Snow in Tokyo - wow; I think God is taking a stand and telling us all that he is in control of the weather and to not forget it.

Good heavens! The sainted Pious (aka Prius) has a design flaw? Impossible! The Pious was designed to save the planet from evil manmade global warming; or, at least, to allow saintly Pious owners to display to the world that they are saving the planet from evil manmade global warming. How could it possibly have a design flaw?

Hi, Bob, this is Frank.
Hey Frank, what's up?
Well Bob, we've got a problem with the TRAC system.
What's the problem, Frank?
Well, apparently, nobody tested it in the snow.
What? Nobody tested it in the snow?
Oy vey. You know what this means, Bob.
Yeah, there's gonna' be he11 to pay in Monday's staff meeting.
Wait, I know, call in the software boys, maybe they can rejig this puppy.
Good idea, Frank.

I like the Honda Pilot. It has traction control that shifts power to the non-slipping side, only puts on brakes if you are sliding. More importantly it also has a little button where you can turn it off.

Difference with the Prius, no off button.

Now if I could only have an off button for the anti-lock brakes. On ice they won't lock up. Not ever. Sometimes that means you just roll helplessly forward with no brakes at all...

I also prefer manual cameras. ~:D

It is more than obvious what is going on - the Prius designers are just a few years ahead of their time. We all know that winter will shortly be just a memory.
No more snow and ice and slippery roads.
No more all season tires.

Alas, no more curling.

CRB

It reminds me of a little pamphlet that was handed out by U of Sask students a couple of years ago, warning that global warming would mean the end of hockey in Canada... due to the end of ice to play on.

Forgetting that most of it is played in artificial ice rinks these days.

Okay, I'm looking at "The Okanagan Sunday" edition of the Kelowna Courier. There's an Associated Press article that speaks about "freakish weather" "worst in five decades" in China. All the way through the article it does not mention the words "cool" or "cold". It just keeps mentioning the words "freakish" "storms" "severe weather" "disaster", finally toward the end of the article it says something about pipes being "frozen". Why don't we hear any comment about it flying in the face of their pet theory (AGW)??????

One dead, more than 200 injured in Japan snow: official, media

tinyurl.com/2ngrx7

"A 67-year-old man died after falling from the roof of his house"

If you die, falling off a roof, retrieving a baseball - is it a sports related death?

Who knew snow was such a killer? All those tokyo snow stories emphasized how many people had died. It seems so ridiculous, you'd think there was fire raining down from the sky.
Is this a fast-forward to what Canada will be like in the future as the population ages, where any event will be described as dangerous? Snowfalls are to be feared?

Hmm, the age hypothesis is interesting, SF, there's probably some merit to that. In general, though, I think it is more likely that this is an instance of a scarcity phenomenon. That is, since snow is rare in Tokyo, people in Tokyo aren't very good at dealing with snow.

We see this all the time. I was in Washington DC for the UseNix conference in January '83, it snowed a half an inch, and the city shut down. It was 28ºF, and I'm walkin' around the city wearing an unbuttoned floor length fur coat, goin', like, par-tay, and they're all goin': ooh, cold, cold. I told them I was Black Jacques Shellac, Mad Trapper From the North. But that's nothin'. You should see the havoc on the hills of San Francisco when it snows there once every couple decades.

Sometimes we Northerners forget our special skills at dealing with these sorts of problems, and we shouldn't. It's just selling ourselves short. After all, who of us hasn't dug out from under a Yoho blow?

I think CRB is close but slightly off the mark on the "cause". I suspect that the designers unconsiously believe in global warming so much that they forgot about snow. Or more generally, in true liberal fashion, they designed for the ideal, pristine environment and totally overlooked the harsh bite of reality. (As a software tester, I see that a lot.)

