Hacker News Reader

Right. Snow tires, 4WD, and engine block heaters should be standard equipment on cars because obviously things should be designed to handle every environment they might reasonably encounter.

/s

View on HN

As a sibling comment points out, block heaters are pretty standard in much of Canada. 4WD is not universal, but if there is a 4WD version of a particular model available, dealers will have a hard time selling the 2WD variant because enough people really do think 4WD is better in the snow. Snow tires are just a waste in the summer. What you do is have two sets of tires and swap them out in spring and fall.

I'm confused by your statement, anyway. Are you saying things shouldn't be designed to handle every environment they might reasonably encounter?

Block heaters are pretty standard on many new cars sold in the colder parts of Canada. So are all season tires.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com