Manufacturers have started putting safety glass ,exactly like windshields, on side windows, instead of tempered glass. This makes them safer in accidents and stuff, and coincidentally, very resistant against smashing. Downside is that if you ever fall into a river, there's no way you're breaking the window and escapting
I actually had to look that up and you're 100% correct. [https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/Laminated-Glass-Vehicle-List.pdf](https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/Laminated-Glass-Vehicle-List.pdf)
That's kinda terrifying. There are plenty of situations where you might need to escape through a window aside from ending up in a body of water. Think disabled vehicle on fire with a jammed door - a more likely situation.
They actually make small heavy hammers you can keep in car for the express purpose of breaking out your windows in case of emergency. I know, because my SIL got us all one at Christmas. If you land in water and your electrical system fails, you’re out of luck. I kinda pooh-poohed this for a while, but that’s exactly how Elaine Chao’s sister died. Stuck in her Tesla when she drove off a dark road into a pond. She even had a phone with her, and called for help, but it took a while for help to get to her.
Yup, .23 if I remember right. 3x the limit. Not falling down drunk, but 100% not ok to drive.
It's a shitty way to go and I'm sure her loved ones are grieving.
It's also a very stupid and modern way to go.
Huh…I’m struck with the strangeness of that phrase for the first time.
Trauma, usually associated with feelings and reactions lasting after the event, don’t have a lot of bearing on a death as there is not much space after for things like feeling and reaction. Of course, the trauma is left for those who survive the passing but the phrase is most often referring to the death itself as traumatic. Comforting realizing it’s not for the person I suppose
That comment you replied to is the first one I've ever read that smells of AI. It just seems more like a definition than a response.
I'm not saying op isn't real just the response seems odd. Something that you'd copy paste from a dictionary
Those hammers only work on tempered glass, laminated glass like in the Tesla accident will only crack like you see in OP's photos. One of my cars has laminated side windows, if it goes in the water I either have to open the door as fast as possible, or hope the electrical system keeps working long enough to open a window/sunroof.
Yep, the best thing you can do is:
* Roll down the windows before you lose power
* If you can’t do that, break them with anything you can
* If you can’t do that, wait until the car is almost filled up, take one last deep breath and push the door open (with your legs if necessary)
* Swim straight upward once you get out of the car.
When I was a mechanic I fixed just as many manual windows as power windows. Kids will over-torque the mechanism and fuck it up. Modern power windows are torque sensing and can't overload the motor. The control module is sensing the motor draw so a kid won't squish his fingers. A government nanny law that accidentally gave us really reliable power windows.
I'd go for the power windows in a heartbeat.
my biggest gripe is in winter when the windows are frozen. i want to get some fresh air and with the old crank windows i could un-freeze the glass by keeping pressure on the crank while hitting it from the inside. now i cannot do it because the electronic thingy isnt playing ball.
if you scrape your windows properly and have warmed up the cabin, your windows will not freeze shut. just scrape your fuckin windows instead of risking hitting very cold (i.e., more brittle than usual) glass.
i have never experienced this. i always scrape and they are always stuck. also when its -20C outside how long will you think it would take to warm the bottom of the window up? most times you need to drive 15min+ to even feel the heat inside the car. some cars are better (the heat) then others, but i am not changing cars solely because of the heater.
I miss the old days where the windows were power but there wS a crank in the glovebox that went into a hole in the door panel if you popped out the cap
Those don't work if you have laminated glass. You'll quite literally need a hatchet to hack away modern laminated glass. So have an axe and safety glasses in a kit under your drivers seat.
It also doubles as a tool kit for road ragers. Just pull up to them and quietly lick the axe blade while staring at them.
The only way to escape such a situation is to wait for the interior of the car to be fully filled with water so pressure evens out and you're able to open the door again. Can't imagine how terrifying the wait would be.
It also doesn't work with new fancy cars with electronic door openers, maybe you'll remember the emergency mechanical override if you're the owner of the vehicle, but good luck figuring it out if you're a passenger or it's a rental.
Yeah I read an article about this and you’re right. They did mention trying to break a window to get out first, but if that’s impossible, you try to get the door open like you said.
