Tire Traction Mat or Board... do they work for a car stuck on icy tracks?

OK, I have learned a lot about snow chains and alternative traction devices on this thread.
Winter tires saved the day

Snow tires and chains (or alternative traction devices) are good for cars on the road and driving, but I don't think they do much good once the car is already stuck. My wife managed to get our 22 Escape PHEV stuck on a snow/ice-covered gravel driveway at a friend's house. I was not with her, and since we currently have only one car, I could not go down the road to help her. From what she described, she was trying to climb up the fairly steep gravel driveway not well plowed and very icy with deep tire tracks on it. She wanted me to call a tow truck to winch her out. But before the truck arrived, she and her friend managed to dislodge the car with bags of coarse construction sand from the icy tire track it got stuck.

Her friend who lives on the end of this driveway drives a full-size 4x4 pickup truck and Honda CRV AWD. Our Escape PHEV is FWD but was wearing dedicated snow tires (Bridgestone Blizzak). She never had a problem on this driveway with our previous Pathfinder Hybrid AWD. Now, I am thinking that if our Escape PHEV was AWD, it may not have gotten stuck. But since it did, I am thinking of a way to avoid incidents like this. Buying a new AWD is not an option at this point. So, my question is, does a tire traction mat or board recovery tracks like those shown below work for this type of emergency? Or, a few bags of construction sand would work better?

My feeling is that from what was described, the narrower tires of the Escape got stuck in the groove of the wider tire track created by the pickup truck and it was not the deep snow surrounding it. I just don't think in such a case, either of them would work. But I don't know for sure. I have no experience using those devices.

Any opinions or suggestions?

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CCP5CXW


www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YYBWT17

 

Thanks, Kris for your advice. I concur that a few bags of sand are the cheapest and best options. When I was driving my first RWD car a long time ago in the frozen north, I always had a few bags stashed in the trunk. I just haven't had to do that ever since I switched to FWD cars. But to be honest, hauling a hundred lbs of sandbags on the rear deck all the time is going to be very annoying. We use the cargo space all the time, it is just not very practical to keep large bags laying around all the time.

Unfortunately, a chain or cable is not going to be a solution. This is just a long private unplowed driveway problem. The road was bone dry and no snow or ice. We are not going to put a chain or cable just go down on the private driveway to see a friend. Certainly, my wife is not going to do that. And once the car is stuck, there is no way to put a chain or cable on the tire at that point.

 

No, this is not for Prius. She would have never tried driving down this driveway if she was driving a Prius. This was with our new Ford Escape PHEV compact SUV. It has plenty of ground clearance. It just is not AWD. If this is going to be a regular problem, I may have to switch the car with AWD, like Rav4Prime sooner. I just can't do that at least for a few years at this point.

 

Yeah, this was another device I was looking at. I forgot to copy it on the OP. Her friend did try using an old car floor mat for traction but my wife told me that did not help much.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BDWRECU

 

LOL. It's not our driveway. Our driveway, while it is long, is paved and I always try to be well plowed. Plus I don't have a steep slope on my driveway. So, we have never gotten stuck on our own driveway. The driveway my wife got stuck in belongs to my wife's friend and part of it may be shared by a few other neighbors. The fact that her friend had brought bags of sand to rescue her means that they are well accustomed to dealing with the situation. I may just tell my wife to rely on the sandbags they keep in their garage, or not to visit her in winter.

But now after reviewing all the options suggested so far, I think I am going to get the Tracgrabber I posted above. The reviews are good. It is reasonably priced. And the best thing is that it is small enough that stows nicely in the under-the-deck compartment of our Escape.

 

Yeah, she often stops by our house. They also meet regularly at a local YMCA, so she can arrange different meet-up places easily. Just, this never was a problem with our previous Pathfinder AWD and Sienna AWD before, so she thought she can venture on to her snowy/icy driveway in our new compact SUV too. I guess this is a small utility case that AWD is superior to FWD. If the Escpase PHEV had an AWD option, then I might have splurged but that was not an option.