Subaru slide and glide face plant

I was driving to OSceola XC on one of the snow covered back roads this morning and managed to drive a little off the right edge of the road (at 40mph). When I pulled back on the road I suddenly veered to he left side of the road, then back to the right while almost swinging about face,then almost going the right way again, ending up in a ditch snowbank.

Aside from the shame of my incautious driving, I am wondering if I should have done something different, like maybe running with the right wheel (s?) off the road until I slowed down (it felt like I would end up in the snowbank while it was doing that!). I am sure all the fancy new Subaru (2014 Forester) things like stability control, abs, etc. did all they could.

The good part is despite it being a couple of feet of snow and a ditch a couple feet deep, with a fair bit of back and forth, the mighty Subaru backed me out, with no apparent damage.

greif wrote

 The good part is despite it being a couple of feet of snow and a ditch a couple feet deep, with a fair bit of back and forth, the mighty Subaru backed me out, with no apparent damage.

That's pretty good right there.

Was she wearing snow tires ?

Indeed she had her snows on- I do believe I would still be in the snow bank but for those!

Were you texting, young man?

greif wrote

Aside from the shame of my incautious driving, I am wondering if I should have done something different, like maybe running with the right wheel (s?) off the road until I slowed down (it felt like I would end up in the snowbank while it was doing that!). I am sure all the fancy new Subaru (2014 Forester) things like stability control, abs, etc. did all they could.

If the road surface is different in any respect, you have to be prepared for a change in response from the vehicle.  In these types of situations (whether you are beginning to fishtail, start drifting into the shoulder, etc) the correct response is to always take your foot off the gas and the brake, and gently turn the wheel in the direction you want to go, until you are back in control.  Only exception is if you need to avoid something you are about to hit and the risk of your tail going in the wrong direction is less than the consequences of a head-on crash.

Another thing I just reminded my (new driver) daughter is that the shuddering you feel when you hit the brakes in slippery conditions is the anti-lock brake system working.  Keep your foot pressed down on the brake, even though your instinct is to release foot pressure in response to the shuddering.

Petronio

Benny Profane wrote

Were you texting, young man?

Oh look, we do still have a Benny. Where you been dude ?

Getting older. But, I took off a few pounds.

Petronio wrote

greif wrote

Aside from the shame of my incautious driving, I am wondering if I should have done something different, like maybe running with the right wheel (s?) off the road until I slowed down (it felt like I would end up in the snowbank while it was doing that!). I am sure all the fancy new Subaru (2014 Forester) things like stability control, abs, etc. did all they could.

If the road surface is different in any respect, you have to be prepared for a change in response from the vehicle.  In these types of situations (whether you are beginning to fishtail, start drifting into the shoulder, etc) the correct response is to always take your foot off the gas and the brake, and gently turn the wheel in the direction you want to go, until you are back in control.  Only exception is if you need to avoid something you are about to hit and the risk of your tail going in the wrong direction is less than the consequences of a head-on crash.

Another thing I just reminded my (new driver) daughter is that the shuddering you feel when you hit the brakes in slippery conditions is the anti-lock brake system working.  Keep your foot pressed down on the brake, even though your instinct is to release foot pressure in response to the shuddering.

Petronio

Petronio I respectfully disagree with your advise.

 It's been my experience that in understeer and oversteer situations when driving an AWD/4X4 your best bet is to hit the gas. By no means do I mean floor it, but more so flutter it so-to speak. When applying more gas and letting the vehicles VDC's system go to work, one's chances are better to be pulled back in line with your intended direction.

I find slowing the f#!k down to be most effective.

Yeah and stop looking at your phone when driving.

If I did that right now, I wouldn't be able to tell you that you're WRONG!




















just kidding, obviously.

Maybe so, but that was still funny shit right there ^^^^