You are all wrong, this design was no flaw. Think of the emissions not emitted when all those cars are unable to move. Who will owners sue, will the cars be recalled. Will sales go thru the basement.

a bit off topic but relevant

I bought a new Toyota Matrix in AB in 2005. (IMO)the stock tires that it came with can be described in one word - dangerous.

The car will become light in the front end when driving through standing puddles after a rain - commonly known as hydroplaning. Really quite scary if the puddling extends for 15' or more/is an inch deep or when driving in a downpour.

In winter, the tires were basically useless on snow and ice - very little traction in terms of both starting and stopping. I pretty much used my truck during the first winter.

I scrapped the original tires at 55K and replaced them with a "real tire" in the summer of '07. It now drives like a car should - both summer and winter. Knowing this, I would change the tires on a new Matrix before it leaves the sales lot.

Calgary Clipper:

Agree 100% on the Matrix -- zilch traction in wet snow with stock tires. First winter, I replaced them with Michelin X-Ice. Toyota has to re-think its winter testing for all models, not just the Prius.

Vitruvius:
Good story. Folks in the South can get completely flummoxed by a few snowflakes. In Jan '96 I was doing some contract IT consulting in Knoxville Tennessee along with 3 other canucks. On the second day there, we woke up and noticed a couple of inches of snow on the ground, shrugged, and drove to the worksite in our big, heavy Crown Victoria. On the way we passed half a dozen cars that had been abandoned in the street. Parking lot at work was empty -- not even the security guard made it in. Basically, the whole city was shut down for a week, and they had to borrow snowplows from Kentucky to handle this once-in-a-decade 'freak' storm.

All kinds of weather can happen anywhere, but people regress to the mean in their reaction to it. That seems to include car designers.

Ha .... that's why I drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Ford F150 ... if I by another sedan ever it will be an Audi 4wd sedan.

But with the deteriorating streets and roads of Winnipeg and Manitoba and seemingly everywhere else I travel in Canada .... I'll likely be sticking with the sturdy SUV and a suspension that will take the abuse.

As for those who cannot drive in the snow ... even Winnipegers need to relearn every year.... stupid drivers abound everywhere.

I remember reading a while ago that a lot of electric cars aren't approved for use in Canada. This is probably why.

I also drive a 4WD Jeep with excellent winter tires. You still have to know how to respect the snow and black ice.

If you do suffer misfortune with the Prius, just imagine the deluxe coffin you will be able to afford on all that gas money you saved. = TG

I'm betting the new WRX STI is a lot of fun in the snow and not nearly as ugly as the previous model even if it's still not a case study in design. It's now tame enough looking not to be entirely gaudy but it still has the performance you just can't get in anything near the price.

It's user controls over the traction, stability, etc. are awesome.

I'm thinking of getting one. No where else will you get a rally car with Brembos and 305 bhp for that little money. If you love to drive, this is good.

Question about hybrids:

Even if the battery is charged and ready to power the vehicle, will the fossil fuel engine have to be running(idling) anyways, in order to provide heat for the occupants ?

In Canada, a requirement most of the year :)

In the interests of transparency and openness, I am outing myself as regards being the Calgary Clipper. Not a big deal really as I have no reason to hide behind IPs, numbered locations, etc., etc. as regards any postings made in the last 1.5 years.

The writ for the AB Election will be dropped today (Feb 4) and I have decided to begin the process for running as an Independent in the Calgary-Lougheed Constiuency. Some would say this is political suicide but I feel the issues are substantial and the least I can do is put myself/ideas out there.

I represent no lobby group/single issue policy, special group, whatever. As a "small "c" Conservative (not a progressive) I am not seeing any party that would be a good fit for me in this constituency and would really dislike to see it go Liberal by default.

The Wildrose Alliance has seen their founding president resign last weekend so who know where there will be Wildrose Candidates running. Time is almost out as the election will be in one month.

I begin from scratch with me, myself and my shadow but have seen the power of the blogs if the issue(s) are right.

