Testing shows automotive glassbreakers can't break modern automotive glass

https://www.core77.com/posts/138925/Testing-Shows-Automotive-Glassbreakers-Cant-Break-Modern-Automotive-Glass

by surprisetalk • 8 months ago

174 223 8 months ago

silexia• 8 months ago

Useful tech post!

Not sure about the "car falls into the lake" scenario, but I know some women who carry these for fear of a crazed Uber driver who might lock them in the car.

ronsor2• 8 months ago

The crazy Uber drivers would replace their windows with plexiglass if that caught on.

chdjdbdbfjf• 8 months ago

Your threat model is incoherent.

AngryData3• 8 months ago

You are assuming a crazed uber driver is smart and knowledgeable enough to do that, but 90% of people driving ubers to start with are doing so because they don't have those kind of skills or knowledge.

Meekro3• 8 months ago

You can just unlock the door and exit the car in that case-- there's no way to "lock someone in" unless you've modified the lock somehow. And if someone did that, they probably reinforced the glass too.

avhon13• 8 months ago

Child safety locks do this. They prevent the rear doors from being unlocked and opened from the inside.

nine_k2• 8 months ago

I wonder why is this not part of the standard safety tests. It can be done before a crash test, for instance.

happyopossum• 8 months ago

What exactly are you proposing gets tested? The windows are supposed to be hard to break so people don’t fly out of them…

_aavaa_2• 8 months ago

Hard enough to not fly out accidentally but weak enough that people can break them on purpose so they're not trapped inside.

torstenvl3• 8 months ago

That's what seat belts are for. Making unbreakable glass is morally repugnant.

Ekaros• 8 months ago

Exiting through a window is probably not a common case. Or even entering from outside to retrieve a person.

I think likely much better would be to mandate solution that forces doors to fully unlock in case of a crash or large water ingress.

stavros4• 8 months ago

The problem isn't that doors don't unlock, it's that you can't open the door against the massive water pressure, or against the door crumpling in itself and ruining the mechanism.

thefourthchime• 8 months ago

The article glides over the fact that FMVSS 226 is a performance standard, not a materials mandate. Manufacturers can stick with tempered glass if they beef up the side curtain airbags enough to prevent ejection, which is exactly what happens on a lot of base models and rear windows to keep BOM costs down. The list of brands using laminated glass is accurate, but it applies mostly to their premium trims or front rows only.

There is also the issue of fleet turnover. With the average age of US vehicles pushing 13 years, the install base is still overwhelmingly tempered glass. Writing off the tool entirely because new luxury cars have moved on ignores the reality of what people are actually driving. You are statistically much more likely to be trapped in a 2012 Civic than a 2025 S-Class.

bayindirh• 8 months ago

The article glides over the fact that FMVSS 226 is a performance standard, not a materials mandate.

Nope. The article states the following just after the table:

It's true that not all automakers have switched over to laminated glass for the side windows; the FMVSS 226 law stipulates that you can get around it if you install elaborate side airbags that also prevent ejection.

alwa2• 8 months ago

As the grandparent points out, although the article says that, the actual regulation does not. The regulation says you have to prevent side ejections, it doesn’t say how. You can read it yourself:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.226

Ejection mitigation countermeasure means a device or devices, except seat belts, integrated into the vehicle that reduce the likelihood of occupant ejection through a side window opening, and that requires no action by the occupant for activation.

Lamination and side airbags seem to be the way it’s usually done today, but nothing prevents a better way.

sndean• 8 months ago

The smartest thing to do would be to check your car’s windows for any indication (the AAA report, page 19, cited in the article has examples) of whether they’re laminated or tempered. AFAICT, whether my new-ish Subaru Ascent’s windows are laminated depends on location (front or rear) and installation differs between the Ascent trims. Best to check for your specific car and where you’re likeliest to be sitting.

alistairSH• 8 months ago

It did cover that. And half the tools couldn’t break the tempered glass either.

walletdrainer9• 8 months ago

You are statistically much more likely to be trapped in a 2012 Civic than a 2025 S-Class.

This is probably also very much true on a per mile basis.

potato37328428• 8 months ago

If you can afford an 2025 S-class you can afford to fly for medium distance travel, you probably aren't slogging out a long commute because you live in one of those rich inner suburbs. You leave the house at reasonable hours and get home at reasonable hours, etc, etc.

