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Car into water scenario

mcshooter

mcshooter

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So watching mythbusters has got me thinking.

Likely your going to need some oxygen. Do you have that in your thoughts for in the vehicle? Some give you an extra 50 seconds of air that I've read. BUT not sure on the effectiveness
 
How deep is the body of water into which you're planning to plummet?

Your car will sink at a given rate. You'll wait for the interior to fill with water before you can open the door and swim out. You'll then take a deep breath of the diminishing air in your car and ascend. I'm thinking you should be able to hold enough of that air to make it to the surface from any depth into which you're reasonably likely to crash.

I mean, worst case, you're flying off a dock. What's that likely to be, 20 feet of depth? You can hold that much air while the car fills, surely.
 
My thoughts, you hit your head on the window as you go in. Once you realize it you're in a panic trying to get out and already at the point of no return. Your heart rates already jacked up, and burning oxygen.

Once you get to the point of balancing equilibrium to open the door, if you didn't get the window opened, you'll be starving for oxygen and may not have thought to take a breath at the last moment.
 
i wouldn’t bother with the door. My first task is get seatbelts off. Then get the windows down if possible and get out. I keep at least one tool with a glass break punch in me at all times (not specifically for this scenario) and I’ve used it many times. We all should try hard in life to make sure we aren’t too fat to climb out a car window if need be.

To answer your question, no I don’t care to keep oxygen on board. It adds too much complexity to a situation where everyone’s fine motor skills are going to be shot already. Some are going to be frozen in fear and some are going to be in complete panic. I think it’s much better to get everyone familiar with the basic steps of how to get out.
 
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LakeTrout said:
i wouldn’t bother with the door. My first task is get seatbelts off. Then get the windows down if possible and get out. I keep at least one tool with a glass break punch in me at all times (not specifically for this scenario) and I’ve used it many times. We all should try hard in life to make sure we aren’t too fat to climb out a car window if need be.
Click to expand...
Going out to shovel some sand in a few minutes to empty my trailer for a load of dense grade this weekend..

But again the scenario is you get knocked out for a little cause you hit your head due to the collision (when my 98 mercury was hit solidly on the right side and totalled this happened to me before the airbag went off and was in a daze after). You're going to be disoriented. You may not think right to open the window immediately.

Those glass break tools are good, but the force of the collision moves stuff.

Nothing is an end all be all, but thinking worse case. Maybe it extends your O2 level just long enough to survive this life changing scenario
 
mcshooter said:
Going out to shovel some sand in a few minutes to empty my trailer for a load of dense grade this weekend..

But again the scenario is you get knocked out for a little cause you hit your head due to the collision (when my 98 mercury was hit solidly on the right side and totalled this happened to me before the airbag went off and was in a daze after). You're going to be disoriented. You may not think right to open the window immediately.

Those glass break tools are good, but the force of the collision moves stuff.

Nothing is an end all be all, but thinking worse case. Maybe it extends your O2 level just long enough to survive this life changing scenario
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just think @LakeTrout is right as far as adding complexity. If you're too dazed to remember to take a breath and open the window, you're probably too dazed to remember where you put the oxygen mask, then how to seal it, clear it, and start the oxygen flowing. That's if you can locate your tank valve. Because as you've mentioned, collision moves stuff. It could fling your ox tank somewhere you don't expect. Then, if your mindset is, "Find the tank!" you're going to waste valuable time and oxygen trying to maneuver through your crashed interior in growing darkness, breathlessness, and panic, trying to locate something that will then require all your wits to operate...

I don't think it'll increase your survivability, in short.
 
If you live around a canal system or something then sure, worry about this, but in most places around here you'd have to have a seriously bad day to put a vehicle into a pond or river. I have two seatbelt cutters (sharp knives) on me and a 15rd glass break tool on my hip at all times. That's about all you can do.
 
LakeTrout said:
I keep at least one tool with a glass break punch in me at all times (not specifically for this scenario) and I’ve used it many times.
Click to expand...
FMVSS 226 makes that tool useless.

it is also called the “Ejection Mitigation Rule”
 
Last edited:
mcshooter said:
Going out to shovel some sand in a few minutes to empty my trailer for a load of dense grade this weekend..

But again the scenario is you get knocked out for a little cause you hit your head due to the collision (when my 98 mercury was hit solidly on the right side and totalled this happened to me before the airbag went off and was in a daze after). You're going to be disoriented. You may not think right to open the window immediately.

Those glass break tools are good, but the force of the
Click to expand...
appraiser said:
FMVSS 226 makes that tool useless.

it is also called the “Ejection Mitigation Rule”


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDjCpo3D4LI
Click to expand...

Im what way does it make the tool useless?
 