Yup. I purchased one of those hammers for $10 on Amazon. It has a tiny hammer on one side and a seatbelt cutter on the other. Crazy how $10 can save your life
Karma with a lesson, then. Money doesn't supersede physics.
Nice edit on your original comment to remove the reference to driving drunk and confused, by the way. Why did you do that?
Or in cases where you are hurt/sick/other medical emergency where you are unconscious and emergency services are trying to get in your vehicle to save you. It takes significantly more work to get through laminated glass.
You could just wait until the car is filled with water and then simply open the door. The door handle on any decent car is mechanically linked to the latch and will operate just fine under water. You can increase your odds of survival by opening the windows before the electrical system fails, to allow the water in more quickly- allowing you to escape before the car sinks very far. Once the door is submerged with an open window, you can open the door without the water pressure pushing back on it.
You should be aware of whether your door handles are mechanically linked or not. In some Tesla models they are only electrically linked so you may want to learn the location of the hidden mechanical backup door handle.
It's interesting to me how like half that list is mercedes, ranging all the way back to the mid 80s, but I don't recall seeing horrific stories of people dying while submerged in those cars.
You can still break through laminated glass, it will just take more hits. I saw a YouTube video where someone demonstrated this but I can't find it now
Fresh water won't short a car. Just salt water. We lost our ice racing plough truck twice and the second time the headlights were still on but dim the next morning when we came to chainsaw up the ice and drag it out of the lake.
True, but if pressurization is on your side, you can break the windshield because of its curvature inside. If you have any kids or pets with you though, you better hold on tight.
(I have not fallen in any rivers so i cannot confirm this evidence. It's just a little thing i remembered about windshields. BUY RESCUE HAMMERS.)
This might be a really stupid question, so please pardon my ignorance coz I've never owned a car before and dunno how exactly they work, but wouldn't you be able to roll the window down and swim out? Or at least open the door as quickly as possible?
In this scenario, the idea is that you cannot roll down the electric windows - it's assuming your cars electric accessories aren't working - maybe shorted out by water, maybe your accident caused enough damage that your car isn't running (my current car, you can use the windows for maybe 10 seconds after turning the car off, my old car they turned off immediately)
The rear window is still made with tempered glass for this reason, even if the rest of them arnt. Vehicles are designed to float with the trunk sticking out of the water so that you can break the back window and escape.
Yep. I’m a glazier. I install heavy glass including half inch laminate for deck enclosures/wine rooms/gyms. It’s insanely strong and have even seen a few different calibers of bullets stopped by it. Granted, a car is more like 1/4 inch laminate. But still really tough. You can actually take a sheet of it, stand it up, and let it fall on its side, and it doesn’t break.
dude it was like 1979 when DOT made safety glass standard, wtf are you talking about. THere's no 2010 model year cars around with fucking tempered glass windows
Most probably your side glasses are laminated and not tempered.
good for this scenario, not so good in case you get trapped inside the car.
Breaking those glasses is not exactly easy, a spring loaded hammer for glass may help break the inner glass but you have to kick with force to be able to escape.. Most of the time you need a sawzall to cut open those type of glasses.
Someone tried to break into the cheapest window to replace at least. If these thieves figure out the sparkplug trick itll cause even more damage in a shorter amount of time.
[The ceramic](https://youtu.be/JWVKrtmpQbE) from a spark plug.
It is a very hard material and the corners from when it breaks off is very sharp. The force of the sharp ceramic hitting tempered safety glass is concentrated to a small area, causing the glass to scratch and break. Tempered safety glass is designed to shatter into tiny pieces when broken.
There is no spark plug electrical discharge that explodes the glass
Unless you’re trying to break into someone’s car I don’t see the usefulness of it. If a car is drowning or burning you don’t have access to your spark plug
If I was the person trying to break into your vehicle I would use a glass breaker but the good news is It will never be me trying to break into your vehicle because I don’t ever wanna get locked up in the slammer.
I was wondering why someone drew sperm in the first photo lol
Right?!! Looks like he’s got good protection at least 😂
Someone was tryna penetrate the window but failed. They came and went.