There's all sorts of stuff that's just a proxy for generalized correlation with wealth and wealthy lifestyles.

porphyra• 8 months ago

oh just get Franz von Holzhausen to throw a ball bearing at it

superkuh• 8 months ago

The problem isnot cracking the glass. The problem is breaking it apart enough to get through. Your reference joke is not quite appropriate to this context.

nine_k2• 8 months ago

Have a crowbar handy. It's known to be useful in a variety of situations, including a literal space alien assault.

excalibur• 8 months ago

We're gonna need a source on that one.

p1mrx• 8 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_(game_engine)

windowsrookie• 8 months ago

But also don’t leave it loose in your vehicle. A crowbar hitting your head in a car accident does not sound like a good time.

3eb7988a16635• 8 months ago

Better than a gnome rattling around in the car.

Aloha• 8 months ago

I carry a small hatchet in the trunk of my car with the spare tire just for this reason.

drob5185• 8 months ago

A small charge of C4 works wonders. Just be sure to lay your head over in the passenger seat before detonation.

roflchoppa2• 8 months ago

Whats weird is that I know of at least 8 “modern cars” 2018+ that all have had cracked windshields.

3 of them are mine, my 2002 car has taken huge rocks like a champ…

Its big glass im telling you, esp because the recalibration stuff for Assistive Steering is like 7-800 bucks.

daemonologist• 8 months ago

the recalibration stuff for Assistive Steering is like 7-800 bucks

Yeesh at that point I'd just be buying a Comma.

rogerrogerr• 8 months ago

Usually the glass companies force you to pay it. For “safety”. It’s just a “you have a nice car so we’re gonna charge you more” fee.

I’ll probably be doing my own windshield on my Tesla to avoid this. Safelight has decent prices but whacks you with a huge fee for pressing “calibrate” in the service menu, which is user accessible.

tforcram• 8 months ago

Similar experience with a 2010 Honda Odyssey, drove it for 10 years and never saw a crack even though I'm sure it took a beating.

Then we got a 2022 Passport and I swear every single trip has a new crack or chip. I was surprisingly fortunate to be talked into the windshield warranty as the sales guy has been through this exact thing and replacing these windshields with assistive tech is expensive. That warranty has already paid for itself and more including once full windshield replacement.

cobertos• 8 months ago

Huh, odd. I have a car with assistive controls and they also tried to talk me into this warranty but I declined. They mentioned replacement would require extra money.

I did end up getting a windshield replacement shortly after purchase (like 6 months into ownership a rock came out of a truck and hit my windshield). I got it replaced for the normal $100-$200 not from the dealership and the vision system has had no issues.

t0mas88• 8 months ago

The table from the report shows that the tools do crack the window but don't break it. Which is probably the main difference between old glass and the newer layered glass? If you crack an outer layer it is no longer usable, but you can't escape through it.

inkyoto• 8 months ago

Laminated glass does not prevent routine stone chip events – if a tiny fragment of the stone becomes wedged in the outer ply or at the laminate interface at a tension point and, coupled with the temperature difference (inside the cabin vs ambient), cabin pressure and body flex that often place higher tensile stress lower on the windscreen, the crack can start propagating very quickly.

That was my experience earlier in the year: I was driving alongside a large fuel tanker on a city road when a tiny stone chip, probably thrown up from under the tanker’s tyres, struck the front windscreen. It took about an 1 ½ hour for the initially invisible crack to spread into an irreparable 30 cm one – effectively right in front of my eyes – and the windscreen had to be replaced. Lesson learned: do not drive anywhere near large trucks or fuel tankers or maintain a larger distance.

But the laminated glass will prevent the structural collapse of the windshield and will also prevent the occupants from being showered with glass shards. It is also more likely that the windshield will withstand an impact from a large stone, leaving a localised and static crack that can be repaired with resin.

simoncion• 8 months ago

...and will also prevent the occupants from being showered with glass shards.

Hasn't it been the case for a long time now that glass in automobiles is coated so that it breaks into small, generally-square fragments, rather than shards?

I've never smashed a window myself, but every couple of months, I see the remains of a window smashing on the sidewalk... it's always a pile of small, generally-square fragments.

My memory tells me that this design was mandated long ago because folks would get shards embedded in them effectively forever. One of my parents related a story that one of the parents up the tree would irregularly have to extract migrating glass shards breaking through the skin of his face that had been embedded during an automobile accident many years prior. But, perhaps that story is bullshit and completely fabricated, IDK.