One of my priorities would be to present a private member's bill to remove the freedom of speech section from the AB HRC along with toning down (a whole lot) the draconian investigative powers of the AB HRC.

I'm working on a web site and will put it out shortly. In the meantime I had opened up a blogspot a while ago and the last time I checked - it is still up and going. It is interactive so let's see what, if anything happens:

ab-first.blogspot.com

My constituency is in the SW corner of Calgary and is virtually 100% on the net. Whatever I do will likely be via the net as time is precious. I was hoping to see a stronger slate of candidates before the writ was dropped but it didn't happen. Is this possible - hmmmm, we shall see.

Thank you Kate for providing such an excellent forum for us bloggers - the power of the blogosphere is gradually beginning to be recognized. Good on you to do this and I can't imagine how you find the time - but you do :)

G. Keith Laurie
Calgary, AB

For what it is worth,

I have always been against anything that tries to compensate for poor skills (or stupidity) for a few reasons,

1- People should learn how to control a vehicle and not rely on some gizmo, and if you do not have what it takes to be a good driver then you should not drive.

2- When those systems ( Anti lock braking system, traction control et cetera...) malfunction, then it pretty much does not matter how good of a driver you are, the gizmo will do what it wants to do no matter what. It will even cancel what a good driver will do by trying to "compensate" ( unless there is a switch to turn it off ).

3- It can make unskilled drivers feel more secure, more audacious and more dangerous because they do not understand what those systems can and can not do and what their limits are AND because those people have no idea how a car really behaves in extreme conditions.

In my opinion all those gizmos are only making people worse drivers.

gear ratios.

friend of usa. yea. i hate antilock brakes. as a driver with about five million miles under his belt i like to control the braking bmyself.

Old white guy,

When I was a teenager (a long time ago in the 70s) as my father was teaching me how to drive his big American car he insisted I make the car slide on snow covered roads so I would know what to do if it ever happened to me and I would remain calm.

He had explained to me that those who have no idea how a car behaves simply panic in emergency situations and they think there is nothing they can do apart from pushing as hard as they can on the brake pedal (which often makes things worse) when in fact we do have some control.

Cars with all those " safety" gizmos is just more of the Liberal Nanny State; someone else should take care of you, you have no personal responsibility, the government should protect you from everything blablabla.

TG - a 4wd Jeep??? is it electric?

cal clipper - Best of luck.

I remember a snow fall in Arkansas back in the 70's. could hardly see the grass for the snow. Much to the amusement of a couple of us Canucks, all of Little Rock and most of the state were broght to a standstill. A lot of chicken raising operations found out what snow load meant. In their defence, it doesn't make too much economic sense to invest in snow removal equipment for a once-in-a-decade event. Everyone just waited for the snow to melt. Kind of like the Calgary snow removal plan.

BTW, the air force base I was at did function normally. The military prescribes to the boy scout motto of Be Prepared.

Many of the sensors related to the incredibly complex "safety" systems are exposed to the harsh elements of winter driving including salt, road dirt and cold weather. After a couple awful winters, many of these systems no longer work as intended and are terribly costly to repair.

"Friends of USA's #3 point is particularly relevant in my opinion. Younger, inexperienced drivers rely on artificial vehicle controls and do not drive safer... they simply drive that much faster and more dangerously. A "False Sense Of Security" can be a dangerous thing if the vehicle is pushed to its limits as all newer driver do.

Ha ha

Old white guy/friend of USA:

Spot on! I had a group of friends who all worked at a gas station at Victoria Park and Sheppard in Toronto. (Actually, there was a station at each corner, and there was at least one of us at each station.)

Whenever we got a few inches of snow during the evening, we'd get excited - after work, we'd pile into various cars (this was the 1970's - no ABS then!), and head off to the mall parking lot. There, in relative safety and with no other cars around us, we'd practice doughnuts, skids, and recovery for hours. This prepared us for Canadian winters.

