Your car can face many challenges to its performance, due to bad weather conditions. Extreme temperature rises and falls are a common culprit. It’s probably the severe winter weather that causes the most problems for vehicles. Outside of routine maintenance and tune-ups, drivers should always be sure to keep safety items in the car, just in case of emergency.

Winter weather can be the cause of many life-threatening car crashes. In the event of the worst happening, all vehicles should be equipped with a first aid kit. These kits can be extremely valuable, especially during the time it takes for professional medical technicians to arrive. It’s not just during the winter that the kit could be necessary. The probability of these types of accidents happening in the winter, just makes it even more of a necessity.

For people who travel a lot during the night hours, they should always carry a flashlight in their vehicle. Cold winter nights can be made a little easier to deal with if you’re not stuck in the dark. Imagine your car breaking down in the dead of winter, and you’re forced to inspect the car on the side of the road. The cold is bad enough. How are you going to deal with the dark? And better yet, how are people going to be able to see you?

When we get up in the morning, we usually don’t know how affected our cars were overnight, by the snow and ice. You won’t be going anywhere, anytime soon, unless you’ve learned how to drive blind. This is the time to go straight to the trunk and retrieve your ice scraper for the windshield and windows. The ice scraper will help you clear your vision just as fast as you can chip away at the ice.

On that rare occasion when you’re forced to hunker down in the car, until help arrives, or until the morning, a warm blanket should always be on hand. The freezing temperatures inside a vehicle can be unbearable and blanket can prevent ailments like hypothermia and frostbite.