In “Die Another Day,” James Bond was able to have spikes come out of the tires of his Aston Martin Van(qu)ish to get the best grip. Hyundai has now patented something similar: a type of integrated snow chain.
Never put on chains again? Maybe, at least Hyundai and Kia have taken a step in that direction and presented a wheel with extendable metal brackets. At its heart are elements made of a memory metal that changes shape when an electrical voltage is applied. When deactivated, the bars anchored in the rim disappear into the profile grooves of the tread. When they are activated, they extend out and provide additional traction on closed snow cover. However, they are just brackets that protrude from the profile at right angles to the direction of travel and although they enable traction and better braking performance, they do not contribute anything to lateral support. At least that’s what the manufacturer’s video suggests. The technology has already been patented in South Korea and the USA, Kia and Hyundai are considering series production – then probably with modified brackets. There were extendable spikes Wasn’t there something else with extendable spikes? Yes, even in real life: Almost ten years ago, Nokian actually showed a concept tire that could extend small steel pins at the push of a button. The tread and structure of the tire corresponded to the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 SUV winter tire. The spikes in all four tires extended and retracted at the same time. The body of the spike remained firmly in the tire, only the hard metal pin in the center of the spike moved. This tire never went into series production.
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