You would never want this to happen. The eventuality that you would need to break your car glass in order to escape.
That is if you’re inside the car. The other possibility is if you need to save someone who is inside the car and you are outside.
KNOW THE NATURE OF CAR WINDOWS
Car windows are made of tempered glass. They are designed to make them resist blunt force like when you just pound on the glass, it will not break. It would take something sharp to break through, like a sharp metal, stone, or porcelain. Or something heavy, like a claw hammer. Concentrate on a small area at the edges of the window or the windshield to create a small crack or hole. Then work your way towards the middle of that piece of glass and eventually, it will shatter and break.
So that is the procedure you should do. With whatever sharp or heavy object (better both SHARP AND HEAVY) you have on hand, go around to the edges of the glass because they are the weakest points of the glass.
Manufacturers of auto glass have always assumed that the middle of the glass is the most vulnerable part in case of an accident. That’s why they reinforce the middle to make it less prone to shattering immediately. They ignored the edges which can easily crack, chip or break. That’s why, in the unlikely event that the car glass needs to be shattered, work with your available object from the edges. And be patient.
Be careful that when the glass shatters, you should warn the people inside to create a barrier between the glass and them like a big heavy cardboard or attache case to protect them from the flying debris of the shattered glass. If it’s a dog or a baby you’re saving inside the car, it’s you who have to control the force in pushing in the glass so as not to injure the dog or the baby.
There is a strong possibility that you can access these sharp and heavy objects if you are outside of the car and you are trying to save someone inside. What if you’re inside the car trapped? You usually don’t have a claw hammer or those other sharp and heavy objects we mentioned lying around inside the car interiors.
YOUR HEADREST CAN SAVE LIVES
Your best bet to help you is your Headrest.
You’ve never expected the worst to happen, but it is happening right now. Being trapped inside your own car. With all the electronic circuitry right now in cars, it is no wonder that when these electronics break down, the car locks will also act up and trap you inside.
It would be unfortunate if you don’t have heavy tools inside the interiors of the car itself, but it’s a good thing you’ve got your headrest. Do you know that you can remove it out of your front or rear seats? Then, extract the metal pegs together with the body of the headrest and insert them down inside the area where the window comes out from the door panel.
Push it down as far as it can go, and push the headrest body down as far as it can go too until you hear the window snap and make a cracking sound. You could maybe even see the cracks on the glass forming. It will eventually shatter and fall away from the door.
BEING TRAPPED IN YOUR CAR UNDERWATER
When you are in the unfortunate situation that your car dives into a river or any body of water for that matter, you are still lucky. Because if your car was thrown into a ravine or onto cement, the impact would be hard, and most passengers don’t survive at all.
At least in water, it will cushion the fall of your automobile and you have some precious 2 minutes of allowance that allows you and your fellow passengers to survive or to be a casualty.
But before proceeding, let’s crush some myths surrounding escape strategies from cars that dive into bodies of water. Boy, the movies and TV have really fooled us.
MYTH NO. 1. KICKING OUT THE WINDSHIELD
You see action stars doing it all time. For one, you can’t understand how they could stand not to breathe for several minutes. And another, you shake your head in wonder when you see that it’s very easy for them to kick out the windshield.
A windshield is not very easy to kick out, especially underwater when the resistance from the water makes the kick from even both your feet less strong than when you do it on land.
And another fact. A windshield has two layers of thick glass and inserted between them is another layer of very elastic-plastic adhesive. It is a design that makes it withstand crushing impact from falling objects, how much more, just your feet.
One thing more, if you’re the driver, it would be hard for you to move into position to kick the windshield because the steering wheel will block the movement of your feet from down under, and maneuvering until your feet reaches the windshield for those precious few minutes wherein survival is still possible.
MYTH NO. 2. BREAK THE SIDE WINDOWS WITH YOUR ELBOWS
You’ve seen this many times in the movies wherein the star, submerged in the car with water, strikes the side window once or twice, and he manages to make it shatter.