HWR_14• 8 months ago

Much like cell phone screens, altering the glass to make catastrophic failures less likely makes cracking more likely.

walletdrainer9• 8 months ago

Hey, it could be worse. I had the windshield on my newish S-class start smoking and quickly crack after.

sizzzzlerz• 8 months ago

What are the police to do when some insane sovcit refuses to exit the car over a speeding ticket? Those windows aren’t going to break themselves.

stavros4• 8 months ago

The fact that you're trying to optimize for "police serving speeding tickets to insane sovcits" over "getting flung out of the car in an accident and being crushed by the car" makes me glad you don't design cars.

AngryData3• 8 months ago

Why should they exit a car over a speeding ticket? A speeding ticket is not a jail sentence and does not warrant an arrest. In fact unless a driver is actively trying to harm somebody or has an active arrest warrant there is no reason whatsoever for them to leave their car or allow cops to remove people from cars.

nerdsniper• 8 months ago

In some states, it is the law that officers can order you to step out of the vehicle during any valid traffic stop, regardless if it is criminal or civil.

In some states it is the law that if you are from out of state and get a speeding ticket, you either have to pay the officer in cash while you are stopped or they can take you to jail until money is posted or it is your court date.

This happened to a friend of mine from Wisconsin, visiting me in Michigan about ten years ago. I was shocked to learn this was actual Mochigan law, and could hardly believe it even after verifying it. He felt very “lucky” to have had several hundred dollars in cash to simply hand over to the officer. Michigan only just rescinded those laws in 2019: https://landline.media/michigan-laws-end-roadside-cash-payme...

ufmace• 8 months ago

You don't necessarily have to if you're just getting a speeding ticket. But in order to write a speeding ticket, you have to hand over a valid Driver's License so they know who to ticket. Exactly what should they do if the driver refuses to provide their Driver's License?

Arrowmaster• 8 months ago

In the sovereign citizen cases they are talking about, the typical case is that the vehicle is not registered/doesn't have plates and the driver refuses to identify themselves. They only barely lower the window if at all. They usually go back and forth a few times until the police tell them they are under arrest for multiple reasons relating to driving without a license and failure to identify.

The glass breaking happens after multiple offices have arrived for backup as the person usually gets dragged from the car screaming. The videos are extremely entertaining to watch.

The combination of unregistered vehicle, failure to prove the driver has a license, and the drivers insisting they should be allowed to drive away is absolutely a combination where arrest is legal.

monster_truck2• 8 months ago

None of these glass breakers are any good at what they're supposed to do anyways, I'd wager all of their websites delinate that they are for tempered glass only. What you want is porcelain or ceramic.

Unfortunately, afaik, porclean/cermaic glass breakers are illegal in most states. They are "Burglary Tools".

Nothing wrong with keeping a box of spark plugs in your center console though

mikkupikku2• 8 months ago

That old spark plug thing was from when cars had tempered side windows, wasn't it? I don't see how those would be particularly effective at dealing with lamination.

rdtsc• 8 months ago

Would a spark plug work on laminated glass?

Johnny5552• 8 months ago

A ceramic glass breaker isn't going to be any better than the metal tools on laminated glass, breaking the glass is only half the battle, you've still got to get through the intact glass pane held in place by the plastic laminate.

Nothing wrong with keeping a box of spark plugs in your center console though

But then you've got to keep a tool to break the spark plug to give you a sharp ceramic shard to get through the glass.

drob5185• 8 months ago

Exactly. It’s the plastic middle layer that screws you.

monster_truck2• 8 months ago

It doesn't matter. You barely have to throw a speck of it harder than you'd throw a dog toy for it to shatter laminated glass.

loeg• 8 months ago

Broken spark plugs are also known as "ninja rocks," for what it's worth. Also considered illegal burglary tools in some states.

mikestew3• 8 months ago

I fail to see how any of your suggestions are going to do any better on laminated glass. Breaking the glass isn’t the problem here, it’s the lamination.

