Not my experience at all with CC2's. They are almost as good as Xice 3 dedicated winter tire in all conditions. First snow of every winter, I take the vehicle up to 60KPH and hammer the brakes to get a reminder of stopping distance. I have Xice 3 on the Escape, and didn't notice much difference. Granted the Highlander is AWD but that doesn't do anything for stopping.
The tire is freakishly good in snow, ice and wet. I don't know how Michelin pulled this off.
As my previous post indicated, I have driven on nothing but dedicated winter tires (Xice or Blizzak only) for over 25 years. I was fully expecting to have to put winter tires on the Highlander, I was very doubtful of the CC2's winter performance claims. Not once this past winter did I wish I had dedicated winter tires.