This isn't to say I've never had a winter accident; I hit some black ice on the 401 just east of Waterloo about 10 years ago, and despite my best efforts, I ended up in a snow bank. However, there was no damage to my car or me, no one else was involved in the accident, and I feel my ability to keep the car basically headed forward prevented anything worse than the soft slide into the snow from happening.

I have a 14 year old daughter, who I know will be chomping at the bit in a few years to start driving. I'll be doing the same thing with her, so that she knows how to react, and how to keep a cool head when the car starts sliding.

takeTHEbus said,

"What action there is, is far superior to anything you could do manually."

Actually that is not true.

On a slippery surface (sand, dirt, ice, snow and water covered roads ) a good driver can easily stop a car in a shorter distance than ABS can by quickly pumping the brakes, in other words locking and unlocking the wheels as fast as he can.

and on a dry surface a good driver who knows how to not lock the wheels will achieve the same braking distance or even a little shorter than ABS will.

ABS was not created to shorten distances but to try and keep the car more stable by keeping the wheels from locking.

I have read about in car magazines and
I have seen it demonstrated a couple times on television.

I have a friend who used to race street cars on closed circuit and every other guy in the race defeated the ABS system on their street cars because they ALL could achieve shorter braking distances than ABS could.

ABS is like someone else taking care of you, like training wheels on your bike or your father running behind you.

"There, in relative safety and with no other cars around us, we'd practice doughnuts, skids, and recovery for hours"

One of the funnest experiences I've ever had involved a Datsun 280Z, a parking lot covered in ice, and a parking brake....

...like i said earlier, I'm sure glad I was driving my environmentally friendly F150 4X4 Crew Cab with huge M&S tires through the Rockies this winter, passing even the snow plows were getting stuck.

Only thing missing was my gun rack. But sure was nice being so high and looking down on the pittance Vancouverite Toyota drivers.

Along the same topic. I recently had a flat rear tire and my spare was one of those little doughnut things. They are USELESS in the snow.They should be outlawed in northern climates. I drove about a block and parked the car.

Some Greens have gone postal over the 3rd world challenge to the Prius.

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/love-those-tatas/

"One of the funnest experiences I've ever had involved a Datsun 280Z, a parking lot covered in ice, and a parking brake...

I still own a 78'280Z.

I never drove it in the winter because I also owned other vehicles that were much more suited to low traction and bad conditions. That being said .... Since my birthday is in January I did my first driving solos in ice and snow. A big old plymouth made for huge parking lot slides and unending donuts .... figuring out the transition to a figure 8 was also a high point.
In the summer I realized that the beast would also do it on dry pavement given the right encouragement.... nothing like a 5700 pound car going sideways in a cloud of smoke to attract attention.

On the gizmo thing - there have been lots of folks stranded at malls because the batteries in their remote went dead (couldn't get into their cars) ... using the key never occurred to them.

"One of the funnest experiences I've ever had involved a Datsun 280Z, a parking lot covered in ice, and a parking brake...."

I'll cover your ass. This was done by a professional driver ... do NOT attempt this yourself.

Frozen, wind swept lakes can also provide a lot of entertainment for professional drivers.

I'm off to play with a plastic bag - didn't say anything about not being a toy.

Pinto, parking brake, biiig parking lot. ~:D These days I've discovered the joys of -turning brakes- on my Baja race car. Talk about donuts!

Dear Mr. Takethebus, from your outraged post I take it you've never tried to stop one of the early GM vehicles with anti-lock brakes on ice. On ice the brakes don't engage at low speed. At all. Not even a little. Nothing like a two ton Oldsmobile rolling inexorably toward the ditch to make you wish for an "off" button.

Conversely the Honda system WILL engage the brakes at low speeds and at some point will lock the wheels. You end up with this stuttering effect that stops the car nicely.

I still prefer manual brakes. There are times when the robotic hand holding is irritating.