The_President• 8 months ago

Or when in something with windows like a Cybertruck maybe a 45

Meekro3• 8 months ago

Just imagining firing that in a car is making my ears ring.

m463• 8 months ago

None of these glass breakers are any good

...unless you're demonstrating unbreakable cybertruck glass to the world.

adiabatichottub2• 8 months ago

Thieves in my city use the kind of automatic center punch that you can buy at any hardware store.

croes• 8 months ago

So no fast rescue of children and dogs in cars in the summer heat anymore

bombcar• 8 months ago

You can just carry the Ripper.

https://www.aoe.net/product/the-ripper-window-glass-cutter/

eurleif• 8 months ago

Expensive, and pretty bulky to carry around along with an impact driver. There are less expensive, more compact hand-operated tools, e.g.:

https://www.lifelinerescuetools.com/products/lifeline-escape...

https://www.ajaxrescuetools.com/prod-20-1-127-28/extrication...

jonah• 8 months ago

I've used one (in training). Works great, nice clean cuts, but still a little slow. Quicker to just use an axe which, if you're a firefighter, you have handy. (Carefully chop around the perimeter of the windshield or side window. Use gentle blows to minimize dispersion of broken glass within the cabin.)

inejge• 8 months ago

Okay now I'm imagining a classical ballet recreation of the "Heeere's Johnny" scene. With firemen.

drob5185• 8 months ago

Simple. Just make sure you test your glass breaker on your car side window before you drive off the road or bridge into a deep lake.

mikkupikku2• 8 months ago

"The fantasy being peddled by the toolmakers is: You will crash, remain conscious, find that your car has burst into flame or is slowly sinking in water, find that you cannot undo your seatbelt, yet are still able to reach for this specialty tool, slice through your seatbelt, then smash the window open and climb free to safety."

Uh huh... Now consider this scenario; you lose control and crash into a tree. You are out and your car catches fire. Who gets to the scene first? Firefighters, or probably just whichever randos happened to be right there when it happened? Probably the later. Probably for the best if one of them is able to break your window and pull you out.

stavros4• 8 months ago

Yes, which is why the article reaches that exact conclusion.

tharwan• 8 months ago

Victorinox tried to address this with this tool, not sure how successful https://www.victorinox.com/en-DE/Products/Swiss-Army-Knife%E...

rsyring• 8 months ago

404 from US IP address.

Rescue tool?

https://www.victorinox.com/en-US/Products/Swiss-Army-Knife%E...

mikestew3• 8 months ago

404. This one, perhaps?

https://www.victorinox.com/en-DE/Products/Swiss-Army-Knife%E...

jerlam• 8 months ago

There is a video of this tool being used to cut windshield (laminated) glass. It is not remotely practical:

https://youtu.be/LEHl6_ye9as?si=68rwouxAHWcurZ5O&t=73

sho_hn• 8 months ago

Because it's slow to use? The video does show it working fine. For the "someone locked me in the car" use case it seems OK?

axiolite• 8 months ago

Seems like they did it the by-the-book way for the commercial, rather than the panicked-escape real-world way... i.e. I'd do one vertical cut in the middle, then I'd be frantically pulling the glass shards out by hand (or claw hammer if available).

It's a shame AAA's testing wasn't more extensive. They should have determined the best tool for a quick exit... Crowbar, wood saw, large serrated knife, or can opener for example.

Multitools with glass breakers seem likely to be more durable and not fall apart like the cheap plastic hammers. e.g. Leatherman SIGNAL and $35 clones like B0BRRXVW9T. They also have knife blades, saw blades, pliers, and can openers for a good selection of alternative options to test out.

ThePowerOfFuet2• 8 months ago

Here's that YouTube link without the tracking parameter:

https://youtu.be/LEHl6_ye9as?t=73

csours• 8 months ago

Disclosure: I work for a car company, not on this.

If you want to be prepared for automotive incidents:

1. Check your mood and intoxication level before and while driving. Mood is more important than everything besides drugs and alcohol.

2. Left turns (or across traffic as applicable) are dangerous. Take extra care while turning left (or across traffic).

3. Using screens at night is bad for everyone, but especially above the age of 40, both focus and iris (light balance) response take longer. Using a screen changes your focus and blows out your night vision.

4. If your car has pushbutton electronic door openers, PRACTICE opening the door without battery power.

underlipton2• 8 months ago

3. Using screens at night is bad for everyone, but especially above the age of 40, both focus and iris (light balance) response take longer. Using a screen changes your focus and blows out your night vision.

