Suzuki 2008 XL7 Owner's Manual page 155

If You Are Caught in a Blizzard
If you are stopped by heavy snow, you
could be in a serious situation. You should
probably stay with your vehicle unless you
know for sure that you are near help and
you can hike through the snow. Here are
some things to do to summon help and
keep yourself and your passengers safe:
• Turn on the hazard warning flashers.
• Tie a red cloth to your vehicle to alert
police that you have been stopped by the
snow.
• Put on extra clothing or wrap a blanket
around you. If you do not have blankets
or extra clothing, make body insulators
from newspapers, burlap bags, rags,
floor mats – anything you can wrap
around yourself or tuck under your cloth-
ing to keep warm.
You can run the engine to keep warm, but
be careful.
WARNING
Snow can trap exhaust gases under
your vehicle. This can cause deadly
CO (carbon monoxide) gas to get
inside. CO could overcome you and
kill you. You cannot see it or smell it,
so you might not know it is in your
vehicle. Clear
around the base of your vehicle,
especially any that is blocking the
exhaust pipe. And check around
again from time to time to be sure
snow does not collect there.
Open a window just a little on the
side of the vehicle that is away from
the wind. This will help keep CO out.
Run your engine only as long as you must.
This saves fuel. When you run the engine,
make it go a little faster than just idle. That
is, push the accelerator slightly. This uses
less fuel for the heat that you get and it
keeps the battery charged.
You will need a well-charged battery to
restart the vehicle, and possibly for signal-
ing later on with the headlamps. Let the
heater run for a while.
Then, shut the engine off and close the
window almost all the way to preserve the
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heat. Start the engine again and repeat
this only when you feel really uncomfort-
able from the cold. But do it as little as pos-
sible. Preserve the fuel as long as you can.
To help keep warm, you can get out of the
vehicle and do some fairly vigorous exer-
cises every half hour or so until help
comes.
If Your Vehicle is Stuck in Sand,
Mud, Ice, or Snow
Slowly and cautiously spin the wheels to
free your vehicle when stuck in sand, mud,
away snow from
ice, or snow. Refer to "Rocking Your Vehi-
cle to Get It Out" in this section.
If your vehicle has a traction system, it can
often help to free a stuck vehicle. Refer to
your vehicle's traction system in the Index.
If the stuck condition is too severe for the
traction system to free the vehicle, turn the
traction system off and use the rocking
method.
If you let your vehicle's tires spin at
high speed, they can explode, and
you or others could be injured. The
vehicle can overheat, causing an
engine compartment fire or other
damage. Spin the wheels as little as
possible and avoid going above 35
mph (55 km/h) as shown on the
speedometer.
For information about using tire chains on
your vehicle, refer to "Tire Chains" in
DRIVING YOUR VEHICLE
WARNING
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