Stuck in Snow and Wheels Won't Spin!

[beerthirty]

I took a camping/hunting trip mid-May last year in Oregon with my Outback 2.5i Premium 2011 (CVT) and ran into some troubles with trying to cross a snow berm about 70ft in length that was on a paved, flat inclined back road. This was the only snow I encountered on the trip. The snow was not ideal since parts of it were a little slushy and melting and the car was fairly heavy with all my camping/hunting equipment, but I decided to cross anyway. Here are some details:
- Before crossing, I backed up as far as I could and gunned it to gain some speed.
- When attempting to cross, I had the car in "D".
- I did not bring snow tires as I wasn't expecting any snow issues (whoops!). I had the standard all-weather tires that were issued with my Outback.
- The Vehicle Dynamics Control system was on.

While crossing, I felt the traction control kick in and begin adjusting the vehicle. However, as I moved forward the snow got deeper and the car began to slow. I managed to get about 3/4 the way through the berm before I came to a stop in the deepest part of the snow. I was able to open my door and get out, but there really was no clearance between the bottom of the car and the snow.

At this point, I switched to "R" and tried to go back and make another run. Unfortunately, the wheels would not spin at all. In fact, nothing I tried seemed to work - the car was stuck. I tried switching to manual and alternate between "R" and "1", and I also tried turning off the VDC. Nothing would make the wheels spin - it seems like it was completely shut down. In a manual transmission car I think I probably would have been able to get out of this situation...

We had to shovel our way out and it wasn't until we cleared a significant amount of snow from underneath the whole car that "R" actually began to *barely* work. After more snow shoveling, I finally was able to back the car out. Of course, at that point, I made another try and was able to clear the snow berm and get to the camp site.

Has anyone else encountered this kind of problem? I read the "Outback + Factory tires= Stuck in snow (video)" thread, which was fairly informative, but I still have questions:

(1) What exactly happened here? I'm sure the VDC system slowed the car down to the stop, which is OK, but what concerns me more is why I couldn't get out. Why would the wheels not spin? Is there something I did not do correctly?

(2) Is there anything else I should've tried or things that would have made it easier? For example, should I have cleared the snow around the wheels first? I know I should avoid this scenario and bring proper tires, but it would be nice info to know in case I get stuck again in an unfortunate scenario (i.e. there's noone to pull me out or zombies are chasing me)...

Thanks for any & all help!

[Novablue]

For me I always do the following:

1) If there is any chance of snow, make sure you don't have the "Conticrappers" imo they are unsafe in snow. They can get you by but they just don't grip the snow at all.

2) Turn off the Traction Control. It will not disable the Stability Control but if you get in a situation where you need the wheel to spin to "punch through" the traction control off helps a ton.

I find in really slick snow (wet slush in May would count) the Traction control kicks in and tries to find traction. If the car can not find traction it cuts the engine and applies the brakes. It sounds to me like you got high centered when the TC shut everything down. At that point the only way you can get out is to dig yourself out. I went out with a friend to specifically test what happens to learn how to drive this car in the snow. This car reacts much different than a typical 4x4.

[subiesailor]

Any difficult technical challenge regarding snow, mud, sand, rock etc. Always! turn off traction control! Always select 1st manual mode! I've done this every time before crossing some bad snow, mud etc and the car has done just fine. Not doing that is basically user error. The goal is to do this before getting the car stuck not after you get stuck

[subiesailor]

By the way old snow is about the worst thing to cross. A small patch can stop a super hard core off road rig in its tracks.

[beerthirty]

Originally Posted by subiesailor

Any difficult technical challenge regarding snow, mud, sand, rock etc. Always! turn off traction control! Always select 1st manual mode! I've done this every time before crossing some bad snow, mud etc and the car has done just fine. Not doing that is basically user error. The goal is to do this before getting the car stuck not after you get stuck

Thanks for the advice - I'll be doing that from here on out to avoid getting stuck. Do you have any further ideas on how to best deal with getting "unstuck" in case it does happen? I've had success "rocking" in the past with a manual transmission, but like I mentioned here, I couldn't even get any movement from the wheels!

[beerthirty]

Originally Posted by Novablue

For me I always do the following:

1) If there is any chance of snow, make sure you don't have the "Conticrappers" imo they are unsafe in snow. They can get you by but they just don't grip the snow at all.

2) Turn off the Traction Control. It will not disable the Stability Control but if you get in a situation where you need the wheel to spin to "punch through" the traction control off helps a ton.

I find in really slick snow (wet slush in May would count) the Traction control kicks in and tries to find traction. If the car can not find traction it cuts the engine and applies the brakes. It sounds to me like you got high centered when the TC shut everything down. At that point the only way you can get out is to dig yourself out. I went out with a friend to specifically test what happens to learn how to drive this car in the snow. This car reacts much different than a typical 4x4.

Thanks for the tip! I see where you were going with the high-centered idea... What was strange about it was while digging the car out, I would try periodically to see if I could get any movement backwards (or forwards!) and was not successful in getting any movement until clearing out the entire underside of the vehicle. In a manual transmission car, I would have been able to get a little movement backward without needing to shovel so much. Is there a sensor or certain area that helps the TC system determine if the car is high centered? I was pretty blown away at the time when I saw the wheels wouldn't budge one bit!

[1 Lucky Texan]

how does the car 'know' you've finished shoveling?

[Euchre]

You embedded the car in slushy, packed snow, solid up to its belly. I'm no really surprised the tires couldn't really spin - they were about glued in place. Was there snow packed up into the wheel wells too?

More useful in powder, but you should always consider airing down before trying to get through difficult terrain. This gives you more traction surface area, with less pounds per square inch of pressure to help dig you in. If you had done that, and locked the transmission into '1st', you probably wouldn't have had to try to make a flying run, if you could manage to walk the car up onto the snow a bit. Shovel first to make a ramp if there is none - much easier than shoveling your way around a dug in vehicle.

[Novablue]

The fact the wheels did not move or spin sounds weird. Did you shut the car off between digging? Was there snow in the spokes of the wheels? There are any number of reasons what you described would happen to any car in that situation. I suppose the AWD or the TC was not functioning properly, there have been some situations of that noted here.

There is even a Diagnostic mode that disengages the rear wheel and turns the subie into FWD, so there are some possibilities.

In Zero friction conditions and the TC off I can get all 4 wheels to spin freely on my OB.

[subiesailor]

Originally Posted by beerthirty

Thanks for the advice - I'll be doing that from here on out to avoid getting stuck. Do you have any further ideas on how to best deal with getting "unstuck" in case it does happen? I've had success "rocking" in the past with a manual transmission, but like I mentioned here, I couldn't even get any movement from the wheels!

I've never gotten the subarus stuck we have had a couple. I have managed to get my land cruiser with full locking center diff and front diff - and 34 inch tires totally stuck in what sounds to be similar old snow. Shovel works great but avoiding getting stuck to start with is better.

#1 Always turn off the traction control and lock the car in manual 1st for that sort of stuff this will keep he wheels spinning till your either through or so stuck that the shovel is the only option. The Big downer to capable AWD vehicles is that they get farther in before they get stuck and when they do get stuck its WAY more work. LOL