On that note, if anyone with Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, et al. would like to revisit the way their apps handle ride assignment - specifically, the way platforms generally refuse to assign orders when the car is stationary, but then inundate contractors with notifications that must be responded to immediately when the car is in motion - it'd be much appreciated.

underlipton2• 8 months ago

I don't know why I'm asking here. I should be writing my legislative reps to get a law passed.

modzu• 8 months ago

if you coudlld just remove the screens except for nav/media thatd be great

conductr2• 8 months ago

I've had 3 different 2013 model cars by different manufacturers, it was a great year for "just the right amount of tech" in a vehicle

walletdrainer9• 8 months ago

Pretty sure almost any car shop can manage that for cheap. At the most basic level you could just wrap the bits you don’t want visible

AlotOfReading• 8 months ago

One of my pet peeves about screen UIs is that they're worse than they need to be for night use. Modern dark themes are blue-heavy, which negatively impacts both pupil response and bleaching more than colors of the same luminance with more green and red.

ansgri• 8 months ago

There should be two dark modes: a simple dark mode, like most dark themes today, to work in dimmed lighting, and an actual night mode, designed to be legible but not mess with adaptation in total darkness. I don't know the research on this (and I'm sure military and aviation have lots of data here), but intuitively it should use mostly thin red and green lines.

PunchyHamster2• 8 months ago

Funnily enough the first comment in the article is "oh yeah, if you're in Tesla good fucking luck, their doors fail and the releases are incredibly hard to find in emergency"

dunham• 8 months ago

I didn't find them hard to find (in the front seat). When I first got my car it kept complaining because I instinctively reached for that lever instead of the button. The computer claimed I could break the window if I kept using the manual lever, and I had to figure out where the button was.

Not saying the car is great, just that I found the door lever easily. I'd still rather have real controls (and a real sensor) for the wipers and the reliance on software and software updates makes me very nervous. You can't even open the glove box without a voice command or touch screen (as far as I can tell).

QuiEgo• 8 months ago

The front ones seem easy enough, the rear ones are a lot harder

https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/2020_2024_modely/en_us/GU...

themafia• 8 months ago

If your car has pushbutton electronic door openers, PRACTICE opening the door without battery power.

Please stop building cars with this "feature." We honestly should make them illegal.

qwertytyyuu• 8 months ago

I think the removal of standard manual doors is the actual crime

toast0• 8 months ago

It's not a bad feature. My fancy car has them, and it can watch for traffic and stop/slow you opening the door if there's a car coming up that maybe you didn't see (or look for).

And on mine, the same handle that you push to open with electricity will also open manually if you pull it twice. Which is handy, because the 12v battery failed in the first year. Feels like 12v batteries are a lot less reliable lately.

Getting in from the outside with the manual handle isn't so obvious, it's kind of hidden at the back of the handle.

yonisto• 8 months ago

What do you mean by mood?

literalAardvark• 8 months ago

To quote Groundhog Day, "Don't drive angry".

Any mood intense enough is extremely distracting and dangerous for driving, whether anger, infatuation, mourning, etc.

Because of this some countries have psychological testing to check your emotional stability when you get your license renewed, but realistically your emotions will be compromised for short durations much more often than that.

The test is a long term ( 15-30 minutes ) strict focus test. You don't have time to fully check everything you do on it, so you do your best and the psychologist verifies both that you have a sufficient ability to focus as a % of tasks reasonably responded to, and that you don't have large "emotional gaps" in your responses where your mind wandered to your bonnie for 45 seconds and you didn't interact with the tasks much or at all.

Timon3• 8 months ago

Regarding screens: also make sure to configure the brightness correctly! I was recently driving with a relative in their new car at night, and the screen for navigation etc. was bright enough that I could see noticeably less than I'm used to. Turns out the screen does have separate brightness settings for day & night, but the night setting was at 4/10 per default (compared to 6/10 for the day setting). After lowering it to 1/10 the screen is still easily readable, and suddenly it's easy to see dark stuff again!

jjmarr• 8 months ago

Can I still remove the headrest and use it to break glass?

Izkata2• 8 months ago

This is apparently a mix of myth and misleading information: They can't be used to directly break the glass like these devices were designed to, they were never designed for this purpose as people claim, and even the "lever it between the glass and door" method only works with tempered glass and not the laminated glass that's used in newer cars.

Plus not all headrests can be removed anyway.

zoklet-enjoyer• 8 months ago

Oh cool. I bought the same model as that image for my girlfriend's kid yesterday

JSR_FDED2• 8 months ago

“It's easy to convince EDC people to buy EDC things. But how do you convince non-EDC folks to buy your product?”

Am I the only one who doesn’t know what EDC is?

esprehn• 8 months ago

I didn't know either, Google of just "EDC" figured it out though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyday_carry

Suppafly• 8 months ago

Every Day Carry. Nerds on reddit pump each other up to carry a bunch of nominally practical stuff around every day like pocket knives and glass breaking tools and seat belt cutters and such.

