What Do I Do If I Get In An Accident And My Cars Goes Into Water?

Question

I have this 'safety' device that has a belt cutter, a glass breaker, a flashlight, and an emergency light on it. But what are the other precautions that I should take if my car drives into a lake or canal?

When should I try to break the window?

Should I turn off the vents?

If I can, when do I trun my car off? SHould I?

What if I cant break the window?

What type of car would be safer in this accident, one with manual or auto locks?

Answer 1

You have everything that you need and the window will break with that glass break punch tool that you have.

If you are going into the water I would try and get out before it sank but if you cant then let it go down and then break the glass and yes turn off the engine......

Manual locks but once you are sinking it really doesn't matter...

Answer 2

Act on instinct, enhanced with a little prior knowledge. In a panic situation you are going to experience a large adrenaline dump. Your heart will race and your breathing will become harder and faster. You will lose fine motor skills and only be capable of gross motor skills. If you worry about turning off the engine and closing the vents in the "what if" situation, you will do the same when the brown stuff hits the fan. And you will be like the captain who goes down with the ship. In law enforcement we are taught "train like you fight, fight like you train". And this is the reason for that. Many, many years ago when officers used the revolver almost exclusively, there was a safety concern on the range of officers dumping their empty rounds on the ground when they reloaded their cylinder. So they were taught to hold onto their empties until they had a safe place to dump them. Sounds reasonable, until officers were getting killed on the street holding their empty rounds. They "fought as they trained" and lost.  My point here is that if you think of all the different things you will want to do to save your car in an emergency, you will do just that! But you won't be around because you didn't save yourself. If you can get the window down then do it. If the car is completely submerged the door will open easily after the cabin is full and the pressure is equal.

Answer 3

why do you want to know are you going to drive your car into some water i would kick out the back window leave a tire iron in the back set under the seat or something put i was just wondering why you want to know what to do are you asking just  in case or are you going to do it on purpose if its on purpose i would not do it there is a chance you will not get out in time if you have time roll down the window and get out don't try to turn the car off wast to much time to get out

Answer 4

you think to much. you just need to do what you have to do as the situation requires.

Answer 5

If it goes into just a little bit of water, you should turn the car off as soon as you can to avoid ruining the engine. If you're going to be completely submerged it won't matter--the car will be ruined anyway.

If the water isn't further than midpoint on the door you shouldn't have to break the window, because the pressure won't be too much for you to open the door. Any deeper than that and the door probably won't open, so you should break the window asap and get out of the car. Closing the vents won't help much.

If you have one of those window breaking tools you shouldn't have any problem getting the window to break. A screwdriver with a point will do the same thing, but the way the glass is made means that it's hard to break with a completely blunt object like your feet. If you end up in the car without the window breaker, get to the back seat and try to kick out the rear window, as that one is less solid (the windshield is made to resist breaking in case something flies at you while the rear window typically is not).

Answer 6

Well, if this does happen it's good you have that multi tool to help you.

First off, turning off the vents will not matter, the water will come through whether they are open or closed.  

Don't worry about turning off the car, it will be a total loss whether the the engine is on or off.  Worry about getting yourself out.

Manual or auto locks will not matter.  The pressure from the water on the doors will be immense.  There is no way that you will be able to open the doors.

So, you will need to break the glass with the metal spike on your safety device.  I would do this as soon as you hit the water.  Your car should float for a second or two before the water starts to come through the window.  

Take a deep breath and get out of the car as quick as you can.  The sinking car will cause the water to suck down with it, so you will need to swim as hard as you can directly away from the car.

Then get to shore.