Yahoo Movies Hyundai and Kia's Newest Technology Takes a Page From Speed Racer
Hyundai and Kia revealed a new snow chain-integrated tire technology on Sunday. The concept uses a shape memory alloy to deploy and retract chains at the push of a button.
A video on the Hyundai Motor Group YouTube channel shows how this feature could work. In normal driving mode, the tire is divided into six pie-shaped slices that are separated by thin chain links. When the driver presses the appropriate button, snow chain mode will be engaged. At that point, an electric current is fed to the shape memory alloy. This extends the chain link that will provide snow chain-like grip to the tire.
To return to normal driving mode, the driver simply hits the button again. Then, the electric current stops flowing to the shape memory alloy and the chain link retracts. You no longer need to bust your fingernails in the freezing cold trying to manually install and remove snow chains when conditions require them.
“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 Joon Mo Park, Head of Advanced Chassis Development Team.
If this tech sounds familiar, it might be because a similar concept was used in the anime Speed Racer. As our friends at The Autopian noted, if the show's star car, the Mach 5, were ever in a low-grip situation, the driver could simply press button B, and a high traction tread would be deployed around the tires. That television fantasy feature may soon become a reality on the Hyundai Sonata.
A patent for this technology has been filed in South Korea and the United States. Further development, testing, and regulation reviews must take place before this technology is introduced on production cars. But a feature that was once seen only on cartoons, may be coming to your driveway someday soon.
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