4 ms·

I hope this improves rigor and common sense around winter driving in the USA. In Eastern Europe, drivers care more about tires, angility and driver skill. In th

I hope this improves rigor and common sense around winter driving in the USA. In Eastern Europe, drivers care more about tires, angility and driver skill. In the USA , drivers rely on large 4wd vehicles with high clearance for snow and ice driving. I’ve seen way too many issues with large clumsy vehicles losing control due to poor tires . I hope Waymo shares more solutions for winter driving to debunk a lot of the marketing for winter activity driving in the USA

micromacrofoot 1y ago
It won't, our economy is somewhat reliant on giant vehicles that people can barely afford to maintain.
- randerson 1y ago
  Manufacturers should fit all-weather tires by default (not all-seasons) - they are decent in both summer and snow (3PMSF). The average car owner seems oblivious to the different types of tires. Most high performance cars come with summer tires. I live in a wealthy area where I often see new cars in parking lots wearing summer tires in winter, probably relying on electronic nannies to mask the lack of grip in normal driving.
  - tonymet 1y ago
    i agree. i was impressed that my recent RWD crossover came fit with All Weather / M+S Rated (light snow conditions) tires
  - ryukoposting 1y ago
    > Manufacturers should fit all-weather tires by default (not all-seasons) - they are decent in both summer and snow (3PMSF). Won't happen. Tires affect fuel economy in EPA testing. Your commuter car will always come equipped with the hardest all-season or summer tires the manufacturer can source.
    - potato3732842 1y ago
      >Your commuter car will always come equipped with the hardest all-season or summer tires the manufacturer can source And instead of taking a step back and realizing that there are competing tradeoffs here and that a compromise needs to be made people will just screech harder about "the side of the tradeoff I care about is not being pushed hard enough by the .gov".
  - micromacrofoot 1y ago
    Manufacturers want to get maximum fuel efficiency, as another mentioned. Even if they do fit all seasons, the problem is that people run them much longer than they should. This is worse with higher efficiency EV tires which wear out faster... especially given the higher torque of electric engines, people accelerate too quickly. A full set of tires can easily cost $1k, and we're in a country where most people barely have $500 saved at any moment.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    >The average car owner seems oblivious to the different types of tires If the benefits were truly as categorical as the internet makes it out to be then normal people would know about it. Normal people don't care, because the difference is incremental, not categorical. An AWD SUV on all-seasons gets you 95% of the way there with a fraction of the effort, and that's the sweet spot for normal people.
ghaff 1y ago
Many large 4wd vehicles are nothing special with respect to ground clearance which mostly doesn't make much difference for snow/ice driving on paved roads anyway.
chemotaxis 1y ago
I don't think the cultural difference you're describing here really exists. Maybe if you mean people from the SF Bay Area who visit Tahoe. If you go to places with real winters, people know about winter / studded tires, will often carry chains, and so on.
- tonymet 1y ago
  some truth yes. even where I live with plenty of winter conditions, less than the midwest, still lots of poor car and tire choices. 6K# SUvs. even in the midwest lots of huge vehicles. perhaps with better tires, but still impractical.
- danielmarkbruce 1y ago
  100% this. It's laughable how many times europeans make sweeping generalizations about the US. There are various places in the US where it snows rarely and yeah, people (including me) are clueless when it happens. And then there are people in Buffalo who are more than capable of handling the snow.
  - tonymet 1y ago
    where i live we get snow for a few weeks a year. still the discipline is pretty poor with tire choice. Even here people rely too much on 4wd / AWD and neglect proper tires.
chermi 1y ago
(citation needed)

micromacrofoot 1y ago

It won't, our economy is somewhat reliant on giant vehicles that people can barely afford to maintain.

randerson 1y ago
Manufacturers should fit all-weather tires by default (not all-seasons) - they are decent in both summer and snow (3PMSF). The average car owner seems oblivious to the different types of tires. Most high performance cars come with summer tires. I live in a wealthy area where I often see new cars in parking lots wearing summer tires in winter, probably relying on electronic nannies to mask the lack of grip in normal driving.
- tonymet 1y ago
  i agree. i was impressed that my recent RWD crossover came fit with All Weather / M+S Rated (light snow conditions) tires
- ryukoposting 1y ago
  > Manufacturers should fit all-weather tires by default (not all-seasons) - they are decent in both summer and snow (3PMSF). Won't happen. Tires affect fuel economy in EPA testing. Your commuter car will always come equipped with the hardest all-season or summer tires the manufacturer can source.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    >Your commuter car will always come equipped with the hardest all-season or summer tires the manufacturer can source And instead of taking a step back and realizing that there are competing tradeoffs here and that a compromise needs to be made people will just screech harder about "the side of the tradeoff I care about is not being pushed hard enough by the .gov".
- micromacrofoot 1y ago
  Manufacturers want to get maximum fuel efficiency, as another mentioned. Even if they do fit all seasons, the problem is that people run them much longer than they should. This is worse with higher efficiency EV tires which wear out faster... especially given the higher torque of electric engines, people accelerate too quickly. A full set of tires can easily cost $1k, and we're in a country where most people barely have $500 saved at any moment.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  >The average car owner seems oblivious to the different types of tires If the benefits were truly as categorical as the internet makes it out to be then normal people would know about it. Normal people don't care, because the difference is incremental, not categorical. An AWD SUV on all-seasons gets you 95% of the way there with a fraction of the effort, and that's the sweet spot for normal people.

ghaff 1y ago

Many large 4wd vehicles are nothing special with respect to ground clearance which mostly doesn't make much difference for snow/ice driving on paved roads anyway.

chemotaxis 1y ago

I don't think the cultural difference you're describing here really exists. Maybe if you mean people from the SF Bay Area who visit Tahoe. If you go to places with real winters, people know about winter / studded tires, will often carry chains, and so on.

tonymet 1y ago
some truth yes. even where I live with plenty of winter conditions, less than the midwest, still lots of poor car and tire choices. 6K# SUvs. even in the midwest lots of huge vehicles. perhaps with better tires, but still impractical.
danielmarkbruce 1y ago
100% this. It's laughable how many times europeans make sweeping generalizations about the US. There are various places in the US where it snows rarely and yeah, people (including me) are clueless when it happens. And then there are people in Buffalo who are more than capable of handling the snow.
- tonymet 1y ago
  where i live we get snow for a few weeks a year. still the discipline is pretty poor with tire choice. Even here people rely too much on 4wd / AWD and neglect proper tires.

chermi 1y ago

(citation needed)