Hyundai and Kia have revolutionised the snow chain

Okay we get that reading about snow chains during December in Australia is about as useful as a fly screen on a submarine — unless you live in Melbourne, of course, where it’s always cold — but this new tyre tech is seriously cool.

Developed by people with large foreheads at Kia and Hyundai, this special wheel and tyre combo comes with built-in snow chains.

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That’s right, folks. No more pulling over in a sleety, freezing carpark where you’ll need to lie on the slushy ground and skin your swollen knuckles. With these tyres, you just press a button and ‘hey presto’ the chains appear.

They’re not chains in the conventional sense but are rather ‘alloy modules’ that protrude from grooves placed around the tyres. In normal conditions these grooves, which Hyundai/Kia say are placed “at regular intervals, like a pizza”, house the modules beneath the rubber surface so the tyre acts like a regular, er, tyre.

But when things get frosty, a press of a button sends an electrical current through the alloy which then activates the modules to protrude out beyond the tyre to provide greater traction. The design, which is still patent pending in South Korea and America, is said to provide more grip than a traditional snow chain.

“This innovation, which will hopefully be introduced on Hyundai and Kia vehicles someday, reflects our commitment to turning advanced technologies into real-world solutions that benefit customers,” said Hyundai’s head of advanced chassis development, Joon Mo Park. “We will continue to develop technologies that enhance safety and convenience of our vehicles and bring value to our customers.

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