Survival Tip

[dkemple1]

About 2 months or so ago, I read in our local paper that a lady was driving her car and slid off the road into a retention pond and someone went in to rescue her and could not get the doors opened, so unfortunately the young woman died, and 2 days later the same thing happened in another nearby town. This gentleman drove into a flooded road. He also died. I seen on TV one time years ago that a person should keep a automatic center punch in their vehicle to shatter your window in a emergency. Just push the tip against the window and when the punch "PUNCHES" it shatters the window.

Today, I put one in all of my 3 vehicles and bought one for my mother in law. I found a out of the way but handy place and velcro'd the tool to the vehicle. It will always be accessible if needed. Hopefully, I will never have to use them, but they are there if needed. I have also put fire extinguishers in all of my vehicles too. They are relatively cheap and could save a life, mine or someone elses. The punches were only about 4.00 a piece, fire ext. were about 12.00.

Dan

[nancy1340]

Dan, excellent suggestions.

[CareBear]

Power windows can be a B$#@!, and where's a rock
when you need one

[Txanne]

I refuse to have power windows.

I saw a lady burn to death because of power locks and windows---we couldnt get her out.


Good ideas--I had heard of that punch idea.

annie

[edward_4576]

bToday you can buy a small hammer device that's a three and one tool:


http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/41YCD8805YL._SS400_.jpg

Product Features

A high-quality car escape tool to help prevent automotive entrapment
Double-sided, steel hammer heads breaks through side and rear windows with minimal effort
Razor-sharp blade cuts easily through safety belts
Includes a mounting bracket for convenient installation
A fluorescent pin glows in the dark for easy retrieval

[Faye]

Hey Edward, where is a good place to buy those?

[nancy1340]

Pep Boys, Home Depot, Sears, Wally World...........

[Spikejerk]

If you want something smaller tha a hammer, try Benchmades 10105 ERT-1. It's basically a pocketknife sized device with a window punch, seat belt cutter, and led light for about $30. I'm an EMT and use it for work and feel it's an excellent tool.
http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=10105

[JAK]

For the amount we pay for vehicles they sure have an aweful lot of fluff while lacking a lot in practical function. I can think of so many things wrong with our car, which was a hand me down.
.
Here is a question. My daughter is seven now. How can I make it so she or some other kid can get out if they ever locl themselves in the trunk? She's starting to climb in there for fun. I've warned her, but I've got to do something more than just that. It's a very irreponsible way to make vehicles.

[wax]

These tools are nice to have but they are not really required.
The problem with opening a vehicle door in water involves pressure equalization (more pressure from the outside water than from the inside air).

Any small surfaced strike against a vehicle window while the pressure from outside water is greater than the pressure from inside air will easily smash the window (an elbow but better yet a key held in a fist).

But as in all cases of survival the real key is to not panic: let the vehicle fill with water and then open the door.
This allows the pressure to equalize and the door will open just as easily as it normally does.

[JAK]

I would like to see power windows that can still be opened manually. Perhaps the answer is to replace the driver door power window mechanism with a hand crank. I remember dricing in this Mercedes once that had a manual side mirror adjustment on the driver side and a power side mirror adjustment for the other side the driver couldn't reach. The philosophy was that the manual adjustment for easier and more precise. Cars are such overpriced crap these days.

[wax]

Actually, power window failure upon entering water is somewhat of an urban myth.

Believe it or not power windows work under water more often than they do not! I have seen many vehicles go under the ice here in Minnesota, it is a yearly event as drivers attempt to cross over ice before it is thick enough, or even more common: fail to realize the ice has been weakened by early spring thaws and attempt to drive on it too late in the season.

I am often amazed by viewing vehicles completely submerged with the headlights still on and the radio blaring.
It is an awe inspiring sight.

There is an episode of "Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel that deals with this, good show.

[wax]

Deb- They are handy but boy it would have been trouble if they had failed at that moment!

Wax- I hate to point out the obvious but if the bear had been interested in entering your vehicle... well... no window would give him a seconds pause, powered or not!

Deb- That afternoon that very same power window failed to operate!!!

Wax- At one time it was very easy to push down on a window which was partially open and force it off the track it rested on. It didn't matter whether the window was powered or not, a manual window would fail to work as well.

This issue got better in the late 80's and most vehicles today have a full ledge support under the window glass which is raised by a scissor mechanism. Because of this it is much harder to force the glass off of it's track, but of course any bear (and any adult male) can do it.

In the older style windows one could actually gain access to a locked car by forcing the pane of glass past it's retaining clips (which were often cheap plastic).
This is almost impossible to do today because the glass must bend an entire metal channel before sliding down (it can still be done by pulling up on the glass once the channel is benmt slightly and using it to lever the bottom outside of the channel constraints but there are much easier ways to get into a locked car... assuming it is yours of course and you simply left the keys in it!)