What To Do If You Get Your Vehicle Stuck In Mud
If you decide to take the off-beaten path to do a little sightseeing in your vehicle, you may find yourself driving on rough terrain. While taking the scenic route is fun, it can also cause your vehicle to run into trouble. Even adept drivers can find that their vehicle is no match for mud. Here are some tips to use if you should find yourself stuck in mud, so you can get your vehicle back on driveable roadways.
Try Shifting
If you put your foot on the gas and your wheels are spinning, switching to another gear may gain you enough traction to get your vehicle moving. Put your foot on the brake and put your vehicle into reverse. Put your foot on the gas and see if it backs up. If not, quickly put your foot on the brake while you put your vehicle back into drive and press the gas pedal again. Do this several times to try rocking your vehicle back and forth out of the muddy area with the gear-shifting motion.
Use Props
Check inside your vehicle to see if you have anything flat that you can wedge underneath your tires. Magazines, cardboard, paper or plastic grocery bags, clothing or even your floor mats can be used. Place them underneath the front of each tire. You may find when you put your vehicle into drive, the tires will move further along because they are driving over smooth surfaces.
If you are stuck in a very large muddy area, you may have to keep getting out of your vehicle to move the flat items to the front of the tires again after they drive over them and land back into the mud. If you cannot find anything flat, get out of your vehicle and collect sticks and small rocks to place in front of your tires. You may be able to grip these items with the tires to move out of the mud.
Let Out Some Air
If you let some of the air out of your tires, the surface area of the part hitting the ground will expand. This will allow it to have more area to try gripping. If you let out air, make sure you get to a garage or air machine right away to fill your tires back to the recommended pressure.
Call For Help
If your vehicle is deeply embedded in mud, you may have no choice but to call someone to help pull you out. Towing services will have the proper chains and pulling equipment to safely remove your vehicle from the mud without harming your vehicle in the process. You will simply need to put your vehicle into neutral, and the towing service will use their vehicle to pull it to safety.