I can guarantee that they will release under load. I've been hanging upside down in a pickup & it released with no problem. It hadn't been subjected to a lot of stress but was under load.

I shutter to think of living in an area where people have that kind of reaction to seeing a knife (much less a gun). I live in a area where carrying a knife is the rule rather than the exception, and ccw is readily accepted. I grew up in places where knives and guns are just another tool. It's hard for me to think of them as anything else.

Other than eBay, where is a good online store for the ResQMe? I've tried Ace Hardware to no avail. Thanks!

Their website: http://www.resqme.com/ lists a bunch of online sources, there's a where to buy section, try: http://www.nov8safety.com/buy/resqme.htm

Sorry, this may seem like a funny thing to write, but it's truly just for the sake of something to ponder, but not of course to interfere with the saving of a desparate person's life.

I had occasion to be sued one time because my neighbor's Doberman jumped over his front yard fence and bit the mailwoman who was putting my mail in my front door slot. Of course, I was extremely upset about being named in the suit (particularly since I picked up her dumped mail, bandaged her hand, and called her supervisor for her), however a lawyer friend of mine said that I had involved myself in the incident, therefore making myself potentially culpable for any fallout from the incident, including being named in the suit by the mailperson who I had helped. My lawyer friend told me I would have been perfectly within my rights to let her bleed all over my front doorstep and do nothing. I imagine the person (or persons) trying to aid a trapped motorist in a burning vehicle also might be similarly culpable if things didn't turn out so good.

Again, just a thought, not necessarily a reason to avoid helping a fellow human in a desparate situation.

This goes back to research do in the 1960's and 1970's by the Department of Transport (D.o.T.) in the UK. They were trying to establish why so many car accidents where fatal.
One of the things that came out of those tests was the very poor design of the seat belt's. The seat belt is intended to keep the driver/passenger in the seat, which under most circumstances is the safest place for them.
They discovered that the actual locking mechanism's failed under peak loads. That meant that the belt would effectivly break. With fatal consiquences.
They redesigned and tested various designs before settling on the current design. If the current lock fails, the parts in the lock itself fail in such fashion as to jam the lock closed. Thus preventing the occupant being throw from the seat.
Ofcourse the downside of that you very occasionally get a situation in which some one is then trapped in the seat.
It should be understood by anyone reading this that not using a seatbelt or using a design that does not jam closed WILL BE FATAL in a crash.

Rather than leave it designed to fail & jam, why not design the parts to exceed the webbing strength like they should have in the first place?

Shhhhhh!!!!!!!!

COMMON SENSE ALERT!!! COMMON SENSE ALERT !!!

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!

This is not a drill, you have been caught in the act of espousing forth with a common sense statement!!!

Cease and desist all such future actions and transgressions immediately or you'll be questioned by your local NATIONAL THOUGHT CONTROL POLICE DEPARTMENT (NTCPD)!!

This is the only warning that you will receive!!

Because it would cost more money. Remember, this is from an industry that went kicking and screaming when the belts were mandated in the first place and again when airbags were required.

Last I looked, no state had a "Good Samaritan" law, so you definitely could have left here there to bleed. But you apparently have a concience. Good for you.

Generally, if you do help, you aren't liable unless you make the person's situation worse (Jump, I'll catch you). However, not being liable isn't the same as not being sued. Hope your homeowners insurance picked up the legal fees.

Remember, it's 98% of lawyers that give the rest of us a bad name.