How much of a swing does it take to break a side-window of a car? Are the carbide glass breakers on knives useful if you are inside the vehicle or are they more for a responder on the outside? Just thinking that I may add a ResQme to the available equipment; as I understand it does not require room to swing as do other tools. Is that correct?
IMO, the spring loaded center punch is the tool of choice for automotive window breaking. It works on either the inside or outside of the side window, but not the windshield. Here's a short video demo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5f7pZX61BoBut, if you can, wear gloves and eye protection, or expect a few nicks and cuts, since it is basically impossible to prevent your hand from continuing through the hole you just made. You can easily pick out the remaining broken glass if necessary.
A pointed impact tool, like carbide tipped whatever, takes a surprising amount of force to break side window glass, and it can also rebound off the glass nastily. For self-rescue from the inside, I suggest a spring loaded center punch, so I concur with your choice of a ResQme or something similar. I like the ResQme in particular because it combines a punch with a seatbelt cutter, the blade is entirely covered by the attachment clip, and it's light, compact and small enough to fit on a key ring, although mine is mounted to a little loop of shock cord around the turn signal stalk.
Previous Topic
Index
