1/7/14 7:10 AM

"It's interesting that car companies keep adding more of this stuff, yet accident rates remain the same. "

That's incorrect. According to the National Census Bureau statistics, there's been a steady decline in automotive crashes since 1990 to 2009, from 11.5 million approx. per year, to 10.8. As well there's been a steady increase of auto's used by US citizens by approx. 3.7 million additional per year, so if anything, the accident rate per number of vehicles on the road has steadily declined. Which in turn is most likely a result of cars being built "smarter" as well as safer, as from most of our experiences, the driving skills have not gotten better.

Thus improvements in vehicle design, AWD, ABS, etc... have certainly helped make driving safer. Certainly the introduction and widespread use if airbags has reduced injuries.

1/7/14 7:18 AM

I used to have a Mitsubishi Montero. Nothing would stop that beast. With the ability to lock both the rear differential and the center differential, that baby could get going as long as one tire had grip.

Getting in and out of frozen parallel parking spaces in New York City streets is a real test. I've run into trouble with FWD and RWD, but never with 4WD or AWD.

1/7/14 3:10 PM

One thing I can say about New Yorkers is that I was often surprised by the willingness of strangers to jump to the task of giving a stuck 2wd vehicle a shove in order to get them going. I thus got by with reg'lar M+S type economy treads.

Being a truck, that Mitsubishi surely had all four wheels geared to deliver torque in 4WD mode, without any kind of "smart" center diff to get in the way.

1/7/14 4:38 PM

Agreed. 4wd is definitely needed for getting out of frozen parallel parking. What a PITA. I haven't tried it yet with my FWD, but slipping a Bumper Bully under the tires might come in handy with such task. Bumper Bully & BumpShox are required accessories for all-season city parallel parking.

1/7/14 5:31 PM

If it is icy enough you can just slide the front or back out of the space by hand. Unless the ruts are deep. ;)

I think I parallel park less than 10 times a year. So infrequently I usually mess it up 1/2 the time. Unless in the Del Sol, it fits about anywhere...

1/7/14 8:47 PM

Ruts are indeed deep because first comes the snow plow which creates a low wall adjacent to the car. Next come the melt of snow due to the steam heat immediately below the street. Then at night you get the freeze. The next day is a hard to crusty deep surface for full font wheel spin out fun.

1/8/14 6:19 AM

...just makes my love my garage that much more. ;-)