2004 Pontiac Aztek Owner's Manual - Page 275

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 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 traction control, keep the system on. It will improve your ability to accelerate when driving on a slippery road. But you can turn the traction system off if your vehicle ever gets stuck in sand, mud, ice or snow. See If You Are Stuck: In Sand, Mud, Ice or Snow on page 4-33. Even though your vehicle has a traction system, you will want to slow down and adjust your driving to the road conditions. See Traction Control System (TCS) on page 4-10. If you do not have a 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. 4-29