Hey guys & gals!

I'm baaaaack! But just for short period of time because I got a lot of projects that I'm currently working on. I was asked to do a few articles for some magazines, plus I gotta find some time to post some new survival tips & tricks on my website too. As some of you guys here keep sending me emails bugging me when am I gonna post some new tips on it.

I like logging on hanging out here on ETS, but if I stay too long I will probably violate another rule and get my butt chewed out again. Or I'll get addicted [again] to keep coming back here to see what's all going on here and I won't get done what I need to do here in Italy where I live.

Anyway, I have few car survival tips that I think you guys & gals will find unique and interesting, and I dedicate these tips to Mr. James Kim & his family. And if anyone here should someday find themselves in a similar situation, stranded in their car in a remote area. I hope these tips will help increase your chances of being rescued sooner rather than later.

I don't recall seeing these car survival tips in any survival handbook, on anyone elses survival site nor posted here on this forum. If anyone here has, please let me know where.

Should you find yourself stranded in a remote area with your vehicle and you are not sure where you are or where the nearest house or town is located. As everyone here knows [by now], it's usually best to stay with your vehicle and wait for help to come to you than to wander off looking for HELP. But after waiting 24 hours or so and no one has yet come to your rescue, then here's what you can do to increase your chances of being rescued.

(a) Just as James Kim did, start burning one rubber tire per day starting at day break so that the black smoke can be seen during daylight. Should your car tire burn out before night fall, don't burn another rubber tire until the next day. But instead build three separate wood fires as this will increase your chances of being seen from the air and means HELP is needed.

(b) Like with a whistle and gunshots, three blasts of a car horn and then a pause [between 3 x beeps] also means HELP is needed. But don't keep blasting the car horn until your battery becomes weak, just every so often, and remember to start the vehicle once in a while to keep the battery charged. That is if the vehicle's engine and electrical system is still operational.

(c) If it's a sunny day, remove either the rear view mirror or one of vehicle's side view mirrors and go to the nearest highest ground or hill. Hopefully one that allows you to see in all directions and then flash the mirror in all directions trying to get someone to notice your flashes and black tire smoke too. If there is no high ground or hill, then climb the nearest tallest tree.

Should you hear and see an aircraft flying way overhead or at a loooong distance away, still make every effort to try to signal it anyway even if you don't think they'll see your signal. Because even if it's not an aircraft out searching for you, they may have seen your mirror flashes and black smoke and thought it was nothing.

But maybe the next day or a few days later the pilot of that aircraft will be reading a newspaper, listening to the radio or see on television that the authorities are searching for a lost person in a remote area. And he will say to himself "Hmmm, I flew over/near that area the other day, I wonder if that black smoke and flashes was from that person they're searching for."

(d) Just before it gets dark, remove the car battery, one car headlight and some wires from your vehicle that doesn't have anything to do with the car's ignition system. Like some wires located in the truck section of your vehicle. Then carry these items again to the nearest highest ground or hill, build yourself a fire and then hook up the car headlight to the battery with the wires. And then start blinking the headlight in all directions in increments of three blinks and a pause which also means HELP is needed.

But don't continue to do this all night long, just for an hour or two as most people who live in remote areas are most likely to have gone to bed by 10 or 11 pm. Plus you don't want to kill the battery as you will need to use it to restart your vehicle so you can recharge the battery for another possible night(s). That is...if you still have some fuel remaining in your vehicle and the engine is still operational.

So what do you think about these car survival tips? Make sense? Good idea? Has anyone else seen these same tips somewhere else?

Thanks for your time, let me know what you think, stay tune for some more tips that will be posted soon on my website.


"Ranger Rick" F. Tscherne

US Army, Retired (1972-93)

Owner, www.therangerdigest.com & www.sositalia-usa.com