Scientifically, the probability of being successful with 2 attempts with an elbow strike is a dismal 3 out of 10. To be really sure, you have to strike the window several times to be able to make it shatter. And you only have a window of opportunity for 2 minutes to do this.
But even, if you’re successful within 2 minutes, you’ll surely be bloodied and bruised from the repeated banging. And you still have to go through the window which will have shattered and sharp remnants on the sides as you go through.
MYTH N0. 3. Some people believe that water flowing into the car equalizes the air pressure which makes it easy for you to open the windows easily
This is not a wise move, because aside from the water flowing into the car, it would also bring with it soil and other debris into the car. The added weight could even tip the car upside down. And the increasing water level would make visibility harder and harder every second that passes by.
So, there should be no waiting. The very moment you’re in the water, don’t panic but move fast. Open the windows as soon as possible. In cars with electronic gadgetry, pray that the mechanism of the power windows have not malfunctioned and can still be slid down. Cars with manual opening windows have even better chances to have the windows rolled down if you do it promptly.
SO, HOW DO YOU GET OUT OF A CAR SUBMERGED IN WATER?
Firstly, make sure you have some sort of car emergency kit which you can purchase from Amazon. You’ll never know when you’ll need it, so it’s best to have it in your car as soon as possible. But we’ll get to that later.
Then, be strict with yourself about this – be ready to part with your belongings. You might have the instinct of holding on to your things which are expensive. Just think, your life and others’ lives are at stake. Forget about these possessions. You can always buy them again as long as you are alive!
Now, chant the following and memorize by heart. The sequence is very important in case your car gets submerged in water because you don’t have a moment to waste it.
Here they are:
1. Car Emergency Safety Device
2. Seatbelts
3. Windows and Sunroof
4. Children and women first out
5. You Out
The above list should be the sequence if you find yourself in a circumstance wherein your car is sinking into the water. Alertness, quick thinking, and fast execution are vital for the saving of the lives of car passengers. It may be disorienting or will cause you to panic when this happens because it will be totally unexpected. But you should take hold of yourself and focus. Take a deep breath and think of the sequence above.
The time you’ve got is under 2 minutes because door panels of cars with electrical systems get jammed within 120 seconds. All things electrical are rendered useless after this window of opportunity. It’s even better to be in a car wherein everything is manually powered because you can still open the windows with bare human power.
If the windows are still above water, whether you are in a manual or electrically powered car, you can still open the windows.
But if the car is below water, water flowing in will exert pressure in all directions. Imagine 10 sumo wrestlers pushing you in from all angles from outside the car and you’ll know the force that’s against you.
So the windshield kicking and the elbow strike on the side windows won’t work at this point.
YOUR SEQUENCE TO EXECUTE BEFORE FREEDOM
So again – Take hold of your Car emergency device with a sharp knife or foldable scissors included, wherein you will cut through the seat belts first of your passengers and yours.
You have to be fast because wet seat belts are harder to cut. You might ask, why deal with the seat belts first before rolling down the windows? It’s because your mobility and movement will be hampered with the seat belts still strapped and the worst that could happen is if they will be jammed, so this first before the windows.
Then roll down the windows, as much as possible, before the car is submerged in water. If the car has a sunroof, open it too because it’s also a viable escape route.
Then let the children out, then the women out, then the men and you. For kids and babies, it’s best if their special car seats have quick release buttons which you can just press and they can be released easily. Now, the question now is, if the windows are already jammed. What can you do?
It’s best that aside from the sharp knife or foldable scissors, your car survival kit should include at least 4 spring-loaded escape tools (1 for each window). Each spring-loaded tool needs only to be pressed against the corner of the car window to shatter its glass.
With the glass shattered, everyone goes out. The children and the babies first of course.10,000 incidents of cars diving into bodies of water happen every year. Don’t allow yourself and your companions to be statistics.
ESCAPING A CAR ON LAND AND IN WATER ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT
As you can see, escape tactics for exiting a car are different when you’re on land and in water. What’s important is that you have car escape devices on hand in your car so you should be prepared all the time. No one wants these perilous incidents to happen, but when it happens, you can face your demons prepared.
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