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Driving on Snow or Ice
Most of the time, those places where your tires meet
the road probably have good traction.
However, if there is snow or ice between your tires and
the road, you can have a very slippery situation. You
will have a lot less traction, or grip, and will need to be
very careful.
What is the worst time for this? Wet ice. Very cold snow
or ice can be slick and hard to drive on. But wet ice
can be even more trouble because it may offer the least
traction of all. You can get wet ice when it is about
freezing, 32°F (0°C), and freezing rain begins to fall. Try
to avoid driving on wet ice until salt and sand crews
can get there.
Whatever the condition — smooth ice, packed, blowing,
or loose snow — drive with caution.
If you have the Enhanced Traction System, keep the
transaxle shift lever in AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE (D) so
the system will be able to improve your ability to
accelerate when driving on a slippery road. Even though
your vehicle has this system, you will want to slow
down and adjust your driving to the road conditions.
Under certain conditions, you may want to turn the
traction system off, such as when driving through deep
snow and loose gravel, to help maintain vehicle
motion at lower speeds. See Enhanced Traction
System (ETS) on page 4-8.
If you do not have the Enhanced Traction System,
accelerate gently. Try not to break the fragile traction. If
you accelerate too fast, the drive wheels will spin
and polish the surface under the tires even more.
Unless you have the anti-lock braking system (ABS),
you will want to brake very gently, too. If you do
have ABS, see Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS) on
page 4-6. This system improves your vehicle’s stability
when you make a hard stop on a slippery road.
Whether you have ABS or not, you will want to begin
stopping sooner than you would on dry pavement.
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