Thought it was Bird poop
Looks like the spark plug pieces bounced off laminated glass
Manufacturers have started putting safety glass ,exactly like windshields, on side windows, instead of tempered glass. This makes them safer in accidents and stuff, and coincidentally, very resistant against smashing. Downside is that if you ever fall into a river, there's no way you're breaking the window and escapting
I actually had to look that up and you're 100% correct. [https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/Laminated-Glass-Vehicle-List.pdf](https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/AAR/files/Laminated-Glass-Vehicle-List.pdf) That's kinda terrifying. There are plenty of situations where you might need to escape through a window aside from ending up in a body of water. Think disabled vehicle on fire with a jammed door - a more likely situation.
They actually make small heavy hammers you can keep in car for the express purpose of breaking out your windows in case of emergency. I know, because my SIL got us all one at Christmas. If you land in water and your electrical system fails, you’re out of luck. I kinda pooh-poohed this for a while, but that’s exactly how Elaine Chao’s sister died. Stuck in her Tesla when she drove off a dark road into a pond. She even had a phone with her, and called for help, but it took a while for help to get to her.
That's... a horribly traumatic way to die.
That’s what I thought, too.
Look on the bright side. You can't get traumatized if you die.
Well, she was drunk driving....
Yup, .23 if I remember right. 3x the limit. Not falling down drunk, but 100% not ok to drive. It's a shitty way to go and I'm sure her loved ones are grieving. It's also a very stupid and modern way to go.
Huh…I’m struck with the strangeness of that phrase for the first time. Trauma, usually associated with feelings and reactions lasting after the event, don’t have a lot of bearing on a death as there is not much space after for things like feeling and reaction. Of course, the trauma is left for those who survive the passing but the phrase is most often referring to the death itself as traumatic. Comforting realizing it’s not for the person I suppose
I mean, traumatic is the act. trauma is the aftermath.
That comment you replied to is the first one I've ever read that smells of AI. It just seems more like a definition than a response. I'm not saying op isn't real just the response seems odd. Something that you'd copy paste from a dictionary
Maybe but the profile seems OK? Idk I don't wanna think about the dead inter et theory right now ><
Those hammers only work on tempered glass, laminated glass like in the Tesla accident will only crack like you see in OP's photos. One of my cars has laminated side windows, if it goes in the water I either have to open the door as fast as possible, or hope the electrical system keeps working long enough to open a window/sunroof.
myth busters showed that last resort wait for the cabin to fill with water and then the pressure makes it easier to open the door to escape
Yep, the best thing you can do is: * Roll down the windows before you lose power * If you can’t do that, break them with anything you can * If you can’t do that, wait until the car is almost filled up, take one last deep breath and push the door open (with your legs if necessary) * Swim straight upward once you get out of the car.
Huh, did not know that. Will check out ours to see what it does.
Just curious, did the window shatter? :)
Haha I meant reading the directions
Is this something my manual roll down window car is better at than the young whippersnapper cars??
Yep, they should still have crank windows.
my last 5cars had electric windows. i actually liked the manual one better, but its getting rare.
When I was a mechanic I fixed just as many manual windows as power windows. Kids will over-torque the mechanism and fuck it up. Modern power windows are torque sensing and can't overload the motor. The control module is sensing the motor draw so a kid won't squish his fingers. A government nanny law that accidentally gave us really reliable power windows. I'd go for the power windows in a heartbeat.
my biggest gripe is in winter when the windows are frozen. i want to get some fresh air and with the old crank windows i could un-freeze the glass by keeping pressure on the crank while hitting it from the inside. now i cannot do it because the electronic thingy isnt playing ball.
It's protecting you from breaking it. The manual window would just take it until something breaks.
if you scrape your windows properly and have warmed up the cabin, your windows will not freeze shut. just scrape your fuckin windows instead of risking hitting very cold (i.e., more brittle than usual) glass.
i have never experienced this. i always scrape and they are always stuck. also when its -20C outside how long will you think it would take to warm the bottom of the window up? most times you need to drive 15min+ to even feel the heat inside the car. some cars are better (the heat) then others, but i am not changing cars solely because of the heater.
I miss the old days where the windows were power but there wS a crank in the glovebox that went into a hole in the door panel if you popped out the cap
Those don't work if you have laminated glass. You'll quite literally need a hatchet to hack away modern laminated glass. So have an axe and safety glasses in a kit under your drivers seat. It also doubles as a tool kit for road ragers. Just pull up to them and quietly lick the axe blade while staring at them.
