- submitted by b-team on 12/03/2007
Bad Cars. Winter Traction Control--Joke Or Farce?
Yesterday was pretty brutal around our house, in the Northeast. Not a ton of snow. But freezing rain mixed with snow. Some icy pellet things were falling from the sky for a while. The roads were ugly.
Fortunately we had our new SUV with its specially upgraded premium winter-protection traction control. So we went out confidently, knowing that for the extra $2500 we paid, we could easily navigate the handful of streets necessary to get us downtown to buy the rock salt we needed for our driveway.
Uh, no. Are car manufacturers joking?
We pressed the brightly blinking red button on our console marked "Heavy Winter Traction," proceeded forward on our snow encrusted street 10 mph and, within seconds, proceeded to slide forward at triple the speed into an embankment at the end of the block.
(The car manufacturer did offer a 24/7 roadside assistance program -- they obviously know what's going on -- but unfortunately we hadn't subscribed to it even though, as was explained to us over the phone at the side of the road, we didn't need to pay anything to subscribe; we simply needed to have filled out some form and confirm our ownership. But since we hadn't (actually we were never given a form), well, they simply couldn't help us. They wanted to, they did, but they just couldn't.)
The thing is, as we tried to apply our brakes at the lusty speed of 10 mph, the brakes simply didn't work. They accelerated the skid -- the brakes and our steering wheel essentially locked. The good news? The brightly flashing red winter traction control button that we paid an extra $2,500 for never stopped flashing.
How do car companies get away with it? Ever think of designing cars -- OK, just tires -- that don't function like professionally sharpened ice skates the minute our 2 ton vehicles contact even the flimsiest hint of ice?
When we got back -- our car is still in the shop; a couple minor scratches; no problem, the garage guy said, will probably only cost $1500+ because of course we're going to have to replace the side panels or bumpers, etc...He added, good thing a car wasn't coming through the intersection when you skidded by, you'd have a lot more damage then; yea, we said, like we'd be dead, that kind of damage, right?
Anyway, we got back to our house and called our car dealer to learn more about our premium traction control. He told us, he was sorry, of course, but, yes, ice is treacherous and the protection really isn't meant for ice or for hard packed snow either, especially when it's slippery. In bad conditions, we recommend you not drive the vehicle (any vehicle) at all, he said. We said, then what does the winter-protection "protect" us from? If not, you know, the kind of sh*t that's out on the street now? Slippery conditions. If we don't use it -- if it doesn't work -- in slippery conditions, then why do we need it at all?
The dealer said, it's not that it doesn't work in those conditions. It's that you're still going to slip; it's the way it is. We nodded while staring out at our empty and icy driveway. (We never made it to the hardware store for the rock salt.)
We next tried to call customer service of the car manufacturer. But, after being directed to multiple recordings for about a half hour, and still not getting anybody human (except, by accident, a guy in the commercial bus division), we gave up.
We think there's probably a lawsuit here. Not because we're being asked to pay real money for something that doesn't really work or do anything. (Yes, we get that pretty flashing light; but that should probably be under $1000, no? Entire neighborhoods in our town have been decorated for Christmas with tens of thousands more lights and for a lot less money than that.)
But a lot of people -- including us -- have kind of assumed that, with the premium traction control system, we are getting more protection than without it. So we're actually driving in this weather, assuming our brakes more likely than not will work at 10 mph. And so, apart from the money spent, we're risking our lives based on our false (but reasonable) assumptions.
Tell us the truth. The $2,500 is for a beautiful stylish single flashing button on our front dash board. No, probably not a great value. But at least we'll know. Tell us, look, we (car company) simply want the money; we want your $2,500. So just give it to us and don't ask questions and then we won't have to pretend that it has bought you (the customer) a safety feature that actually provides safety. And that way you (customer) won't be going out there in your "winter-protected safe car" after a little snow and crashing into telephone polls. (Well, you probably will be crashing into telephone polls but not because you believe you have special winter protection, but because you're basically idiots and will drive in bad weather and make bad judgments and crash a lot...which, by the way, is good for the insurance companies so, see, lots of people/companies are benefiting here.)*
We asked the administrative assistant in the car company's bus division whether he relied on his traction control and he said, no but that's because he can't afford it, he'd rather spend his money on a multi-disc CD-MP3 player; then he said he'd transfer us to the "correct" department, which (mistakenly, we assume) turned out to be a voice mailbox for somebody in building facilities. We left him a message; but we aren't hopeful of hearing back from him any time soon.
*We know, ice isn't so easy to protect againt; we're not asking for perfection or anything close to it. But on a street with a little snow and not too much ice, it seems reasonable to expect an expensive and aggressively marketed "winter protection" system will provide some benefit. If it doesn't or can't, then don't promote that way.
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