Most people don’t think about the temperature of their tires when driving, but that’s not the case for the makers of Mercedes-Benz.

Tires riding around with too much ice and snow built up on them have significantly less traction, even if they’re winter tires. And now Mercedes-Benz’ parent company, Daimler, has filed for a patent in the United Kingdom on a device that would potentially solve this problem.

The image for the aforementioned patent depicts three spray nozzles shooting the liquid out from different angles onto the tire.

The patent shows water that rolls down from the vehicle’s rear window would be collected in a reservoir, which wouldn’t freeze before its reuse on the tires thanks to a heat exchanger.

Daimler also mentions a way to cool down tires that are overheating, as well, thanks to a thermal imaging camera on the unit. But that design seems to need more development and probably shouldn’t be expected in the first units to come from these tire de-icers.

It isn’t known when, or even if, this patent will come to fruition on a future Mercedes model, but forward thinking like this from the iconic German brand is surely appreciated by its fans.