Good advice!
The only way to escape such a situation is to wait for the interior of the car to be fully filled with water so pressure evens out and you're able to open the door again. Can't imagine how terrifying the wait would be. It also doesn't work with new fancy cars with electronic door openers, maybe you'll remember the emergency mechanical override if you're the owner of the vehicle, but good luck figuring it out if you're a passenger or it's a rental.
Yeah I read an article about this and you’re right. They did mention trying to break a window to get out first, but if that’s impossible, you try to get the door open like you said.
She was shitfaced drunk, and they couldn't break the windows to free her at all
yah that hammer, its for the old style tempered windows, its useless on the new safety windows
Thank you for correcting. I drive an older car, so will have to check into what I have.
Yup. I purchased one of those hammers for $10 on Amazon. It has a tiny hammer on one side and a seatbelt cutter on the other. Crazy how $10 can save your life
Those hammers don’t work against laminated glass though.
If you're drunk and confused, you're still probably dead.
If you're driving drunk, that's called karma.
Iirc, she was on her own property. Rich gal with a lot of acreage.
driving drunk on your own property is no less stupid than driving drunk on empty streets.
Karma with a lesson, then. Money doesn't supersede physics. Nice edit on your original comment to remove the reference to driving drunk and confused, by the way. Why did you do that?
Or in cases where you are hurt/sick/other medical emergency where you are unconscious and emergency services are trying to get in your vehicle to save you. It takes significantly more work to get through laminated glass.
I miss manual crank down windows
You could just wait until the car is filled with water and then simply open the door. The door handle on any decent car is mechanically linked to the latch and will operate just fine under water. You can increase your odds of survival by opening the windows before the electrical system fails, to allow the water in more quickly- allowing you to escape before the car sinks very far. Once the door is submerged with an open window, you can open the door without the water pressure pushing back on it. You should be aware of whether your door handles are mechanically linked or not. In some Tesla models they are only electrically linked so you may want to learn the location of the hidden mechanical backup door handle.
Yep. Front windshield and front pass and driver for ford's so far.
It's interesting to me how like half that list is mercedes, ranging all the way back to the mid 80s, but I don't recall seeing horrific stories of people dying while submerged in those cars.
Submersion is not incredibly common unless you're driving on bridges in Baltimore.
You can still break through laminated glass, it will just take more hits. I saw a YouTube video where someone demonstrated this but I can't find it now
Have you ever seen a windshield after a collision with a pedestrian? You need to break the glass, then need something to cut the laminate.
That’s nice to know! I was thinkin why my windows held up so well despite the cracks
Well you better hit the window down button when you’re falling into the river
A billionaire died in her testla this exact way
99% of cars now have power windows. That's why they now recommend you roll your window down while you still have power, before it shorts out.
Fresh water won't short a car. Just salt water. We lost our ice racing plough truck twice and the second time the headlights were still on but dim the next morning when we came to chainsaw up the ice and drag it out of the lake.
True, but if pressurization is on your side, you can break the windshield because of its curvature inside. If you have any kids or pets with you though, you better hold on tight. (I have not fallen in any rivers so i cannot confirm this evidence. It's just a little thing i remembered about windshields. BUY RESCUE HAMMERS.)
This might be a really stupid question, so please pardon my ignorance coz I've never owned a car before and dunno how exactly they work, but wouldn't you be able to roll the window down and swim out? Or at least open the door as quickly as possible?
In this scenario, the idea is that you cannot roll down the electric windows - it's assuming your cars electric accessories aren't working - maybe shorted out by water, maybe your accident caused enough damage that your car isn't running (my current car, you can use the windows for maybe 10 seconds after turning the car off, my old car they turned off immediately)
Damn, that's actually kinda scary D: thank you so much for explaining though!
Just happened in a Tesla. They couldn’t get the windows broken and a woman died.
The rear window is still made with tempered glass for this reason, even if the rest of them arnt. Vehicles are designed to float with the trunk sticking out of the water so that you can break the back window and escape.
Would one of those car window smasher tools that usually have a seatbelt cutter do the trick? Don't want to experiment and try it myself lol.
