Snow Mode - Won't accelerate

In my experience ('21 Limited) driving in mountain passes to go skiing weekly during the past 2 winters, snow mode really softens the accelerator response. Hard to say if the behavior you describe in your post is abnormal or not. but how hard are you pushing on the accelerator in this condition?

I do find that I have to go pretty deep into the gas pedal while in Snow mode to get the car moving. The main function of snow mode is to help the driver avoid breaking traction during acceleration. Basically the opposite of Sport Mode, which sharpens the accelerator response.

Snow mode doesn't use the first gear, which is why it takes more power to get moving.

This happened to us twice last week in snow mode in our 2023 Pali with 600 miles. It stopped accelerating after a turn from a stoplight with traffic behind us, and I had to flip it into another drive mode to get it to snap out of it. From what I have read since experiencing it, many others have had it happen too. We took it out in the ice and snow to try to reproduce it on video but were unable to make it do it, regardless of how much wheel slip. So it can’t be a normal traction control function. Have you been able to catch this on video?

Does the car not accelerate at all no matter how hard you hit the gas or just far slower than other modes? Former is certainly a problem, later is expected

For the times it happened to us, it didn’t matter how much gas we tried to give it, it would not accelerate until I changed the drive mode. It was almost like being in neutral but the RPMs did not go up.

PalisadeCanada said:

Does the car not accelerate at all no matter how hard you hit the gas or just far slower than other modes? Former is certainly a problem, later is expected

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richhrobinson said:

We have a 2023 Calligraphy with 3,000 miles on it. We've encountered an issue that when we accelerate in Snow mode for the first time, usually when pulling out of our housing area. As we accelerate the car, won't shift up and begins to lose acceleration. When I move the dial to another mode, it then begins to accelerate normally again. I can then switch it back to "snow" and it will work fine from that point on. The issue seems isolated to just snow mode and it does not matter if we have AWD locked on or off.

Has anyone else encountered this? We are calling the dealer to have it looked at. We are pretty bummed though to be having an issue like this on a brand new car.

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My 2023 Palisade Calligraphy is less than two weeks old and this has happened to me twice. We also live in Alaska. Both times were in snow mode. I thought it had something to do with the heavy vapors or snowy conditions confusing the forward safety anti-collision system but now your post gives me another possibility

Same experiece as SixGray. It simply will not accelerate as mentioned, it’s like it’s in Neutral, bit the RPMs do not even go up. It’s like it goes up slightly to where it should shift up but it immediately shifts back down instead.

I’ll try and get it on video. We have a spot where it happens consistently. Coincidentally it’s always been just after we have made a turn from a dead stop.

Smims94 said:

Snow mode is not meant for a lot if acceleration. Just to get you moving.

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Ya...it's not about it accelerating slow. It's about the car essentially dying in the middle of the road because it won't shift.

I believe you are missing the point. When you select snow mode you are telling the car it's smarter than you and to control the torque, and that is exactly what you are describing. It's preventing you from overriding the Mode and editing the amount of torque you are applying. Those of you switching modes are essentially shifting gears/gearing and therefore applying more torque than the car is programed for in snowy conditions.

FYI mine did the same thing, for the one day I had it, and it seemed overly conservative for SNOW mode but acceptable.

This has also happened to our new 2023 Palisade when in snow mode. My wife said the car just wouldn't accelerate past like 20 mph. Not sure what's going on with it.

So we just had a huge series of storms, and I got mine back the day of and needed to drive it a bit to make sure the brakes were going to hold this time. My impression is the same....

...the accelerator is programed to only accelerate at a certain pace. The longer you hold on a run with the pedal in position, it will increase speed, albeit much slower than you'd normally do it. However, if you feel that tug and it's seemingly taking too long to accelerate, or if you don't believe me, just stomp on the accelerator and you'll feel the passing gear kick in...still sluggishly though.

After fooling around with this mode for about 6 driving hours over the past 2 days, I think it does what it's designed to do: keep you from putting to much power behind the wheels.

Sixgray said:

This happened to us twice last week in snow mode in our 2023 Pali with 600 miles. It stopped accelerating after a turn from a stoplight with traffic behind us, and I had to flip it into another drive mode to get it to snap out of it. From what I have read since experiencing it, many others have had it happen too. We took it out in the ice and snow to try to reproduce it on video but were unable to make it do it, regardless of how much wheel slip. So it can’t be a normal traction control function. Have you been able to catch this on video?

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Hi the exact same thing happened to me today and my engine almost stalled until I switched it back to normal driving mode and then I had power again. This is ridiculous today it our first snow storm and I was not impressed at all. Furthermore, while I was driving some wet snow from the roof (even though I had cleared and removed most of the snow before I left) fell on my windshield and then the wipers ceased to function on a busy road. I had to stop in a parking lot to remove by hand the snow caught in my wipers this never happened to me in the past 40 years I have been driving. Very dangerous driving I will call my local dealer next week and have an appt to fix it I hope.

Tracking this topic, as it happened to me too!

I have had the same problem with my 23telluride with 700 miles...it will not accellerate after a turn in snow mode....very dangerous

I have had the exact same thing happen twice. I have a 2023 calligraphy palisade, 450 miles on it. Both times it happened in snow mode and we have to switch to another mode to get the car to accelerate.

Has anyone figured out a fix? This has happened to me as well, but the dealership couldn’t find anything wrong because they couldn’t recreate it.

Just happened to me, 2023 limited. Like others have written: snow mode and from a a stop I initiated a slight turn then tried to accelerate and nothing, let off gas tried again and nothing, switched to park then back to drive and it was all good.

Same here. Last snow storm a few days ago, stopped at the top of my driveway at a slight incline. Snow mode engaged, accelerated enough to get it out, which needed wheel spin/AWD (stock Hankooks), then I got out into the road turning left, car now pointing straight ahead and…total loss of power feeling.

Probably going 1mph but there was plenty of traction available on the road if the car had even tried! But it didn’t try.

All other cars with traction control or “snow mode” would have and have! detected the reappearance of traction and accelerated.

We need to log these with the NHTSA. If there was anyone coming me and my family would have been slammed into.

Luckily I remembered this thread and changed the drive mode and was able to accelerate up to the insane speed I needed of 30mph… Who would have thought that would be difficult on a clean’ish road?