What to do if your car gets stuck in the snow

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Follow these tips and you will get out of the snow captivity effortlessly.

The life hacker has arranged the tips from simple to complex. But they can be used in any order and can be combined with each other depending on the situation and the equipment at hand.

1. Do not accelerate and do not panic

As soon as you feel that the car starts to get stuck, stop pushing the gas to the floor and calm down. If you can't go forward, try to move backward to get out on your own track.

Drive off smoothly, without sudden accelerations. Do not accelerate too much for a long time. Otherwise, the wheels will quickly bury and the car will sit on its belly.

2. Try to push

Ask for help from passengers or passers-by. For starters, just press on the hood or trunk as you try to pull out. This will put additional stress on the drive axle and improve grip. If it doesn't work, let them push in the direction of travel, helping the car to get out.

3. Take a ride

Manual Transmission

On a manual gearbox, the surest way to get out is to take off to take advantage of the moment of inertia and tamp the snow in a rut. To do this, align the wheels, engage reverse gear and drive off, carefully working with the gas pedal.

When the car starts to move, stop accelerating and let it roll back. Drive smoothly again. Drive until the wheels start to slip, but don't let it happen.

The main thing is to feel the impulses while moving and work like a pendulum. By repeating this simple maneuver, you will gradually tamp the snow and, having broken your track, you will be able to get out.

If acceleration is not enough to overcome a snow slide, then, having driven back, engage first gear and move forward. This will increase the amplitude and roll out the area where you can accelerate and gain the necessary momentum.

Automatic transmission

On the machine, using the swinging method will not fully work: fast and frequent switching of the R - N - D modes can lead to a breakdown of the transmission.

Therefore, turn on the drive or reverse mode (depending on the direction of travel) and try to move away smoothly. As soon as you move, release the gas pedal and wait for the car to roll back.

Then get under way again and roll away until you get out.

General Tips

• If the car is equipped with four-wheel drive or differential lock, do not forget to turn them on.
• If there are assistants, they must push in one direction or the other in the direction of travel, increasing the moment of inertia.
• Instead of the first gear, you can try turning on the second. This will help reduce wheel torque and reduce the chance of wheel spin.
• You can also lightly press the brake pedal to load the skid wheel and prevent it from locking.

4. Dig up the snow

When there is a lot of snow and it is wet, the buildup does not always help. In this case, it is necessary to free up the wheels and the space around them. For this, a shovel is useful, which it is advisable to carry in the trunk in winter.

If you do not have a shovel, use your feet, stick, cardboard and other available means. Your goal is to clear the snow from under the wheels and clear the track for them.

Be sure to check if the exhaust pipe is clogged with snow. In the best case, the engine will stall, in the worst case, gases can enter the passenger compartment.

Sometimes in deep snow the car gets stuck due to the fact that it sits on its belly, and the wheels, having lost traction, literally rotate in the air. The problem is solved by clearing the snow under the bottom.

If there is nothing to clean, you can jump on the door sills to tamp the snow and lower the car. Another option is to raise the car on a jack and lower it sharply.

5. Place something under the wheels

If, after clearing the snow, it is not possible to go out, then the wheels do not have enough adhesion to the ground. To ensure it, it is better to use special anti-slip bands. But if they are not there, any means at hand will do. Place a jacket, branches, rubble under the drive wheels - whatever you find in the trunk or around the car.

Putting rugs, as some recommend, is only worthwhile if they are textile. The rubber will fly out from under the wheels as soon as you press the gas.

By the way, be careful. Everything that is under the wheels can fly out from under them when the car starts to move.

6. Deflate the tires

This will help increase the contact area with the surface and, as a result, the grip of the wheels. Unscrew the spool cap and press on the valve stem with wrenches or other thin object.

The flat tires reduce the ground clearance. If there is a lot of snow, it will only hurt: the car will sit on the belly.

Bring the pressure to about 1 atm. Without a pressure gauge, you can visually determine a flat tire by a slight flattening.