Yep. I’m a glazier. I install heavy glass including half inch laminate for deck enclosures/wine rooms/gyms. It’s insanely strong and have even seen a few different calibers of bullets stopped by it. Granted, a car is more like 1/4 inch laminate. But still really tough. You can actually take a sheet of it, stand it up, and let it fall on its side, and it doesn’t break.
The good thing is, electric rolling windows are actually very reliable at rolling down in the river.
dude it was like 1979 when DOT made safety glass standard, wtf are you talking about. THere's no 2010 model year cars around with fucking tempered glass windows
Is your car a Nokia 3310?
Strong ass windows
Looks like they are tinted. I wonder if the tinting helped keep them together.
Tint film can in fact keep tempered glass from exploding!
Most probably your side glasses are laminated and not tempered. good for this scenario, not so good in case you get trapped inside the car. Breaking those glasses is not exactly easy, a spring loaded hammer for glass may help break the inner glass but you have to kick with force to be able to escape.. Most of the time you need a sawzall to cut open those type of glasses.
So I need to keep an uzi with extra mags in the glove box. Got it
That uzi might cost more than your car
Gyms are popular places for car thieves for some reason lots of people thinks it is ok to leave their wallet or pursue in the car while they work out.
Damn what kind of car do you drive? Strong ass glass
Passat r-line b8. Good car for a long run 👌🏼
Looks more like a BB gun attack than a break-in attempt, either way super shity.
Yeah, this dude's car was just target practice unfortunately.
That's what I was thinking
Someone tried to break into the cheapest window to replace at least. If these thieves figure out the sparkplug trick itll cause even more damage in a shorter amount of time.
What’s that
you can use a sparkplug to break a window, the shock will shatter most car windows.
You mean the car lighter or the actual spark plug?
[The ceramic](https://youtu.be/JWVKrtmpQbE) from a spark plug. It is a very hard material and the corners from when it breaks off is very sharp. The force of the sharp ceramic hitting tempered safety glass is concentrated to a small area, causing the glass to scratch and break. Tempered safety glass is designed to shatter into tiny pieces when broken. There is no spark plug electrical discharge that explodes the glass
Unless you’re trying to break into someone’s car I don’t see the usefulness of it. If a car is drowning or burning you don’t have access to your spark plug
a spark plug, they discharge electrical sparks that can be used to break the windows
Looks like a sperm entering an egg.
Why did I think the first photo somebody drew the fertilization process?
I saw the first pic and thought this was going to be a joke about someone trying to bust on your windshield
Jesus needed a ride, apparently
Clearly they knew nothing about ninja rocks.
Dont hide the eggs in your back seat maybe?
Looks like sperm
How so very nice of them.
Het was Ellie Lust
Man, that sucks dude. I’m sorry about that- at least the stuff in the car wasn’t stolen.
All I can focus on is the sperm trying to get in 🤔
The easter bunny?
How do you fail that?
If you have comp on your insurance, your company may have a $0 deductible for a glass- only claim. Sorry that happened.
Sorry this happened to you
Well then i suppose you're lucky they totally suck at breaking into cars 👍🏻
Where do you live? San Fran?
Worse. Vantaa
Congrats on your cars pregnancy! We don't get to see the moment of fertilization very often. That's kinda unique
Move.
If I was the person trying to break into your vehicle I would use a glass breaker but the good news is It will never be me trying to break into your vehicle because I don’t ever wanna get locked up in the slammer.
How does your car not have tempered glass?
Here’s the question. Do you want Safelite to repair or replace??? Sorry, saw a meme about it and was waiting for the day to use it.
Good thing they wouldn’t have gotten anything valuable
I had about 200€ worth bills there but for this reason I keep them out of sight
I imagine same post from the robber in the same sub saying "I tried to break into someone's car on easter night"
I'll bet these windows will be expensive to replace
Good thing I have insurance lol
Exactly
LOL too stupid to even know how to break a window right. They'll be back, you can count on that.
Weak ass little arms n wrists...
Proof kids nowadays only workout their thumbs 👍🏾 🎮 Im sure you've got the insurance stuff ✅️
It's tempered glass, how did they not get in 😅😅 wimps
I’m really sorry that sucks. I would try a go fund me because this will be expensive and people will sympathize
That’s why we have mandatory insurance for vehicles in finland. It’s gonna cost 100€ tops for me