How is it they are still not quite sure if window hammers work on laminated glass underwater? It seems that this would be an important enough question to warrant testing.
What to do if your car is submerged in water
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Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#12It's obviously a sad story but does anyone else feel that the Wall Street Journal running this story is a just a sad sign of a website losing its focus.
This is a follow up on an article about a billionaire who recently drowned in her car. It would be very strange if they ran this piece out of the blue.
Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#13It probably wouldn't be too expensive to put a moisture detector somewhere appropriate that triggers the computer to lower all the windows.
Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#14It's obviously a sad story but does anyone else feel that the Wall Street Journal running this story is a just a sad sign of a website losing its focus.
I think floods in lower manhatten are somewhat rare, but you could drive into the hudson
Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#15How is it they are still not quite sure if window hammers work on laminated glass underwater? It seems that this would be an important enough question to warrant testing.
"Laminated glass, which has specific safety qualities to protect people from being ejected during a crash, is nearly impossible to break underwater, AAA found after testing various tools. "
Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#16What should I do?
Try to stay calm, unbuckle your seat belt and roll your window down. Exiting through the open window is preferred above anything else. If there are children in the car, get them out first.
What if I can’t open the window?
The situation gets much more complicated.
Laminated glass, which has specific safety qualities to protect people from being ejected during a crash, is nearly impossible to break underwater, AAA found after testing various tools.
So thats that
Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#17Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#18The whole thing about laminated glass is interesting.
Historically speaking, side and rear windows were made from tempered glass that would explode into many small, not-so-sharp fragments when damaged. Laminated glass does not do this; it breaks, but the inner layer(s) between the glass layers holds the window together. If you want to get through a car windshield, this is why you end up needing a saw rather than a hammer.
Due to new regulation that aims to reduce the number of drivers ejected from vehicles during crashes, some manufacturers have been switching to use laminated glass for side and rear windows.
This may be entirely rational if the number of casualties avoided in those cases exceeds the number of cases where escape is hindered (which is almost certainly the case as being ejected from the vehicle is very strongly correlated with serious injury or death, and drowning deaths represent basically half of one percent of deaths in road traffic accidents), but many people don't like to hear about good risk tradeoffs and want impossible global improvements.
Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#19Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water
#20It probably wouldn't be too expensive to put a moisture detector somewhere appropriate that triggers the computer to lower all the windows.
Driving into water is incredibly rare compared to having rain enter the sensor and unintentionally open all the windows.