JSR_FDED2• 8 months ago

Hilarious! Thank you!

fainpul2• 8 months ago

EDC is when you carry 3 different sized pocket knives, a flashlight, a watch, a weird high tech pen, a card holder, a gun – and everything is color matched and presented nicely in a photograph you post on reddit.

atarian• 8 months ago

I bought a fire extinguisher recently but I’ve never used one. I have a faint idea of how it works and what kind of result I’d get based on what I’ve seen on TV. But if a serious fire ever breaks out I don’t even know if I’d even remember to grab and use it.

3eb7988a16635• 8 months ago

If you are looking to practice, the MythBusters said a fire extinguisher was an excellent way to quickly cool a case of beer. So, you can make it a $30 party trick and a teaching moment.

avhon13• 8 months ago

They were using carbon dioxide fire extinguishers, which are expensive (a couple hundred dollars, see [1] ) and not common in homes.

[1] https://fireextinguisherdepot.com/carbon-dioxide-fire-exting...

Telaneo• 8 months ago

If you have an old one that you want to get rid of, it's a good idea to set up a controlled fire and try out your extinguisher on it. That way you can get some experience.

Really though, it mostly is just pull pin -> aim low (at the base and source of the fire) -> squeeze until extinguished. Sweep the nozzle from side to side to get proper coverage.

They're intended to be used by anyone with no training, so there's not much to go wrong (assuming you haven't bought the wrong type and use it on an oil fire, although most of the ones I see for sale for consumers are the powder kind, which work on anything. The water ones are the worst, and I've never seen one).

NooneAtAll3• 8 months ago

and it needs to be remembered not to hold the nozzle - aim with the whole extinguisher

nozzle gets veeery cold as gas expands, so you can get frost burns

hermitcrab4• 8 months ago

I've seen a video of someone pointing an extinguisher the wrong way and blasting themself in the face! In their defense, they were under some stress.

-warren• 8 months ago

In fire school we learned PASS -- pin, aim, squeeze, sweep. Even well-trained professionals need simple mnemonic devices.

Also, we never used a seatbelt ripper -- they don't work. All first responders carrier trauma shears. Those do work and have multiple purposes.

whartung• 8 months ago

As someone who has found themselves in a situation out in the wild with a fire and a fire extinguisher (neither of which were mine), with no direct extinguisher experience, you can take some solace in that they work very easily. They're not some wild hose that going to send you around the room. There's very little force. And you can simply fire it in bursts. It takes no time to get a feel for it and use it with precision.

If you find yourself with a fire and an extinguisher, do not hesitate to pull the pin, and go to it. You'll figure it out. In the end, you can't really make the situation worse.

phantasmish• 8 months ago

My son picked up and used one effectively having about the same level of experience you do (none, but he knew the basic idea and had read the label). Can’t remember if he was 7 or 8 at the time, but either way I’m pretty sure you’ll be ok.

I mean, still doesn’t hurt to get more familiar, but…

dreamcompiler• 8 months ago

In a "serious" fire you should ignore the fire extinguisher get everyone out of the building.

Fire extinguishers are for small fires! If a little oil in your frying pan catches on fire and you don't have a lid readily available to smother it, use a fire extinguisher. But if your smoke alarm wakes you up and you discover your whole kitchen on fire, get out. The fire extinguisher will not help in that situation, and it may cause you to waste time. (Tip: If and only if the fire extinguisher is easily available, carry it with you as you exit. You might need it to use it clear a path to get out.)

trinix9122• 8 months ago

If a little oil in your frying pan catches on fire and you don't have a lid readily available to smother it, use a fire extinguisher.

We were told to just toss a large cloth on the fire in such cases.

RichardLake• 8 months ago

Check the class of the fire extinguisher and if it is suited for liquid fires before using it on a oil fire.

bluGill• 8 months ago

A fire extinguisher is to clear a safe path to the exit if the fire blocks it. never put them by the exit door as I see so many people do (in their garrage)

they can also be used on small fires but only if there is a safe escape route. (This is probably the most common use but not the primary use)

dpifke• 8 months ago

If you're in the U.S., you might check if your local fire department has a CERT[0] training course. (I did it many years ago in San Francisco; they call it NERT for some reason.)

It'll give you a chance to practice putting out an actual fire, refresh first aid skills, learn the incident command system, learn basic search and rescue, and other preparedness skills to help yourself, your family, and neighbors in an emergency (in that order).