The way you practice putting on SCUBA gear under water and pants shitting stress is scary. Probably very few people calm enough under pressure to make those moves, put on a regulator or fix a hose connection in the dark upside down while drowning. I'd say your best bet is learning how to stay calm under real pressure. That skill translates to many other hypotheticals and can be practiced without joining BUDS.
 
LakeTrout said:
Im what way does it make the tool useless?
Click to expand...
the new standard for side glass requires the use of a laminated glass, it has to be CUT with a saw or beat with a sledge hammer to get thru the laminating film. Basically the side windows are now like windshields, laminated glass that will not shatter.

Until recently, side windows were tempered glass designed to shatter into thousands of small pieces... which is why you could hit them with a spring loaded center punch and they would break.

www.caranddriver.com

Some Car Windows Are Harder to Break in an Emergency, Says AAA

Many late-model vehicles have laminated glass on side windows, which won't yield to tools designed to break them.
www.caranddriver.com www.caranddriver.com
 
oof. I forgot it was that shallow... like Teddy.

1655758555847.png
 

View: https://youtu.be/KaGKWKBby_k


We did a similar training in my trucking unit with a hummer cab. You wouldn’t think it would be as difficult as it is…but with ‘combat locks’ (door can only open from the inside with special hard to reach lever) strap a 40lb flak jacket to your chest, throw on a Kevlar and make mandatory completion include the evac of all serialized equipment on board and shit gets REAL, really quick.

The water is scary as f*** to begin with, then being flipped upside down when you’re seatbelted in…even though you know it’s coming, it’s still panick inducing. THEN having to find the combat lock lever and push open an up armored door under water.

I’m SO glad I never met a scenario like that in real life, because I’m not sure I’d get out of it alive…let alone be able to save my team.
 
I've had this thing on my keychain for years. The razor for cutting seatbelts is useful in daily life, sparingly of course, lest one need to replace the thing.

resqme-YELLOW.jpg
 
appraiser said:
the new standard for side glass requires the use of a laminated glass, it has to be CUT with a saw or beat with a sledge hammer to get thru the laminating film. Basically the side windows are now like windshields, laminated glass that will not shatter.

Until recently, side windows were tempered glass designed to shatter into thousands of small pieces... which is why you could hit them with a spring loaded center punch and they would break.

www.caranddriver.com

Some Car Windows Are Harder to Break in an Emergency, Says AAA

Many late-model vehicles have laminated glass on side windows, which won't yield to tools designed to break them.
www.caranddriver.com www.caranddriver.com
Click to expand...
On my family's personal vehicles, all side windows are tempered glass. At the fire department, we've been told that there are more and more on the road with laminated side windows. But its kind of in the back of our minds because we haven't come upon that issue during an extrication yet. Most of our training is in junk yards with older vehicles and the sides are all tempered. The glass master is a pretty slick tool on laminated glass, but it would not be very practical in the event that you are inside of a sinking car. I'm not sure if there is a solution for those with laminated glass side windows. So, you're right. Whether or not that tool is useful is going to depend on the vehicle.
 
LakeTrout said:
At the fire department, we've been told that there are more and more on the road with laminated side windows. But its kind of in the back of our minds because we haven't come upon that issue during an extrication yet.
Click to expand...
There is a video on YT of a cop in Vegas trying to get a woman out of a burning car that has the laminated side glass.

Luckily there was a large pry bar at hand and he beat the ever living daylights out of the glass until he compromised the laminate

I've seen video of first responders punching a hole thru the laminate then using a battery operated sawzall to cut the glass
 
LakeTrout said:
On my family's personal vehicles, all side windows are tempered glass. At the fire department, we've been told that there are more and more on the road with laminated side windows. But its kind of in the back of our minds because we haven't come upon that issue during an extrication yet. Most of our training is in junk yards with older vehicles and the sides are all tempered. The glass master is a pretty slick tool on laminated glass, but it would not be very practical in the event that you are inside of a sinking car. I'm not sure if there is a solution for those with laminated glass side windows. So, you're right. Whether or not that tool is useful is going to depend on the vehicle.
Click to expand...
What if you add in after market tint, probably adds a level to the window breaking
 
appraiser said:
I've seen video of first responders punching a hole thru the laminate then using a battery operated sawzall to cut the glass
Click to expand...

Thats typically how we do the windshield. Problem with the side windows being laminated is you sometimes have a patients head right there which can complicate things if your method of punching the initial hole involves swinging something big, heavy, and pointy.
 
mcshooter said:
What if you add in after market tint, probably adds a level to the window breaking
Click to expand...
I haven't broken a window with aftermarket tint, and my knowledge of aftermarket tint is extremely limited. You may be onto something though for sure. I've broken factory tinted tempered side windows and they just shatter into a million pieces very easily with any of the little glass punch tools I've used.
 

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