Before the first freeze
Cold cuts a battery's output just when the engine needs the most to start, so have any battery older than three years load-tested in the fall, which most parts stores do free. Tires lose about one pound of pressure for every ten-degree drop in temperature, and they need checking monthly. If winters where you live stay below 45 degrees for months, a set of four winter tires is the biggest safety upgrade you can buy, since their rubber stays soft in the cold. All-wheel drive helps you get moving and does nothing to help you stop. Fit fresh wiper blades, fill the washer tank with fluid rated to at least 20 below, and keep the gas tank above half.
Driving on snow and ice
Clear the whole car, including the roof, the lights and every window, because a sheet of snow sliding off at speed blinds you or the driver behind. Then change how you drive.
- Leave eight to ten seconds of following distance instead of the usual three.
- Brake early and gently in a straight line before a turn, not in it.
- Build a little momentum before a hill and avoid stopping on the way up.
- Leave cruise control off on any slick road.
- Expect ice first on bridges, overpasses and shaded stretches, where pavement that only looks wet may be frozen.
When the car slides
Take your foot off the accelerator, look where you want the car to go and steer there smoothly. Do not stamp on the brake mid-skid. If you must stop hard in a car with antilock brakes, which is nearly every car built in the past two decades, press the pedal firmly and hold it. The pulsing underfoot is the system working, and pumping the pedal defeats it.
Stuck or stranded
Spinning the wheels only digs you deeper. Straighten the wheels, clear snow from around the tires, and put sand, cat litter or your floor mats in front of the drive wheels, then ease forward. If you are stranded in a storm, stay with the car, where you are sheltered and findable. Run the engine about ten minutes each hour for heat, keep the exhaust pipe clear of snow to prevent carbon monoxide from building up inside, and crack a window.
Tip Find an empty, snow-covered parking lot after the first storm and practice braking hard and sliding at fifteen miles an hour. Ten minutes there teaches your hands and feet what no article can.
