Originally Posted by
HDQDD
Take it from a retired ramp manager: They also break because the aircraft brakes are still engaged or someone forgot to lockout the nose wheel steering. Both of these scenarios are usually due to a lack of communication and result in a minor (internal) investigation to see where the failure was. As others have mentioned it also usually requires MX to have to inspect the nose wheel.
I wonder if this is what happened! It felt like the tow bar "broke" almost immediately, followed by the captain explaining that they had to inspect the nose prior to getting a new tow bar.