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What to do if your car is submerged in water

wsj.com

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Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water

#21

Post by erehweb »

badcppdev wrote: post #3

It'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.

Service journalism (https://thefreelancersyear.com/blog/service-journalism-where...) has been a thing for a long while.

Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water

#24

Post by rdl »

My current plan (obviously open windows if possible, don't drive into lakes, etc.) is to use the resqme spring-loaded glass breaker (my work gives them out as branded swag at conferences, but I gave away hundreds in Iraq/Afghanistan when I worked there too) or glowrhino carbide tip I keep with me. That doesn't work very well on laminated glass (but I'm often in a rental, so I don't know which cars have/don't have it). Failing that, put some rounds into the glass and try to pry it out of the frame. Shooting a handgun in a car with closed windows (especially) is pretty disorienting, I've done it while wearing earpro but never without, but beats drowning. (I'm somewhat surprised the sheriff deputies in the Chao case didn't try this...seems very Texan solution to opening a closed thing)

The technique with laminated glass is basically to make a line of cracks/deformations to allow you to deform the entire panel and pop it out, not to make a hole to go through. Pretty hard to do with a carbide punch, but probably your best bet. Then use legs or body to push the entire window out.

Also, the smaller/accessory windows are often NOT laminated (esp on Tesla), so hitting one of those to let water in and then equalize pressure to GTFO is an option.

Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water

#25

Post by rdl »

bckr wrote: post #8

My next Amazon shipment is going to have a couple of those window breaker + seatbelt cutter combos

These are the best I've found (for compact, functional): https://resqme.com/

The problem with the hammer style is you might be injured or pinned in a position where you can't develop much force. Also hit the corner of the window, NOT the center; I've bounced a sledgehammer in class off the center of regular window glass, it's amazing.

Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water

#27

Post by gnicholas »

williamstein wrote: post #15
gnicholas wrote: post #11

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.

"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. "

It doesn’t say what kind of tools they tested, and says that it “isn’t clear” how window breaking tools work on newer windows.

Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water

#28

Post by AlexandrB »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #18

The 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 ha…

> 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.

I'm surprised that getting ejected from the side or rear window is common enough to warrant such a change. There seems to be a lot of downsides - any emergency where a person (or pet) needs to be freed from a locked car quickly comes to mind.

I actually assumed that the laminated glass in the Tesla story was a security feature.

Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water

#29

Post by throwanem »

I've never understood why automatic center punches aren't sold for this use case. I have to think that's a much more reliable option than a goofy little hammer with a point on the end - water notwithstanding, who's going to be able to develop enough force trying to swing that while seated in a car?

Re: What to do if your car is submerged in water

#30

Post by consp »

wbc wrote: post #22

Anyone know how feasible enough to require modern (powered-everything) cars have at least 1 window that has backup manual rolling for this scenario? or is it just too rare for the increased complexity?

Manuals are actually less easy to open, if at all, once you get to the point where you are mostly under water. The electrics will function for quite a while and when you get to the point where they don't the manual is not going to do much anyway.
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