Breaking a car window from the inside can be much harder than you think – Jalopnik

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It’s a nightmare scenario: you’re stuck in a car and sinking in treacherous water. The water pressure keeps the doors closed, the electric windows are broken and you desperately bang your fists against the windows as the water rises. Of course, since it’s a nightmare, you can escape by waking up, but how hard is it to smash a car window in real life? Well, it might be harder than you think, even though a Nantucket seagull broke a car window by dropping a mussel on it.

Two types of impact-resistant glass are used in car windows: tempered and laminated. Neither breaks as easily as the plate glass around your home, and both are designed to prevent the large shards of glass that turn you into a statistic. Your passenger window is often made of tempered glass, which breaks down into small, less dangerous stones, while your windshield is invariably laminated, with a piece of vinyl between layers of glass to hold everything together in the event of an accident.

It is much more difficult to break a human-sized hole in laminated glass, which sticks together, than in tempered glass, which shatters into pieces. And while your side window may be tempered glass, it’s more likely to be laminated, either for added safety or to prevent occupants from being ejected from the car in a rollover. If you are trying to escape your car in an emergency, you will be much better off if you know in advance what type of glass is inside.

Even if you have tempered glass in your side window, breaking it can be extremely difficult when you are in the car. From the outside you can swing a bat, throw a stone and even drop a mussel from a great height. Inside you have very little space and very few tools – if any – at hand. The chances of you breaking a side window with your car keys, phone, fists or even a glass bottle are virtually nil, especially if your movements are restricted by an accident, a stuck seat belt or an injury.

Fortunately, tempered glass has an Achilles heel: it breaks when hit firmly with a pointed metal object. This is the Houdini trick that will get you out: the vehicle escape tool, which comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, from a cheap hammer to a spring-loaded punch. (The New York Times’ Wire cutter commands the Lifehammer Evolution.) And if such a tool ends up on the long list of features in your car that you never use, then at least consider yourself lucky.

Even with the right tools, car windows are stubbornly difficult to break. In 2019, AAA tested half a dozen escape tools on tempered glass windows and shockingly, two of the six failed to do the job, while none could break through laminated glass. If you are willing to spend a good amount of money, the sawtooth blade of a rescue tool like the Lifeline Evac-Pro can help you cut the vinyl sandwich of a laminated side window, although it takes a lot of effort.

Admittedly, the chances of ending up in a scenario like this are quite small: cars submerged in water represent only half of 1% of all accidents. On the other hand, the risks associated with driving in flood waters are very high. So instead of fiddling with a headrest, use your head. Check which glass you have, and if it is tempered, purchase a suitable car escape tool and keep it in a handy place.