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Honda Odyssey Snow Traction & Handling

53 messages,  Last post on Oct 15, 2012 at 2:55 PM

You are in the Honda Odyssey Forum.

What is this discussion about? Honda Odyssey, Tires, Van

Messages Page 6 of 6

#50 of 53 Re: Odessey Snow Traction [fibber2] by fibber2

Feb 28, 2010 (9:14 am)

Replying to: fibber2 (Jan 29, 2010 6:33 pm)
Loving those new snow tires! A great investment given the nasty winter here in the NorthEast. Continental Extreme Winter on inexpensive house brand alloys from TireRack. And they look pretty nice too! Gotta get a picture uploaded to CarSpace for posting.

#51 of 53 Very poor snow handling by bob468

Jan 14, 2012 (6:48 am)

Sitting at my Honda dealer and had a curious conversation about the poor snow traction on my 2011 Odyssey. Told me they and Honda are aware the car has difficulty in snow. Suggested I buy snow tires. Curious because Honda appears to understand there is a performance issue but pushes the problem to its customer. The 2011 car gets stuck in my relatively flat driveway with only an inch or two of snow. Given Honda has knowledge of the issue regarding very poor snow handling, is their approach negligent (I.e. known defect of a potentially dangerous condition). Anyone know a good class action lawyer?

#52 of 53 Re: Very poor snow handling [bob468] by sreiss

Jan 15, 2012 (5:31 am)

Replying to: bob468 (Jan 14, 2012 6:48 am)
Everything isn't always someone else's fault. If handling in those conditions is a critical purchasing decision for you, you should buy a different vehicle, or get snow tires.
 
The reality is that Honda has made a set of tradeoffs regarding the design of their vehicle to appeal to their target market. That includes a set of tires that strike a balance between comfort and performance. They probably don't perform as well as some people would like in rain, or at high speeds, or at cornering, or at braking, or on very bumpy roads with 6 inch high boulders. Everyone needs to make a series of tradeoffs as to what is most important to them personally, for the price point, and determine if that is the correct decision for themselves. Failing to meet your criteria on a certain point does not translate to negligence on the part of the manufacturer.
 
This logic taken far enough results in companies pulling products from the market, because it's far too much bother for them to deal with it. It's also why they have to spend all their time protecting themselves from litigation. For instance, I recently had to sign a liability waiver at my local furniture store, because I had purchased a set of pillows from them. But because I was taking them home myself instead of having them delivered (of course-- they're pillows after all) I had to clear them of delivery liability. OK - that's just stupid, but clearly they feel the need to protect themselves from being sued. It reduces us all to infantilism.
 
If it's helpful to you, I can tell you that a set of snows is very effective on the Ody. I have had vehicles in my life that absolutely need snows, and others where I can get by without them. A lot of that has to do with the tires on the vehicle, and the engineering of the car itself. I use Blizzaks on my Ody and it performs quite well, and I have mentioned the same to friends and neighbors, who all experience the same result as I do.

#53 of 53 Re: Very poor snow handling [sreiss] by hfarstad

Oct 15, 2012 (2:55 pm)

Replying to: sreiss (Jan 15, 2012 5:31 am)
Thank you for your common sense. It is a rare commodity these days.

Messages Page 6 of 6

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