[0] https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/individuals-communit...

adiabatichottub2• 8 months ago

A couple years ago somebody parked a stolen car in front of our building, stuffed a rag in the fuel filler, and lit it. I must have pulled up just a couple minutes after they had left. Grabbed the fire extinguisher I kept under the seat and put it out. I had that extinguisher around for about 5 years. You never know when you'll need it.

pants2• 8 months ago

When I was young we'd find expired fire extinguishers and go blast each other with em. Very easy to use. Good times. Hope they're not toxic...

hermitcrab4• 8 months ago

Water extinguishers are almost completely useless.

I once had a go at putting out a fire in a waste paper bin with a water extinguisher, as part of a fire safety course. The burning paper just floated on the water as the bin filled up.

CO2 extinguishers are more effective. But I believe you have to be careful where you hold it or your skin may freeze onto it.

Get a fire blanket for your kitchen.

michaelt2• 8 months ago

The time you want water is when something that water can soak into is on fire. Sofas, curtains, bedding, bookshelves, carpets, filing cabinets full of paper, etc.

The water soaks in and prevents the fire re-igniting. 30 years ago, workplaces contained a lot more filing cabinets and bookshelves, and smoking was more common.

CO2 is non-conductive, and less messy. It's also great at flowing around things, making it good for spraying through vents into electrical cabinets and car engines. Downside is the CO2 dissipates within a few seconds, so if the material is prone to re-igniting it's not such a good choice.

Dry powder is in between - the powder stays around, but doesn't soak in. It's a good choice if you're only going to get one extinguisher.

potato37328428• 8 months ago

Water extinguishers are incredibly useful for putting out small incidental fires that can result from hot work without making a big mess. The kind of stuff you'd just move outside or let burn out rather than discharge a powder extinguisher over.

Nobody is whipping out a dry-chem extinguisher because the leaves under the workbench caught on fire from welding sparks.

avhon13• 8 months ago

Water mist fire extinguishers are nice. They are much more able to cool lightweight, flammable objects, and pose less risk of causing electrical arcs.

maxglute• 8 months ago

Man there needs to be some sort of amusement park where you try out common emergency safety mechanisms.

I've never broke / pulled a fire alarm, I'm sure I can, but let me.

ALSO EVERY AIRPORT SHOULD HAVE MOCK EMERGENCY AIRPLANE DOORS FOR PEOPLE TO TRY OUT.

RedShift12• 8 months ago

That is a great idea. Would be fun to play on for the kids too.

fastasucan3• 8 months ago

Lets not teach kids to open plane doors for fun.

Stevvo• 8 months ago

Safety mechanisms are often inherently unsafe, because they are safer than the alternative, so you don't want people playing with them. e.g. You cat cut yourself on the glass of a fire alarm, or break an ankle on an emergency exit slide.

dejj• 8 months ago

Valid. Maybe something can be learned from using them more frequently, either by the maker or by the user.

1970-01-012• 8 months ago

Safety mechanisms are not inherently unsafe. A very small minority that leverage fast-deploying mechanics are, however the majority of safety is neutral. Life vests, eye protection, fall harness, emergency brake, electrical gloves, etc don't actively harm the person.

hermitcrab4• 8 months ago

That is a great idea. Lots of people learn CPR. Perhaps there is a market for a school that teaches basic, hands-on safety skills.

-How to put out a cooker fire with a fire blanket.

-How to use a fire extinguisher.

-How to cut a seat belt.

-How to break a window.

etc

Could be quite a fun day out. I would definitely pay for something like that for me and my family.

potato37328428• 8 months ago

Your local boy scouts almost certainly have a working relationship with their local fire department that results in the FD taking them to wherever they train once every couple years and going through all those motions and more.

A 5lb dry extinguisher in the right hands can put out one of those oval stock tanks full of burning diesel, twice.

mcpherrinm• 8 months ago

We had (optional) safety training when I worked at Square, which included CPR training, going over office evacuation procedures, etc. One of the most fun parts was they had a virtual fire extinguisher training, which involved basically a video game fire extinguisher controller to put out a fire on a tv. It’s definitely not as exciting as using a real fire extinguisher training, but can also be done in an office meeting room.

nohuck13• 8 months ago

"ALSO EVERY AIRPORT SHOULD HAVE MOCK EMERGENCY AIRPLANE DOORS FOR PEOPLE TO TRY OUT."

