Car emergency kits aren’t exactly a new thing.  In fact, more people really ought to have these, especially if they’re going to be doing a whole lot of driving in snowy climates.  And with winter coming on, I figured what better time to take another look at the humble winter emergency car kit?

Some are big, some are small, some have every tool you can imagine and even a few you can’t.   For instance, I found a kit on Amazon for right around thirty two bucks.  It’s a AAA sixty three piece weather emergency kit, and comes with stuff like this:

1 AAA double-sided carrying bag, 1 AAA emergency care guide, 1 AAA membership brochure, 1 hand-charged dual LED flashlight, 1 three-piece fleece set (cap, gloves, and scarf), 1 folding shovel with sheath, 1 ice scraper, 1 LED safety strobe light, 1 emergency survival blanket, 3 emergency candles, 1 box of waterproof matches, 2 hand warmer packets, 1 emergency whistle, and a 45 piece first-aid kit.

That’s no small amount of choice hardware, especially for the price.  If you live in the cold climates like I do, folks, you may want to pick one of these up.

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You might well think that totally winterizing your vehicle is basically limited to keeping the antifreeze topped off and keeping the battery charged.

If AAA is to believed, and let’s face it, we’re talking about Triple A here so they probably ARE, then there’s a whole lot more that we’re all overlooking.

Here’s a partial list of things you should be doing to winterize your vehicles.

Check your tire pressure. Cold weather months can do strange things to tire pressure, so if you’re not already giving your tires a once-over, now would be a good time to start.

Check your windshield washer fluid levels. Failing to do this will either risk getting your windshield splattered with unremovable mud, salt and other winter effluvia or, worse, giving water a place to condense, freezing up the reservoir and leaving it unusable until it melts.

Install winter wiper blades. If you don’t already have a good pair of all-season blades, consider getting a set for winter driving.  You’ll be driving into a lot more stuff on your windshield, and not just snow, either–there’ll be ice, frost, and frozen road dirt kicked up by passing semis.

These are just three steps you can take to help ensure your car will get through cold winter driving and get you where you need to be.

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Chrysler has announced it will extend its already-extended winter shut-down for an additional week at five of its North American factories. Assembly plants in Belvidere, Ill.; Sterling Heights, Mich.; Trenton, Mich.; and Toluca, Mexico, will reopen Jan. 26 instead of January 19th as initially planned. “The ongoing worldwide financial crisis continues to stifle the availability of consumer credit for American car buyers, prolonging the automotive industry downturn. As a result of these external issues, Chrysler LLC will make additional adjustments to production schedules at its North American manufacturing operations,” the company said in a statement. 

Sales of Chrysler vehicles fell 30% in December and 53% in January, making Chrysler’s sales figures the worst of any major automobile manufacturer so far. For several months now the troubled company has been the focus of industry-wide speculation, with many automotive analysts predicting that, even with federal help, Chrysler will not last through 2009 as a viable corporation.

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Chrysler has announced it will extend its already-extended winter shut-down for an additional week at five of its North American factories. Assembly plants in Belvidere, Ill.; Sterling Heights, Mich.; Trenton, Mich.; and Toluca, Mexico, will reopen Jan. 26 instead of January 19th as initially planned. “The ongoing worldwide financial crisis continues to stifle the availability of consumer credit for American car buyers, prolonging the automotive industry downturn. As a result of these external issues, Chrysler LLC will make additional adjustments to production schedules at its North American manufacturing operations,” the company said in a statement. 

Sales of Chrysler vehicles fell 30% in December and 53% in January, making Chrysler’s sales figures the worst of any major automobile manufacturer so far. For several months now the troubled company has been the focus of industry-wide speculation, with many automotive analysts predicting that, even with federal help, Chrysler will not last through 2009 as a viable corporation.

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