You have a fully functional conventional gas engine family sedan of fairly recent vintage with half a tank of gas. As it stands, how could you use it and what could you scavenge from it if it was your only source in a survival situation. Let's assume you are doing this for a contest or something and the question of using it as an internal combustion vehicle for transportation is eliminated from consideration.

Edit: no contents beyond whatever normally comes as safety equipment.

Pretty tough to scavenge much without some basic tools. At least a wrench, a screwdriver, a knife, and a pair or two of pliers would sure be helpful.

Since I EDC at least a knife, I'm going to assume that I've got a knife, a tire iron, and a jack.

So, that nice spare in the back, it's probably the easiest to get to. Pull that sucker out, deflate it with a stab, then cut it up into strips. Makes a nice fire starter and more importantly it can be used to produce some nice black smoke, the kind that draws attention.

HJ

I think Jim has the Best answer,I'd leave the rest alone,I may have to sell the vehicle to pay the fine for rescuing my dumbass,from said- hypothetical situation!

I don't even have a driver's license so I might be way off, but...

Signal mirrors
A rag soaked in gas and a spark from the battery to make a fire. Anti-freeze or any such could probably be used as well.
A bulb, a car battery and jump cables = (heavy but) portable light source for signalling from a nearby hill.
If it was cold, I'd dismantle the back seat for extra insulation.
Webbing from the safety belts and any extra wire or cables.
Like Hikin Jim said, spare tires for black smoke and fire starters (I've never managed to ignite a piece of rubber from a spark, though). You could also cut them into rubber bands (shelter building, improvised hunting tools).

If really desperate, shatter one of the mirrors (at least my brothers 5-year old car still had real glass mirrors) to get a sharp edge. This would be enough to dismantle the seats at least.

A question to someone who knows better? Are there any metal containers inside a modern engine that could be used for boiling water? Easily removed and not coated/tainted with anything nasty, preferably.

I wouldn't drink the water from the radiator, but might boil it for hot water bottles and such.

-jh

I scavange some finger prints and a few breaths
I push the onstar button and tell the operator I need assistance, then wait patiently for help to arrive to my paved location

smart alecky I know and here is my logic
contests are never this vague, or if they are, they're the 2 minute radio talk show variety with cheap prizes


things you can scavange from a car
- things to burn
- - windshield wiper, easy to break, burn the rubber, use metal as skewer, fishing hooks
- - tires
- - upholstery/carpet
- - fuel
- - fuelline
- - oil filter
- - various gaskets (door/trunk/hood)
- - anything plastic you can break off
- - dipsticks for a skewer, or harpoon
- - long screw from car battery bracket for a skewer
- - antenna for skewer
- - lug-wrench for hot stone method
- - radiator cap, lug-nuts and other thick metal for hot stone boil method
- - ...
- cordage
- - wire
- - seatbelts
- - timingbelt
- - fuel line
- - water line
- - ...
- containers
- - wheel contain fire
- - glove-box for water, can boil with hot stone method
- - hubcap to contain fire
- - hubcap to boil water
- - oil filter cover if metal, will hold some water or use as griddle
- ...
- sharp and/or pointy
- - windshield wiper, dipstick ...
- - instrument panel if glass
- - vanity mirror
- - light covers , front or rear
- - leave windows intact, if break small window, cut upholstery to patch hole
- - ...
- signal
- - rear view mirror
- - passenger and driver side mirrors
- - vanity/visor mirrors
- - dashboard
- - front/rear light covers and reflectors
- - ...

most of these things you can scavenge by hand by tugging, or cutting with improvised sharp, or leveraging with lug-wrench, a few use wing-nuts

when scavanging ask yourself
is it water? food?
is it shiny?....will it reflect light?
is it sparky?...will it spark? burn? smoke?
is it sharpy?...will it cut?
is it stabby?...will it stab? dig?
is it ropy?.....will it tie?
is it potty?....will it hold water?
is it tarpy?....will it cover? shade? shed rain?

The car, as it stands and by itself, is an excellent shelter against the cold, wind and wetness. The fully functional engine could even provide some heat for a limited time - until the gas runs out.

The really challenging part would be improvising a heat source inside the vehicle. Given more tools and a lot of time and dedication, perhaps the exhaust muffler and piping could be made into a wood stove?


As for the scavening part - it really depends on the situation.

"Should I stay or should I go?" would come into play outside the contest. The headliner and some wires could make an improvised backpack to carry a lot of the stuff mentioned above (Nice scavaging guys!) A battery is pretty heavy though and would be better left behind. One of the headlights could be used to start a fire instead. Or perhaps we could imorovise a fire piston with some of the metal tubing.

Pretty good list so far.
Windshield washer fluid tank and radiator overflow tank would make good water carriers if you can clean it out well. Maybe a good reason to use the non-toxic (less toxic) "green" antifreeze. The washer hoses can be used for drinking straw or siphon.
Tape wrapping on wire bundles may be re useable.
Trunk (boot)liners are often made of removeable padding for insulation.
Car tires don't come with inner tubes any more and good luck trying to cut up a steel belted radial. I don't know if the little doughnut spares are more useable.
leo

I agree, without the benefit of some basic hand tools, it will take a lot work to scavenge a car to really utilize in a survival situation.

One thing to keep in mind what is the likelihood of rescue whether that be self or waiting for SAR? I recall back in the early 1990's, up north a man and his wife got stuck off-roading in early spring. They tried for the first couple of days to dig themselves out to no avail and decided (wisely) to stay with the truck that provided shelter from the elements etc.

After a few more days of decent dry weather, the road they were stuck on dried up enough that they were able to get the truck extricated and make their way home which was about 60k (36 miles). Had this couple decided to scavenge the truck beforehand to the point of non driveability, the outcome could of been much different...

Don't forget, in a snowy environment you could use the seat pads as improvised snowshoes. Probably make good bed padding too, if you decided that egress was better than staying with the car.

If you were careful on how you extracted the foam, you may potentially be able to use the upholstery as some sort of light blanket.

Too bad it's a new car - the glass cuts nicely.