I have owned a 95 Passport for years and never used the Winter switch.
so I looked it up in my manual. This is part of what it says:

The WINTER mode is deacativated when the vehicle reaches approximately
30km or 19 mph, when transmission is shifted into any position other
than D, by pushing the WINTER button again or by turning off the
ignition.

Operation of the WINTER mode should be limited to slippery road
conditions only....

On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 17:30:39 -0600, "Jafir Elkurd"
<jafir@nospam.no.spam.hotpop.com> wrote:

>Winter makes the transmission start off in 3rd gear.... which is actually
>quite bad for it, especially if you gun it real hard.... can cause temps to
>get really high really quick. Power mode just extends the shift point...
>you'd get the same basic effect by pressing harder on the accelerator.
>
>"ajpdla" <ajpdla@pacifier.com> wrote in message
>news:10ocmj479g1j7d7@corp.supernews.com...
>>I think I've asked this question before; but what exactly are the POWER
>>DRIVE and WINTER DRIVE switches for in this vehicle. What exactly do they
>>do in terms of transmission operation?
>>
>> Also, in my 1995 Passport, the WINTER DRIVE switch works intermittently
>> and only on very rainy or snowy days, leading me to believe that there is
>> some sensor in play here. Is this true?
>>
>> TIA
>>
>> AARON
>>
>