Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
If you are like most preppers, then every year you spend time preparing your home for winter. You check windows and doors for leaks, insulating wherever possible. You preserve your summer and fall harvest for your pantry. You stock up on essential supplies to keep your family and animals fed and your home running smoothly in the event of an emergency.
But do you take the same care to protect yourself when heading out in your car? Winter can be treacherous, and every year we read horror stories of people trapped in their vehicles due to extreme weather. What would you do if you were trapped in your car during a winter storm? Would you be safe until you were able to get help?
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First, let’s look at some basic preparation tips for winter driving.
- Check road conditions and traffic reports before you head out.
- Monitor your tire pressure during cold weather. Make sure chains fit.
- Be sure your car’s battery, radiator, lights, belts, hoses, brakes, defroster, heater, wipers and wiper blades are all in good working order.
- Check all fluid levels.
- Start your trip with a full tank of gas and aim to keep your fuel tank at least half full during the winter months.
Now, here is our list of winter survival items to carry in your car.
1. Emergency Road Flares
One of the biggest concerns, when your car breaks down, is being visible to other cars passing on the road. Winter storms can greatly reduce other drivers’ ability to see you. If your vehicle is in a dangerous location out of sight, you will want rescuers to see you. Keeping flares and reflectors in your trunk will help in both scenarios.
2. Gloves and Hand Warmers
It is difficult – if not dangerous – to use the first two items without warm winter gloves on your hands. Hand warmers are also a good idea to help prevent frostbite.
3. Ice Scraper and Brush
Snow and ice can build up quickly on your vehicle, dangerously affecting your visibility. In addition, snow and ice can fly off your roof or hood and hit another vehicle. Before you set out on a trip, clear your entire car of ice and snow.
4. Sand, Rock Salt, or Kitty Litter
Keeping a bag of one of these coarse materials can come in handy when your tires are stuck in ice or snow. You can spread the material near your tires to gain traction.
5. Traction Mat
Another option for gaining traction in slippery road conditions is a traction mat. Place the mat under or near your tires to prevent spinning.
6. Shovel
A small or collapsible shovel is a useful item to have in your car at any time of year, but it can be indispensable in the winter. Use it to help you get out of a snowdrift or to clear a path in the snow. Be sure to clear snow from your tire wells also.
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7. Blankets
Temperatures inside your car can drop quickly if you cannot run your heater. Place several warm blankets in your car. If you are short on room, pack low-weight, low-bulk space blankets.
8. First Aid Kit
It’s a good idea to keep a fully-stocked first aid kit in your car at all times. However, it can be critically important to have these items in the winter. Response times from emergency vehicles can be slow in hazardous weather, and you may need to administer first aid until help arrives.
9. Hygiene Items
It’s easy to take for granted the basic necessities of life until we are in an emergency. If you are heading out for winter travel, pack toilet paper, diapers, wet wipes, feminine supplies, hand sanitizer, mouthwash, tissue packs, and other personal hygiene items.
10. Emergency Tire Sealant
Changing a flat tire during sub-zero temperatures or in heavy snowfall can be a dangerous if not impossible situation. Using tire sealant may allow you to get your vehicle to the next town or to a safer place to change your tire. Keep some in your trunk. Also, be sure you have a spare tire in your trunk and that it is in good condition.
11. Windshield Washer Fluid
It’s amazing how much snow and ice other vehicles can toss your way when you are driving in the winter. You can clear it away frequently as well as de-ice your windshield while you are driving when you have plenty of anti-freeze windshield washer fluid. Keep an extra bottle in your trunk during wintery weather.
12. Flashlight
Cell phone flashlights come in handy, but you’ll want to conserve your phone charge as much as possible. Keep a sturdy, high-beam flashlight in your car to help you see in the dark and to signal for help.
13. Extra batteries
Keep extra batteries on hand for your flashlight and for any other devices (such as a battery-powered radio).
14. Hand Crank Radio
If you are stuck in your car, you need to ration the use of your car’s battery. A hand-crank or wind-up radio will allow you to monitor weather and road conditions and listen to news and music without using your car’s power.
15. Rope or Chain
You can use a tow chain to help get your vehicle – or someone else’s – out of a snow drift. A long and sturdy rope (or paracord) can be an essential item in any winter emergency.
16. Power Bank Jump Starter
In severe temperatures, car batteries can need a jump to get started. You can get help quicker if your car won’t start, and you can help others if you carry your own set of jumper cables. Or better yet, get a pocket jumper. With this, you won’t need another vehicle to jump start your car.
