Driving On Snow Or Ice - Pontiac 2005 Sunfire Owner's Manual

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, it will
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 enhanced 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.
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