Driving on Ice

I'm new to my 2011 4Runner. Are there any features that are helpful for driving on icy roads beyond the 4 wheel drive?

 

A-TRAC will be helpful in situations where a wheel on one side has more traction than another.

Turning traction control off may be helpful in situations where wheels need to spin more.

This is also handy:

 

Traction control can help, but 4hi is your best friend. And remember 4wd doesn't mean you can stop quicker.

 

Crawl control got me out of a couple icy situations with my truck.

 

What is crawl control and how do I activate it

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vW4M5GAy8Q&t=3s

 

Snow tires with or without studs, chains

 

What model 4Runner do you have? The Trail Edition is the only one that had crawl control in the 2011 model year.

Beyond that, drive carefully, use four high when it's icy, and like others have said, just remember that 4wd does not help you stop any better.

 

About that...

 

If you drive a lot in snow and ice get a set of winter tires. It’s a night and day difference in traction compared to everything else.

 

If you’re talking about solid glare ice…then dedicated snow tires will be your best friends. Traction control and the vehicle stability system can do lots of great stuff, but they need some sort of traction to work.

Personally, I’ve noticed the 4runner ABS can be more flakey when traction is nearly nil than other cars I’ve owned. At very slow speed (like below 5mph) on very slippery conditions (like glazed ice), it will sometimes completely release all braking pressure and give up the tiny bit of traction you do have. The result can be rolling through an intersection at 2mph with all 4 tires turning. Push harder on the brakes, and the ABS releases even more braking pressure.

That doesn’t always happen, but whenever I’m on ice, I’ve learned to be very light on the brake pedal to avoid ABS activation. Once it activates , it can surprise you when it’s no longer slowing down like was before it activated. In fact, the only way to recover is to treat the brake pedal like an old-school non-abs system…release the brake pedal, and gently apply super light pressure. If abs activates again, release the pedal, and gently apply again. 2mph doesnt sound bad, but it sucks when you don’t want to fall off the road or hit something.

 

If you regularly drive on ice, #1 step is to get a set of dedicated winter tires.

 

If it's true solid ice, drive with the passenger side wheels off the edge of the ice in the snow.

 

That was exactly my experience yesterday. I was going VERY slow down a hill approaching the intersection, There was only about an inch of snow and ice at the point but I had very little control

 

Welcome from Arizona!

 

I was wrong, I learned something, lol. My point, although without factual basis was that driving in 4hi on snow and some ice seems easy, but braking is affected, and it can surprise you when your sliding wildly. My very best snow car was a 79 olds tornado, I was driving a ton back then in my job and driving it in snow was no problem and it could make you complacent driving it, but it was hard to stop quickly on snow or ice being a relatively heavy car.

 

You would have had better control if there had been 4" of snow on that ice. I can't imagine worse conditions than 1' or less snow on top of ice with the exception of rain on ice.

 

The most important feature for driving in icy conditions is the one located between your ears, followed by the ones located at the ends of your arms and legs.

It’s not so much about the vehicle as it is exercising proper judgment and smooth inputs.

 

The loose nut on the steering wheel.

 

Yes the improvement in braking with 4WD is about 14% based on the Tacoma video, not night & day. I use a lower gear than usual on snow and ice, and downshift earlier, relying more on engine braking to slow down.

 

driving on snow pretty straight forward. learn to drive slow, use 4wd, and the different modes. have a set of decent chains and traction boards just in case. now-a-days, mainstream a/t tires are 3PMSF which helps. not everyone has a set of dedicated winter snow tires in their garage to swap out.
driving on ice is tricky because ice usually wins if you freak out and are not in control. take it real slow, downshift, pump breaks if needed, or pull over somewhere safe haha.

 

You will most likely find on tires that are meant for "winter use", that they have lots of siping on them. Siping is the little sometimes squiggly lines on the tread portion of the tire. The siping makes the tire tread more flexible and acts like more tread surfaces helping grip on icy/snowy condition roads. Also like some stated above, learn to drive slow and smooth input to steering and brakes. Good luck.

 

Living in the South, I don't drive on ice much but I do walk on pins and needles a lot when I'm around the old lady.

 

That's not just a southern thing. Sometimes I wake up grumpy, most days I let her sleep.

 

Or drive like a rally driver and power slide it around the corners.

 

Great video -thanks for providing.

 

From someone who grew up in the snow and ice belt....the only REALLY effective traction control on ice is tire chains. On all four tires if conditions are bad enough. Something that actually digs into the ice. Note the spikes sticking up the chains:


Next best thing is studded snow tires. Again, something that digs into the ice. Winter tires are good but they still can't grip glare ice.

 

Check your states laws, studded snow tires are illegal in The Peoples Republic of Illinois and most states have restrictions on when you can use them.

 

In most of the upper Midwest, there’s enough road salt put down to make those pointless anyway.

 

I'm sure the Toyota nanny assist brake system can't help. Crap locks up the brakes on dry pavement, all it takes is moving your foot to quickly from the go peddle to the stopper and your sitting 60 feet away from a red light with anything not tied down flying forward.