17. Tool Kit
You can perform simple car maintenance yourself if you keep a small tool kit in your trunk. Be sure to have the tools you need to loosen or tighten bolts, for example. A roll of duct tape can come in handy as well.
18. Winter Clothes
All too often, we set out on a winter drive trip without proper outerwear because we are relying on our car’s heater. Extra winter gear such as coats, snow pants, gloves, boots, hats, and scarves come in handy during a winter car emergency.
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19. Sunglasses
We often think of sunglasses as a summer necessity, but the glare from the sun on snow can be blinding. Have some sunglasses in your car to reduce eye strain when driving for long periods in the winter.
20. Water and Non-Perishable Snacks
Pack high-protein dried fruit and nuts in your car for a winter trip. Granola bars and trail mix are good options. Also, pack plenty of fresh water in reusable plastic bottles.
21. Matches
You may need to start a fire to keep warm if you are stranded for a long time. Matches will come in handy in wet winter conditions. You also can melt snow for water if you run out of the water you have packed.
22. Emergency Multitool
You never know what can happen when a car spins out of control on a patch of ice. You’ll be ready to handle many emergencies – such as breaking a car window or cutting a seatbelt – with a sturdy multi-tool in your pocket or glove compartment.
23. Cell Phone Charger
Start out your trip with a fully-charged phone and keep a charger in your car at all times. In the event of a long-term emergency, you’ll want a portable battery-operated phone charger in your car as well.
24. Writing/Drawing Supplies and Games
Passing the time until the weather breaks or help arrives can be tedious and stressful for everyone. Pack a bag of entertainment supplies including pens, crayons, and paper. Also, include playing cards and perhaps a game of magnetic checkers or chess.
25. Books
We often rely on electronics to keep us busy, but packing a few novels or children’s books can help pass the time in a stressful situation as you are waiting to get back on your way.
26. Paper Maps
GPS and Google maps are great when you have access to Wi-Fi and data, but print maps are what you need when you are offline or off road due to a winter emergency. Print out your itinerary before you depart and keep a folding map of the entire area where you are traveling in your vehicle.
27. Cash, Credit Cards, and Insurance Information
Winter travel emergencies can mean unexpected expenses. Don’t get caught short-handed when it comes to paying for them.
Bonus: Common Sense
Probably the most important thing you can do is use your common sense when driving in winter weather. Pay close attention to changing weather conditions and freezing temperatures. Don’t risk a trip when a serious storm is heading your way. It may be best to postpone your trip until the driving conditions are safer.
Storing water in your vehicle during the winter is problematic for obvious reasons. Not everyone has a garage to keep their vehicle in. Rather than seeing your gallon jugs burst as water expands when it freezes, a container or pan would be a smart addition to your vehicle supply stash. You’ll have the option to melt ice or snow for water (including the ice in your frozen gallon jugs). A small backpacking pot would fill the role without taking up a lot of room, as you can store other items within it. Look for a 12 volt Coffee Pot, as it can be used to melt snow or ice using your vehicles power system (only operate it when the engine is running otherwise you may deplete yout battery). The advantage with such is it also offers a heat source without a fire in your vehicle as well as warming water to drink.
Have kids? Add some drink mixes to your supplies. Coffee, Tea, Apple Cider and Hot Chocolate are all available in single serving packet form. Having such is not only comforting, but in the case of Apple Cider and Hot Chocolate there’s sugar for helping maintain your physal abilities. Coffee and Tea are stimulants as well (both can be packeted with sugar and/or creamer as well.
Keep a couple of MRE’s for each occupant in your vehicle. Get the type that includes the individual heaters (only use in your vehicle if you can vent it. The heaters release a gas that is explosive in the presence of fire). There are plenty of other edibles in each kit that require no heating to consume.
Ok, tire chains WERE mentioned!!!
Great post. This was the first time I’ve seen traction mats. I use to use floor mats. I’d imagine traction mats would work much better.
A small travel sized fire extinguisher might be a good item to keep in the car as well. A small engine gas leak without an extinguisher cause a fire and total a vehicle.
Also a few of those emergency blankets and gorilla tape. You can cover your windows/windshield with them to reflect your body heat back toward you.
This is such an important, timely article, with a very good list of essential vehicle items for most everyone living in winter-weather-prone areas.
