Santa Cruz take the same 4 pin harness, so in theory it should work on the SC.

I'm just shocked as not being released simultaneously since you think they would have to have had it to test their units, as well as two bundle with the upper to trims to make the most out of their ratings.

 

[JMII]

I don't know why 7 pins is such an issue with Hyundai. But, for people that want it now, the Kia Telluride 7 pin harness should be plug & play to the prewiring on the SC. On Santa Fe forums, multiple people bought the Kia harness & had their Hyundai dealer install the harness with their hitch. The Santa Fe/Santa Cruz take the same 4 pin harness, so in theory it should work on the SC.

Or various aftermarket solutions. People act like this 7 pin is some magical cheat code for towing. It’s literally a 12V switched source, it’s like two wires more complicated then adding fog lights. Maybe I’m jaded because I installed car alarms and audio systems in the 80s and 90s and thus understand 12V systems, but this is honesty one of the easiest things to wire up. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about.

I downloaded the trailer hitch manual and it includes the directions for the harness… it’s plug-n-play, zero cutting or splicing. The hardest part is crawling under the vehicle, the most important tool is zip ties.

There are other legit reasons to buy a Maverick but having a factory 7 pin is not one of them. Hyundai will have the part, or use the Kia one, or go aftermarket and have your local U-haul wire it up. If you are interested in a SC and this one connector is stopping you from buying it I kindly suggest doing some more homework.

 

[JASmith]

I don't know why 7 pins is such an issue with Hyundai. But, for people that want it now, the Kia Telluride 7 pin harness should be plug & play to the prewiring on the SC.

Where are people tapping in for the brake controller though? I imagine that would be the hard part, as it should be somewhere you can see and adjust the gain, no?

 

[Cruz'n]

"People act like this 7 pin is some magical cheat code for towing".

Im not disagreeing. But how can a multi-billion dollar company launching ANOTHER new vehicle touting a 5000lb tow rating NOT deliver on this?

Fact, even in the latest test drives with the media Hyundai is being VERY strategic in their towing demonstration.

Two jet skis on a lightweight trailer so as not to exceed their unbraked trailer towing rating.

Its clearly not as easy it may seem. And as always, follow the money, lawyers and fine print.

Going "after market" or going to "uhaul" for something so simple doesnt pass the sniff test.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Or various aftermarket solutions. People act like this 7 pin is some magical cheat code for towing. It’s literally a 12V switched source, it’s like two wires more complicated then adding fog lights. Maybe I’m jaded because I installed car alarms and audio systems in the 80s and 90s and thus understand 12V systems, but this is honesty one of the easiest things to wire up. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about.

I downloaded the trailer hitch manual and it includes the directions for the harness… it’s plug-n-play, zero cutting or splicing. The hardest part is crawling under the vehicle, the most important tool is zip ties.

There are other legit reasons to buy a Maverick but having a factory 7 pin is not one of them. Hyundai will have the part, or use the Kia one, or go aftermarket and have your local U-haul wire it up. If you are interested in a SC and this one connector is stopping you from buying it I kindly suggest doing some more homework.

I definitely think it's not a reason to just jump ship to Maverick, it's more a matter of if Hyundai kind of forgot about it, are they really that serious about towing.

I think the only two reasons to go with the Maverick besides if you like the Styling better, are the FX4 package which seems to be more tuned for off-road than the Santa Cruz is ( yet to be seen, but they haven't really been touting the Santa Cruz off-road capability), or the Hybrid. I'm really hoping that we get some off-road testing with both of them to compare before I am pushed to make a decision.

Switching over to the Santa Cruz is kind of the sticking point why I wouldn't order nor suggest ordering a Lariat, I would just switch to the Hyundai. Hyundai is very competitively priced on the almost high end for most features, and fairly competitive on low and for all-wheel drive.

 

[JMII]

But how can a multi-billion dollar company launching ANOTHER new vehicle touting a 5000lb tow rating NOT deliver on this?

For sure it’s very shortsighted by them, clearly Hyundai is not serious about towing, nothing but marketing fluff - no real substance here pathetic, they should be ashamed.

However this not unheard of, for example the Ford Ranger which is rated to tow 7,500lbs requires a $495 tow package. Need a brake controller? Not included, so you must pony up another $527. This is from Ford, the leader in truck sales, yet it takes $1,000 in options just to do it. Yikes! Talk about embarrassing.

Where are people tapping in for the brake controller though? I imagine that would be the hard part, as it should be somewhere you can see and adjust the gain, no?

Like the answer to everything these days - Bluetooth! https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Brake-Controller/Curt/C51180.html?

 

[Mephistopheles]

For sure it’s very shortsighted by them, clearly Hyundai is not serious about towing, nothing but marketing fluff - no real substance here pathetic, they should be ashamed.

