What is the best way to smash open a car window?

[TGS]

Is there a reason that people don’t just unbuckle the seat belt? Of all the parts of a car likely to be destroyed in a crash, the buckle on the typical seatbelt has to be at the bottom of the list.

Don’t get me wrong, I love overspending on sharps that I don’t need, but I think I’m missing something here.

- dunno if that tensioning is temporary or not.

What whomever started on. The seatbelt will usually lock in place during an accident. If it tensions tightly against you, it can be hard to disengage the belt particularly if you're overturned or the mechanism jams.

I came out of a resturant one nigh to find my tinted back window had been shot with a bb gun. The window was shattered but the tint held the pieces in place. I drove it like that for a few days until I could get the window replaced.

That's just the layer of film holding the shards together, which isn't the same situation as the question I answered 6 years ago; i.e. window tint film may hold a shattered tempered window together after it cracks, but it won't do anything to impact breaching of said glass.

Since this conversation 6 years ago, however, laminated safety glass has become mandatory in the US for side windows. Anything made in 2018 or later will have laminated side windows, so the typical window punches are of limited usefulness compared to how well they work on tempered glass. Best bet is to get sideways and kick out the window from the frame as a singular unit.

[Half Moon]

Is there a reason that people don’t just unbuckle the seat belt? Of all the parts of a car likely to be destroyed in a crash, the buckle on the typical seatbelt has to be at the bottom of the list.

Don’t get me wrong, I love overspending on sharps that I don’t need, but I think I’m missing something here.

FWIW, my great uncle burned to death in an auto accident after his seat belt jammed. My grandmother was thrown free of the wreck and witnessed him trying to escape as the car caught fire (that had to be years worth of nightmares). Old gal refused to wear a seat belt the rest of her life and laws be dammed. Of course that was '60's era tech so I'm assuming the airline style lap belt latch, and it's only a single reference incident, but still somewhere a strap cutter might have been of use.

[Oldherkpilot]

At the VFD, we use an automatic center punch for the tempered glass, usually used at the corner of a window. IIRC, there is a move for newly manufactured vehicles use laminated glass instead of tempered glass for all the windows on a vehicle, not just the front windshield. This makes things a little more complicated, as you'll have to tear the glass off after you crack it.

I have an automatic center punch in each of my cars. If you have a Harbor Freight nearby, they have decent ones for cheap. Alternatively, chuck a glass & tile bit in your drill and see how that goes. I was trying to attach a bracket to a broken refrigerator shelf. The resulting explosion of tempered glass taught me not to do that anymore.😁

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What whomever started on. The seatbelt will usually lock in place during an accident. If it tensions tightly against you, it can be hard to disengage the belt particularly if you're overturned or the mechanism jams.




That's just the layer of film holding the shards together, which isn't the same situation as the question I answered 6 years ago; i.e. window tint film may hold a shattered tempered window together after it cracks, but it won't do anything to impact breaching of said glass.

Since this conversation 6 years ago, however, laminated safety glass has become mandatory in the US for side windows. Anything made in 2018 or later will have laminated side windows, so the typical window punches are of limited usefulness compared to how well they work on tempered glass. Best bet is to get sideways and kick out the window from the frame as a singular unit.

Yes the glass would deflect if you pushed it but it didnt fall out like you tube videos show.
Since my newest vehicle is 2017 this is not an issue for me.
Im glad you brought up the point of the laminated side glass. I had no idea so i did some research online and found this article. I have no idea of the accuracy so anyone with a 2018 or newer vehicle needs to research their own vehicle.

A third of 2018 model-year vehicles have laminated glass in their side windows, AAA says. To find out whether your car has tempered or laminated side windows, read the label in the bottom corner the window, or check directly with the manufacturer. Make sure to check every window, as it’s common for at least one side window to be made from breakable tempered glass.

https://www.cars.com/articles/tough-...ur-car-405870/

There are some interesting facts in that article it would be well worth a read in its entirety. Actually Im going to look for the original AAA study later I just dont have time right now.

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I assume this is the AAA article mentioned in the above article. There is also a link in the article for their tool evaluation report.

https://info.oregon.aaa.com/aaa-vehi...ehicles-glass/

[DMF13]

https://resqme.com/product/resqme/

I've used these with great success. Small, inexpensive, and they work great.

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Im curious if an automatic center punch if used twice in the same spot, once for the inside pane and once for the outside pane, in one or multiple locations, make it easier to kick out laminated glass.

[andre3k]

Mercedes Benz windows are no joke.

I used a ram for all car windows now. It works every time.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[TGS]

Im curious if an automatic center punch if used twice in the same spot, once for the inside pane and once for the outside pane, in one or multiple locations, make it easier to kick out laminated glass.

Location matters. You want the spot where you're putting your feet to be as strong as possible so that your feet don't go through the window.

You want to attack the outer edges/corners of the window to weaken the glass so that you can break it free as a single unit. If you weaken the center of the window with a punch and then try to kick it out, the spot where you're putting your feet is weakest and the edges are strongest....which means your foot will go through the window and now you'll be lacerated and have your foot sticking out through a window. You're then going to have to really fight to get the hole big enough to crawl out of, since you'll probably be unable to take out the window as a single unit at that point.

So, attack the edges and corners and then kick from the center. Find something to anchor yourself against, like the center console. If it's a frameless window, attack the bottom only so that the window folds over on itself.

[Westtexasrancher]

https://sapgear.com/products/gtfo-wrist-strap

I am wearing one of these, plus have a glass breaker on my work knife.