Clearing the air on winter warm-ups

Lorraine Sommerfeld

If the boys are getting a lift to school, they know the drill.

First one outside digs out the van. There is usually much foot-dragging by the door on snowy days, as one tries to out-wait the other. Christopher, 17, has the height advantage; Ari, 14, the heart. If I want the whole thing done properly, they both have to be armed with brushes and threats.

On these icy, icy mornings, the good news is that I no longer wake up to the shrill wailing of my bedside alarm. No, no need for that when an idiot in my neighbourhood can be counted on – diligently – to start his car and warm it up for 30 minutes every morning.

Which instantly tells me two things, of course. He knows nothing about cars, and knows less about the environment. While the rest of us scrape and sweep, he brushes the sweat from his windshield and races out.

Your car doesn't need to "warm up." If you're using the right oil for our climate, 30 seconds will get it circulating. If you have trouble starting your car, you may need a block heater or a new battery – not a 30-minute pollution-fest in your driveway each morning. As for warming up the passenger compartment? Try coats and coffee.

From Canada's environment ministry: An idling engine spews out twice the exhaust of a moving one. Ten seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting – think of the toxins in the Kiss & Gasp areas at schools and transit stations. It recommends driving gently for the first five minutes – revving is out – and all components will be warmed up.

Idling 10 minutes a day wastes an average of 100 litres of gas a year. If every Canadian reduced idling five minutes a day, it would prevent 1.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted.

When I was a tot, we used to actually keep the car in the garage. How quaint. Now there is so much crap in there, we'd need a shoehorn and a can of grease to get anything else in, much less a car. My sons stare enviously at cars that have obviously been tucked in for the night.

You've probably noticed people sticking their wiper blades up in bad weather. Like a preschooler that really, really has to go to the bathroom, the car keeps its hands up, apparently avoiding the blades sticking to an icy windshield.

I haven't been able to test this due to the design of my blade assembly, which tucks itself out of sight beneath the hood edge. I do know that chipping away thick ice around the blades can wreck them, and the clumps of ice that adhere to the blades make a mess of the windshield.

I've dumped wiper fluid on stuck blades – don't use warm water, you might crack the windshield. Do loosen your blades before you turn on the wiper motor. Credit cards make lousy scrapers – especially when you try to use them later and realize you've damaged the magnetic strip.

If you're driving, you're already warmer/drier/moving faster than anyone walking. It's selfish to think you get to circumvent the very Canadianness of winter by moving from a centrally heated home to a warm cocoon of a car.

If your steering wheel is cold, wear gloves and get a steering wheel cover. Check weather reports, and remove snow from the driveway the night before if possible. Snow shouldn't be a surprise between October and April.

I mean, not if you call yourself a proud Canadian.

Lorraine Sommerfeld appears Saturdays in Wheels and Mondays in Living. www.lorraineonline.ca

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