I would pay money for this in the safety amusement park, but in real life way more people would get hurt operating the fake one at the airport than we'd help in real emergencies. Plane crashes where the emergency exit gets operated are so rare they effectively don't happen.

walletdrainer9• 8 months ago

I had the opportunity to deploy (and use!) a slide at a Lufthansa event, super cool experience but given that just the slide deployment probably cost them over $30k I can’t really see it being a common thing.

Of course just opening an exit door replica you could do for ~free

fhdkweig• 8 months ago

Paying to break things is a valid business plan. In Tokyo, stressed business men can pay to break dishes by throwing them against a wall.

https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/dishing-out-anti-s...

tclancy2• 8 months ago

Ah, you have intrusive thoughts as well. I mention it only to say that someone at my local grocery does not, based on the fact they thought to type up, print and post a sign saying PLEASE DO NOT POKE THE WATERMELONS thinking that would lead to a decrease in watermelon finger strikes.

butvacuum3• 8 months ago

Sounds like they're having issues with people thinking you can poke, prod, or drum on watermelons to check "ripeness" but it got lost in translation to "non-confromtstional."

KineticLensman• 8 months ago

Yes! I did a fire training course back in the old days when it involved a real fire extinguisher rather than just PowerPoint and it was interesting how many of us failed to put out a small fire in a cardboard box. You really do have to get close enough to aim at the base of the fire if you hope to achieve anything.

Also, if you fail to extinguish a fire with the first fire extinguisher, it's usually game over. It'll be much worse by the time you get back with another one.

londons_explore• 8 months ago

Also a lot of people dramatically overestimate the abilities of a fire extinguisher.

A regular extinguisher will put out a bit of burning paper or your cats tail on fire, but when a set of curtains is on fire you should probably just evacuate.

harimau777• 8 months ago

The local fire department did training at a previous place I worked where we each put out a fire with a refillable fire extengishable that squirted water instead of chemicals. I'm sure it wasn't a perfect simulation, but that strikes me as a reasonable middle ground for training non-firefighters.

theshrike793• 8 months ago

The best thing is that a fire estinguisher costs like 10€, one of the small ones. You can just go light a fire where it's allowed and put it out. And maybe do it multiple times for every family member.

Still cheaper than going to the movies and more fun for the kids =)

xnyan• 8 months ago

I think the mock exit door would only be interesting with the corresponding emergency slide. The only problem is that in almost all cases where the emergency slide has been deployed and used, at least some passengers have been injured beyond a minor scrape - think severe sprains and tears, a broken bone, etc.

The purpose of the slide is to 1) empty the plane _very_ quickly 2) without causing a life threatening injury. Most people are not going to be injured using it, but some will and it's not really worth the small chance your leg gets fucked up forever from being ejected the wrong way.

1970-01-012• 8 months ago

This is an obvious and simple idea and definitely should be driven by the FAA. Also, make sure the door goes somewhere cold like a freezer. Too many passengers dress for their destination airport and not their destination climate.

taid9iK-• 8 months ago

I've never broke / pulled a fire alarm, I'm sure I can, but let me.

Man. I did as a kid in school. I did some stupid "I am not touching it" games on the glass front and that button sucked itself in like I was opening a hatch on ISS. "Push hard" my ass. Firefighters popped up, I was so embarrassed to apologize to teachers, firefighters, school principal and even colleagues who complained for some reason about the unscheduled break. It wasn't even cold outside then!

My dad knew the right people and somehow bailed me out, but I still feel awkward passing by their main station where I also had to show up to explain myself. That was effing 35y ago, roughly!

I mean, I am mostly over it. But I wouldn't call it a win :)

patrulek• 8 months ago

If you cant break something, steal it.

ziofill• 8 months ago

So the spark plug ceramic trick only works on older cars?

dcanelhas• 8 months ago

In 15 years: Testing shows that automotive shaped charge glassbreakers can't penetrate the armor on most modern automotive glass.

Was drone-proofing civilian cars a mistake?

TomMasz• 8 months ago

Firefighters and other emergency service personnel can get through laminated glass, but it takes much more time and effort, as well as tools you're not likely to have in your car.

starwatch• 8 months ago

For anyone looking for an in-vehicle EDC to solve this problem I'd recommend a Keetch tool. I used them in the fire service with great success on the laminated glass of a windscreen. I assume it'd work equally well on a laminated side window glass - though I've not tried. Nice thing is that the sharp spike on it would work quite well on tempered glass too (though we had proper glass breakers for that).

ginkgotree• 8 months ago

I just keep a tomahawk axe in my car. That works.

Testing shows automotive glassbreakers can't break modern automotive glass

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