# Added Feature Request to MoreTesla.com for a "Snow Mode" for Model 3 AWD



## mswlogo (Oct 8, 2018)

I created a new Feature Request on this. I don't even own Model 3 any more. But this issue did bug me.

And a nice solution could spill over onto all Tesla's (like Slip Mode).

I did search on all Model 3 feature Requests with snow in it and didn't find it.

Please VOTE !!

https://moretesla.com/issues/jQuR8hk6oqxeFQvL4JUF


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Front wheel drive is good for vehicles with all the weight concentrated over the front axle, but otherwise it's a terrible choice. I owned a Leaf for 6 years, and I was always spinning those front tires when accelerating in slippery conditions, as the Leaf batteries were in the "skateboard" like a Tesla, so the weight was evenly distributed. A rear-wheel drive Model 3 would be just as good if not better in the snow.

There's also a (somewhat minor) safety issue. If you lose traction in a rear-wheel drive vehicle, your front tires still have "stiction" with the road surface and can effectively continue steering the vehicle. If you lose traction in a front-wheel drive vehicle, you've also lost steering control.

The single best thing you can do for "snow mode" is to buy good snow tires. Everything else is a minor change by comparison.

Related post:
Worried About Snow? Don't Dismiss Getting Rear Wheel Drive!


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## mswlogo (Oct 8, 2018)

Not asking for FWD. asking for AWD. Model 3 is mostly in RWD. It's Heavily discussed on other forums.

I'm not gonna repeat it all here. Here is one of several threads in the topic

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/disappointing-traction-control-is-it-me.176007

Night and day difference and one of the many reasons I switched from Model 3 to and X. Model 3 was the weakest AWD cars in snow I've ever owned, period. No more slip sliding away. I think my Volt FWD with snows would give Model 3 AWD with snows a run for its money.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

mswlogo said:


> Not asking for FWD. asking for AWD. Model 3 is mostly in RWD. It's Heavily discussed on other forums.
> 
> I'm not gonna repeat it all here. Here is one of several threads in the topic
> 
> ...


we don't get much snow here, but do get black ice, especially this time of year. and with the stock 19" all season tires, I have felt zero slip whatsoever this year or over last winter (which did include some driving thru snow). a day earlier this week it was under freezing with icy roads and a few people in my office who travel a similar route as me commented about how slick the roads were (apparently the city/state DOT hadn't put down de-icer the night prior) and while I was driving cautiously, I didn't feel anything different than on a typical day.


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## RonAz (Oct 16, 2018)

Garsh, when my nephew was about 3 years old in Alaska he came up with the word "gription". Made sense to me.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

RonAz said:


> Garsh, when my nephew was about 3 years old in Alaska he came up with the word "gription". Made sense to me.


That's a great word. 

Just to be clear, I can't take credit for making up "stiction".
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stiction

*Did You Know?*
Stiction has been a part of the English language since at least 1946, when it appeared in a journal of aeronautics. The word is a combination of the st- of static ("of or relating to bodies at rest") and the -iction of friction ("the force that resists relative motion between two bodies in contact"). So, basically, it means static friction (or to put it another way, as in our second example sentence, "stationary friction").


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