Do not overdo it, otherwise, under the weight of the car, empty tires can inadvertently be disassembled from the disks. Also, do not get carried away too much if there is no compressor or booster pump at hand.

7. Build traction chains

Another effective way to increase traction. If there are no real chains in the trunk, try making homemade chains from scrap materials. Take a rope or tow rope and wrap it around the drive wheels like a chain. The main thing is to fix them well so that they do not unwind and damage the brakes and suspension parts.

Even on summer tires with such improvised chains, it is almost guaranteed that you can get out of any snow. By increasing traction with the surface, flotation will be significantly improved. But you should be careful with the gas pedal, because with such wheels the risk of digging deeper also increases.

8. Raise the machine with a jack

If you can't get out due to the car sitting too deep, you can try to raise it with a jack. To do this, clear a place for the jack and find some kind of plank, stone or other hard backing material so that the tool does not go into the snow or the ground.

Then, one by one, lift the car on each side and fill the holes formed under the wheels of the drive axle with something. Gravel, sticks, twigs, and any solid objects will do. After that, the stuck wheels will be on the surface and the chances of getting out of the snow captivity will increase significantly.

9. Ask to pull out the machine with a cable

Do not hesitate to ask for help when you are unable to leave on your own. If the place is not deserted, and there is a cable at hand, there will certainly be those who want to help.

Not any rope is suitable for pulling out of the snowdrifts. Conventional webbing slings often fail and break. Steel cables, on the other hand, are too strong and can easily rip out the towing eyes or deform the body.

Even for small runabouts, it is better to use special dynamic ones, or, as they are also called, jerky ones, which lengthen when stretched and compensate for sudden jolts.

Check the reliability of the attachment of the cable to the towing loops and be sure to throw a jacket, a bag or a bag on it so that in the event of a break, the cable does not fall into one of the machines.

On a stuck car, turn the wheels straight out to reduce drag. Later, when you move, the steering wheel can be turned in the desired direction. When pulling out, help with your engine, but do not accelerate too much so as not to burrow. It is better to act as if you are moving away.

On the towing car, it is worth turning on a lower gear and all available locks, first trying to move in tightness.

If the snow is deep and the car is firmly seated, jerking is indispensable. Then the one who pulls out should accelerate a little and stop, acting as an anchor. The dynamic cable will stretch and move the stuck car from the dead center by itself. Maybe not on the first try, but it should work out in the end.

To avoid damaging the machine against a nearby tree or fence, form a tamped track out of the snow to keep it from turning and slipping.

10. Call for help

If all else fails, call for help. Call your friends, write a post on the social network or leave a mark on the map. Go back to the road and ask the truck drivers for help. If there is a settlement nearby, go there.

In really difficult situations, when you find yourself in the wilderness and there is no one to expect help from, contact the emergency services and call the rescuers on a single number 112.

Don't overestimate your possibilities: frivolity can cost your life.

Bonus. How not to get stuck in the snow

1. Do not neglect winter tires, even if you rarely leave the city and you have a four-wheel drive vehicle. As a rule, all troubles happen precisely because of bad tires.
2. Always carry a shovel with you. At least a compact folding, but preferably a full-size one with a handle cut to the desired length. You can replace it with a piece of plywood that won't take up space in your trunk.
3. Downshift as soon as you feel yourself getting bogged down on a snowy stretch of road. And do not stop, otherwise you will immediately get stuck.
4. Avoid hard acceleration and deceleration. Keep the engine at a constant low RPM from 1,500 to 2,000.
5. Drive carefully but confidently. Turn smoothly, and when driving on a rut, hold the steering wheel firmly so as not to fly off it into the snowy roadside.
6. Park closer to the carriageway, but not directly on it. So you have to clean less snow in the morning and there will be no risk of being in a snowdrift from snow removal equipment.
7. Leaving your car in a snowy place, do not forget to drive back and forth several times to tamp the tracks for yourself and later leave without problems.