Winter Car Emergency Kit Essentials: The Gear You Should Always Have

This is a plea from your writer, whose 19-year-and-counting career of testing vehicles in the frozen north has put him in no shortage of tricky and dangerous wintertime situations, some of which were serious emergencies.

Read on for a list of pre-winter survival items (and tips) you’ll want to keep in mind and at hand as the cold weather sets in. I’ll be setting up the wintertime emergency kit for my 2025 Subaru WRX (manual of course) in the next month or so, and I’d encourage you to do the same. Or, ignore the following expert advice at your own risk.

Below, based on hundreds of thousands of miles of winter testing over two decades, I’m sharing my best advice for a topic you probably don’t care much about at all: wintertime emergency survival kits. This isn’t a glamorous subject. Emergency kits aren’t interesting. Few people carry one, and fewer give them much thought. I could literally write a more interesting feature on valve stems.

Subaru

Thing is, this very boring subject could save your life, or the life of any driver who uses your vehicle, in the event of a winter driving mishap. Whether you’re a seasoned winter motorist, a novice driver about to hit slippery roads for the first time, or the parent of a teen driver that’s still learning the ropes, it’s easy to understand the importance of being safe, not sorry.

Cyntur

There’s no need to explain the benefits of keeping extra power on board your vehicle in case of an emergency, but a few considerations are worth bearing in mind:. First, a battery bank might recharge your cell phone or flashlight, but it won’t restart your engine if your car’s battery dies. Having a dedicated booster pack on board is a better option. Not only can a compact unit recharge a phone or flashlight multiple times over, but many can also restart an engine with a dead battery more than once, no donor vehicle required.

When it comes to long-term battery health in these applications, it’s better to minimize exposure to extreme cold where possible. Batteries hate being cold, so you’ll want to store and charge any and all portable power provisions you need indoors, where it’s warm, for as much of their lives as possible.

Spare Wipers

It’s late at night, you’re driving the highway home from work in some light snow and rain, and it happens: your driver’s side windshield wiper flings itself free of its wiper arm, and directly into the path of an oncoming car, which runs it over. Now, you’re blind at the wheel. Once safely pulled over, you wonder, “Was it the automated car wash? Did I whack the wiper too hard de-icing it? Did I hit it with my scraper?”

Chrysler

In any case, it’s RIP for your wiper blade, and a dead stop to your trip until the rain clears and the roads dry, which could be some time.Know what’s easier? Keeping some spare wipers in your trunk, just in case. The second time I lost a wiper blade, I happily shouted an expletive because I knew I had a spare on hand. I was pulled over for less than three minutes.

We Need To Have A Chat About Your Spare Tire

Porsche

Changing a flat or damaged tire on a roadside is extremely dangerous, even more so in winter when conditions are challenging and visibility is reduced and everyone’s eyes are tired. For these reasons, we need to have a serious chat about your spare tire. This doesn’t go in your actual emergency kit, but it is a vital emergency provision that can spell the difference between carrying on with your travels, or your trip stopping dead in its tracks.

Mazda

This is a great time of year to remind drivers to check the condition of their spare tire, as well as its air pressure, adjusting as necessary. Reusing a spare tire is a very bad idea, ditto keeping one that’s past its expiry date. Using a healthy and properly inflated spare tire can get you to the nearest tire shop for a repair if needed. Using a used, worn, expired, or underinflated spare tire is an accident waiting to happen.

Subaru

Your car might have an air compressor and sealant combo instead of a spare tire. Like spare tires, these should be tested and inspected regularly, and replaced if expired. That tire sealant won’t help you quickly patch up a flat on a January roadside if it’s been congealed into a solidified blob since 2017. Ask me how I know.

If in doubt, contact your local dealership or your favorite mechanic for help.If you drive a truck or off-road vehicle with great big tires, consider carrying an auxiliary air compressor, as built-in compact compressors can take ages to inflate the largest tires to their proper pressures.

Blankets and Towels and Blankets and Towels

Pexels / Engina Kyurt

Blankets and towels can be extremely useful to have on board in the wintertime; the more the merrier. Aside from the obvious benefits of providing life-sustaining warmth if you’re stranded, blankets and towels can also be placed beneath tires for traction, used for first aid, and even be used as a barrier to protect occupants and pets from broken glass shards in the event of a shattered windscreen, perhaps resulting from an ice-strike from a passing transport truck.

If this happens at highway speeds, a damaged or shattered windscreen or sunroof can cause sharp glass shards to blow throughout the cabin because of the air rushing through. If you’ve got some blankets and towels handy, you can lay them over the seats to help prevent being stabbed and scratched.

A Shovel Can Be Your Very Best Friend

Ford

Of all the cheap and effective tools to pop into your vehicle for emergency use in the winter, a shovel is one of the most affordable and potentially life-saving. If you’re stranded in deep snow and running your engine for heat, you can use the shovel to clear out the snow from around your car’s tailpipe(s) to help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.If your vehicle is high-centered, a shovel gives you a chance to clear snow away easily from beneath. You can also use it in conjunction with our next item, which is a much cheaper alternative to a tow-truck call.

A Bag Of Gravel And Grit Is Cheaper Than A Tow Truck Call

Justin Pritchard / Valnet

Sometimes, even though you’re just a little bit stuck, your car or truck won’t go anywhere. One easy last resort before calling a tow truck involves using the shovel from earlier to clear the snow away from your drive wheels, and then using it to scatter gravel, sand, kitty-litter or something otherwise abrasive and gritty that’ll help your tires grab. My personal favorite is a mix of gravel, sand, and salt, double-bagged in contractor-grade garbage bin liners and tossed into my trunk (or back seat floor.) Your modern car is equipped with a variety of systems that are expert at extracting traction from slippery surfaces. Sometimes, a few handfuls of gravel can make all the difference.

Visibility Is The Ultimate Wintertime Lifesaver

smart

Winter is a lousy time of year for our eyes. The sun is bright, ice and snow amplify the effect, visibility can be terrible, and nighttime driving hours are long. As you look out over the roadways in winter, it’s a fair assumption that many drivers are suffering from eye fatigue. That’s dangerous news for you, if you’ve got to pull over onto a roadside to deal with an emergency.

If you’re driving at nighttime or in the winter, you need equipment that makes it easy for you to be seen. Several reflective safety vests and at least one very powerful flashlight are a bare minimum. I say very powerful because you’ll want something with light output that stands out against the sea of headlights and reflections common during nighttime highway motoring. Reflective triangles and flares are a great idea, too. The more lighting, the better.

Flash your lights and honk your horn to get attention your way if there’s a hazard in the roadway you’ve had to stop for, and don’t underestimate how little attention the average driver is paying to what’s going on more than a few car-lengths ahead of them. Making a scene and staying highly visible can save your life in situations like these.