It's been many years since Dallas-area resident C.L. Nathanson left the bitter cold winters of Winnipeg for the bearable facsimiles in Texas. However, she recalls the 45-below-zero temperature in Manitoba the very day she vacated Canada.

"Never again," she said.

Nathanson talks about Portage and Main, an intersection in Winnipeg's banking district that is reputed to be the windiest in all of Canada. Skies could be sunny and clear, making one think the Canadian air to be bearable.

"But the air was so cold, it would freeze your lungs," Nathanson said.

Nathanson said many Canadians have remote car starters, devices that send signals that start their vehicles defrosting and heating while the people stay inside, a must in the Great White North that is more and more in demand in the U.S.

"It all boils down to the perceived value of the customer," said Mitch Schaffer, who has sold and installed remote car starters in eastern Pennsylvania since 1994. "It doesn't just boil down to being lazy," Schaffer said.

Starters May Save Gas

He said that the time required to walk outside, start a car and wait for it to warm up is the same as if a person were to start the car from an inside location. The benefit is in not having to bundle up, crawl inside a freezing vehicle and do the dirty work yourself.

"I use mine every day (in the winter)," he said.

In fact, having a remote car starter might just save drivers money by improving gas mileage during colder months, he said. Because oil reduces the friction required to make a car engine run, and because oil thickens in cold weather, an engine not properly warmed up will have to work harder once you're on the road reducing gas mileage.