Hyundai working on tires with integrated snow chain

Snow chains

Putting on traditional snow chains is often a difficult and time-consuming job. Couldn’t that be easier, they must have thought in Korea. New technology from Hyundai allows the snow chains to come out automatically at the push of a button.

How it works.

The Koreans’ snow chain tire uses shape memory components located inside the wheel. Once activated, these components protrude and act as a snow chain. The new snow chain tire consists of a wheel with radial grooves at fixed distances in the tire, as if they were pizza points, with shape memory components in these grooves.

This technology applies shape memory alloy to allow the tire to return to its original shape. In normal driving conditions, the shape memory alloy ensures that the shape memory components do not make contact with the road surface. When the driver activates the feature, the components are pushed out of the tire to make contact with the surface. This improves grip, stability and safety on snowy roads. You can see exactly how it works in the video at the bottom of this article.

Just a little more patience

At Hyundai, they also know we won’t all be driving on these tires next winter, but the brand expects this technology to one day become a reality on consumer cars. “This innovation reflects our commitment to turn advanced technologies into practical solutions. We will continue unabated to develop technologies that improve the safety and convenience of our vehicles and provide value to our customers,” said Joon Mo Park, head of the Advanced Chassis Development Team.