Please consider making it “31 Winter Survival Items…” by adding the following:
-“Item 28”: tire-mounted traction devices (a.k.a. “snow chains” or “tire chains”);
-“Item 29”: an appropriate container for fuel (that you carry empty until needed);
-“Item 30”: a fuel-siphon device; and
-“Item 31”: a fueling funnel with a spout long enough to penetrate sufficiently deep into the fuel filler neck of your vehicle’s fuel tank.
Recommendations:
-Tire chains (“snow chains”) needn’t be the heavy kind — some tire-mounted traction devices are relatively lightweight. That said, true tire-chains (the heavy kind) are rugged and long-lasting, and they do perform very well when properly installed.
-Choose a 2-gallon fuel container rather than a 1-gallon container because physically it isn’t much bigger, yet it holds twice as much. (OK, call me “Captain Obvious”.)
-An appropriate fuel-siphoning device will enable you to transfer fuel from another vehicle’s tank into your gas can with relative ease.
-A long-spout fueling funnel should fit sufficiently deep enough into most modern vehicles’ fuel tank filler necks. Also, your properly inserted long-spout funnel can pretty much hold itself in place while you refuel your vehicle from your gas can.
-As with most everything, “Knowledge is Power”. And as with all survival equipment, knowledge and experience with it is invaluable. Practice and understand these operations BEFORE the SHTF:
-If you’ve never installed tire-chains before, practice doing it from start to finish in fair-weather conditions so you’ll at least have an idea of the procedure when it becomes necessary (you may have to do it on a dark night in a sloppy snowstorm).
-If you’ve never siphoned fuel from a vehicle’s fuel tank into a gas can before, practice doing it from start to finish in benign conditions so you’ll have an idea of what goes where and why, and what to do to effect the desired fuel transfer. Don’t be discouraged if at first you have difficulty…you’ll get it.
-If you’ve never fueled your vehicle using a gas can, practice doing it from start to finish in benign conditions so when you must do it for real, you’ll already know and understand how to keep the precious fuel from spilling out onto the ground (or yourself) and how to position the fuel filler spout in your fuel tank filler neck for best results.
Remember this: just having all the wonderful emergency equipment on the list is a huge step towards preparedness for winter driving; but without the knowledge how to properly employ it all, you may have a false sense of security that could add to your peril. With sufficient understanding and practice under your belt, should the SHTF on some dark and snowy night requiring you to fuel up or chain up for real, you’ll be way ahead.
“Knowledge is Power”.
Really good advice, thanks for sharing!
I don’t know when they started, but in more recent years auto manufacturers have started putting anti-theft devices in the fueling neck to thwart gas thieves. It is very difficult, if not impossible to syphon gas from newer cars. It doesn’t hurt to have syphoning tubes, but don’t rely on it. Carry extra gas in your trunk if you are going on a trip to remote area or if your route will take you through areas where it is a long distance to gas stations. They are called service stations but the service is long gone. I am old enough to remember when the service station attendant washed your windshield, checked your tire pressure, checked your oil level and battery level, filled your battery level if it was low and when windshield washers became standard equipment checked it along with the level of coolant in your radiator. That was a true service station. Having an attendant inside taking payment is only a convenience store.
Like the coffee maker operated through the convenience plugs in your car, you can buy a simple coil for heating any kind of fluids. It probably is a little easier to store than a coffee maker, but not if you are also taking a pot along. I use metal water bottles with a neoprene insulating sleeve. That way I can heat soup or plain water in the metal water bottle and slip the sleeve on to hold it. I also always have a pair of leather gloves in the car, year round. They can be helpful in handling hot or even really cold items.
Most modern cars have anti-siphon devices placed in the filler tube. It is very difficult if not impossible to siphon gas these days unless it is an older vehicle. I don’t know when that started, probably about the time they started leaving locks off the gas compartment. Those flimsy locks weren’t much help against gas thieves anyway.
While it doesn’t hurt to carry a siphon, it is best not to plan on using it. On the other hand, if the disaster is an EOTW event, then punching the gas tank or disconnecting a fitting by the gas tank if certainly within the realm of possibility. I would use a study, sharp non-steel or iron instrument to punch the tank. Why non-steel? You want a non-sparking instrument for punching. A brass punch with a sharp point would work quite well. Even a wooden dowel sharpened to a sturdy point would work. Modern plastic gas tanks are quite durable, so the punch would have to be stout enough to punch though the tough plastic of the gas tanks.
You must make sure that the car appears to be abandoned. If it looks at al as if someone will be coming back for it, move on to a vehicle that looks abandoned. If there are four dead bodies in the vehicle, it is a safe bet it is abandoned and the owners would be happy for you to use their gas.
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