However this not unheard of, for example the Ford Ranger which is rated to tow 7,500lbs requires a $495 tow package. Need a brake controller? Not included, so you must pony up another $527. This is from Ford, the leader in truck sales, yet it takes $1,000 in options just to do it. Yikes! Talk about embarrassing.



Like the answer to everything these days - Bluetooth! https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Brake-Controller/Curt/C51180.html?

Has it been confirmed whether or not there is the 4-pin connector under the dash ready to go for an aftermarket brake controller? I think this was mentioned by Chuck but I don't think any of us have confirmed it yet.

Hyundai atleast has most everything pre-wired so it shouldn't be too big of a hassle.

 

[LittleBokey]

Or various aftermarket solutions. People act like this 7 pin is some magical cheat code for towing. It’s literally a 12V switched source, it’s like two wires more complicated then adding fog lights. Maybe I’m jaded because I installed car alarms and audio systems in the 80s and 90s and thus understand 12V systems, but this is honesty one of the easiest things to wire up. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about.

I downloaded the trailer hitch manual and it includes the directions for the harness… it’s plug-n-play, zero cutting or splicing. The hardest part is crawling under the vehicle, the most important tool is zip ties.

There are other legit reasons to buy a Maverick but having a factory 7 pin is not one of them. Hyundai will have the part, or use the Kia one, or go aftermarket and have your local U-haul wire it up. If you are interested in a SC and this one connector is stopping you from buying it I kindly suggest doing some more homework.

I am not jumping to Ford over the 7 pin cable... just wish Hyundai had executed a bit better. It has been since 2015 that the SC has been in the plan, so hard to understand. My buddy who is in the accessory world always says, "accesories seal the deal with buyers".

In thier defense, the tow bar install shows the 7 pin as an option, just no part number.

The BT controller is cool, but I'll wait for a plug in module.

 

[gonecamping]

This is what I’ll be towing. Around 2k lbs dry, probably 2500 lbs loaded up, has trailer brakes.

Not only does my Outback not have a brake controller, it didn’t even have an option for a class 3 hitch from the factory OR dealer (class 2 only), so aftermarket was the only way to go for the hitch and 7 pin harness. Thankfully we live in 2021 and the trailer actually came with a wireless brake controller mounted to the front of the trailer There are ways around needing a brake controller in the vehicle.

 

[_metafizik]

I am not jumping to Ford over the 7 pin cable... just wish Hyundai had executed a bit better. It has been since 2015 that the SC has been in the plan, so hard to understand. My buddy who is in the accessory world always says, "accesories seal the deal with buyers".

This problem isn't specific to the SC. I've seen messages on other forums and for example even the Palisade seems to have the same problem. The wiring is sufficient for 7 pins but they always seem to ship with a 4 PIN connector.

 

[JMII]

They dropped the ball for sure... but this is so common I put this down to the typical marketing BS you get from every OEM.

For example my "track ready" Z51 Corvette requires several modifications per the owner's manual to be driven on track - including installing special brake ducts, applying different alignment specs and changing various fluids (oil, diff & brake) only after all this work is finished can you actually run a few laps at speed. But don't worry your friendly Chevy dealer will happily assist once your credit card is approved for these services. Oh don't forget - when your finished enjoying your track day the car must be returned to its original street spec (all work above un-done) or your warranty could be voided.

In the end this 7 pin mess could be a bean counter problem. I bet they ran the numbers and realized that most people will never tow, or will tow something that only requires a 4 pin (like me) and thus they could save a few bucks on every SC that leaves the factory. But the marketing department wanted the "tows 5,000lbs" bullet point in their PowerPoint so here we are.

 

[Walking Black Bear]

Overall, I think Hyundai would have sealed more early sales by at least announcing a factory 7-pin WITH trailer brake as an accessory option. Yeah, it would be an option. It would cost more. I'm cool with options. Not everyone wants/needs it, but some do - even if they ultimately never use it. I don't know that I'll want or need a trailer brake controller or even tow much of anything with the SC. But I also intend to keep it for 10+ years, and you never really know what will happen/change in that time. I'd rather have it equipped with something factory, covered by and not voiding any warranties on a brand new vehicle than not. The 4-pin will probably be fine for me. It would be great if there was at least a place in the dash for a controller to be added later. Is there one? I'm not sure, from my memory of the Tucson dash or the interior videos of the SC.

 

[Tiredofwaiting]

Hey Guys, it’s more then just a 7 pin connector.

 

[LittleBokey]

Hey Guys, it’s more then just a 7 pin connector.

Ah... good catch. Tran cooler and upgraded cooling are worth the $495 (IMHO).