The Escape Hammer: A Life Saving Tool Every Car Should Have

Imagine that you’re at the corner gas station one evening, when you witness a terrible accident. A large truck sails through a red light and smashes into a small sedan. Alarmed, you rush to help. When you reach the accident, you notice a family in the sedan; they seem mostly uninjured, but they appear to be unable to open the doors or roll down the windows. The wreck has somehow disabled the electrical system and they’re now trapped in their car. Then, horrified, you notice gasoline leaking from both vehicles. A single spark could set the entire scene on fire… You don’t have time to wait for emergency services. What do you do?

If you’re like most poeple, you probably think “smash the window!” But, as the following video hilariously demonstrates, breaking a car window is actually really hard!


Which brings us back to the question. How do you break a car window in an emergency situation? The answer is: you need a special type of hammer.

hammer

No… not that type of Hammer…

You’ll need an escape hammer: a special tool specifically designed to break a car window, easily, and in a way that doesn’t entirely shatter the window and send glass flying. They’re an essential part of every car’s emergency kit.

“But wait!” I hear you saying, “your scenario is entirely fabricated and highly unlikely.” Well consider these other cases where an emergency escape hammer could save a life:

  • You’re walking through the vast Walmart shopping lot on a blisteringly hot summer’s day in Texas, when you happen to notice a baby/dog/cat/tarantula apparently forgotten in a hot car. A matter of mere seconds could mean the difference between life and death.
  • It’s raining and you’re in a hurry to get home. You find yourself at a dip in the road that appears to be covered by just a few inches of water. Against the the safety advice of the National Weather Service and others, you decide to cross. Before you realize it, you discover that you’re stuck and that your car is now being washed away. You can’t open the doors and the electrical system fails.
  • You’re idly lounging one of Google’s self driving cars when the car’s AI spontaneously achieves sentience and decides it hates traffic as much as you do. To wreak its vengeance, it locks all of the doors and windows and starts playing Justin Bieber songs at full volume.

Ok, the last one might be a bit of a stretch, but the bottom line is that in many cases, an escape hammer could save your or someone else’s life.

How It Works

escape2

An escape hammer works by using a sharp point to bring maximal force to a pinpoint in the window, causing it to shatter. Note, modern car windows generally contain a laminate layer that prevents glass from flying everywhere when they break, but because an escape hammer only requires a light tap, flying glass is even less likely.. Most escape hammers on the market also include a sharp cutting tool for cutting through seatbelts. Some have additional features, such as a built in tire gauge.

Conclusion

Perhaps now you’re convinced of the necessity of an escape hammer but are wondering how much it’ll cost. Don’t fear! They’re quite cheap. On Amazon, you’ll find a wide variety of price ranges, from less than $10 to over $30. But you don’t need to buy an expensive one. This is a top seller that’s been rated 5 stars on Amazon and can be had for less than 10 bucks. For bringing you peace of mind and potentially saving a life, that’s a bargain you can’t pass up:

Mike Sluyter
Author: Mike Sluyter
Mike is the previous manager of Driven Autos Magazine. He is software engineer and was a Computer Science major. Mike resides in Texas.

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