EDC Glass breaker options?

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  • Sylvain

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    Nov 30, 2010
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    Any of you fine folks carry some tools to break automotive glass as part of your EDC?

    I have been carrying a ResQme keychain thingy for a while but I keep losing them, they are a bit bulky and I already lost a few.

    I also have a few "tactical pens" with a carbide tip.

    Recently I discovered a product made by a British company.A bracelet with a carbide bead.
    It's very compact but I don't know if it's worth it.

    GTFO-Escape-Bracelet-Covert-Glass-Break-Tool-Wearable.jpg


    Any of you tried that or carry other options? :dunno:

    I heard it's popular with LEOs in the States, not sure if it's true.
     

    Sigblitz

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    I have a knife in the console with a glass breaker and belt cutter, in case I go swimming.

    Watched a YouTube knife review video today. He had 3 cheap knives to compare and was calling the glass breaker and seat belt cutter a punch and letter opener. I don't think he was using purple.
     

    Sylvain

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    I have a knife in the console with a glass breaker and belt cutter, in case I go swimming.

    Watched a YouTube knife review video today. He had 3 cheap knives to compare and was calling the glass breaker and seat belt cutter a punch and letter opener. I don't think he was using purple.

    I forgot about the knife/glass breaker combo.
    I'm trying to avoid those for legal reason.
    I wanted something that is only a glass breaker to carry in places where I can't legally carry a blade (lots of places in non-freedom non-merica land).

    I also would like something that I can keep on my person.Something that could be used when I'm not in my own vehicle.
     

    Sylvain

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    Here's the one I carry. It's a glass break/seatbelt cutter combo. I keep one in vehicle...one in IFAK...one on keychain, etc. It's the Resqme tool, made in USA.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G6C18EC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Looking at your avatar picture I can see why you need one if you often rollover. :):

    I have that resQme on the outside of my med bag in my trunk.But I can access it from the driver's seat.
    It's only to rescue others.
     

    bwframe

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    I hang a dedicated yellow ResQme from the passenger headrest support in my vehicles. I can reach it, as can the grandkids from the backseat. They know how to use it.
     

    9mmfan

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    I recently got a Benchmade folder with a glass breaker on one end of it. The stimulus check came in handy after all.
     

    indysims

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    If you're outside, trying to get in (rescue) it's really easy to take off your shirt and use your elbow (use shirt to protect your elbow). You have to put down your purse and hit it like you mean it, but it should be achievable for most. You'll have a bruise the next day.
     

    portercounty

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    If you're outside, trying to get in (rescue) it's really easy to take off your shirt and use your elbow (use shirt to protect your elbow). You have to put down your purse and hit it like you mean it, but it should be achievable for most. You'll have a bruise the next day.

    That made my day:):
     

    BillD

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    I've got the little window Breakers / seatbelt slashers in every vehicle I own and all of my children and stepchildren. 10 bucks each, you can't go wrong.
     

    Alamo

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    If you're outside, trying to get in (rescue) it's really easy to take off your shirt and use your elbow (use shirt to protect your elbow). You have to put down your purse and hit it like you mean it, but it should be achievable for most. You'll have a bruise the next day.

    Eh, not me.

    If you are dealing with tempered glass, I suppose it's possible but it will hurt. For tempered glass all you really need is a small sturdy metal point, at one of the corners of the window, and a good whack. The all-around best tool is a spring loaded punch. Put it at one corner, pull the plunger back, let it go. It will punch a small hole and the rest of the window will massively spiderweb, but likely without throwing glass all over the place. Then you can take your gloved hands (or your shirt wrapped around your hands) and remove the glass without showering the occupants with small pieces of glass. If you don't have a springloaded punch, I would use something like a screwdriver or a nail and hit it with a hammer or a field expedient equivalent like a rock, brick, something heavy enough to generate some force. No small metal pointy thing? then on to hammers, axes, halligan bars, crow bars, rocks, Glock 19, elbows, etc, but this is going to involve much more force and more glass flying around. If at all possible don't do it to the window where the victim is sitting, do it to another window away from the people, clear out all the glass, and either have them crawl to it and out or use the opening to open a door for them.

    If you are on the inside, same deal, but bear in mind if you are using a tool that requires swinging (like a hammer), and you are underwater (or seriously hurt), you probably can't swing hard enough to break the tempered glass. Again the springloaded punch is the tool for the job.

    The really bad news for the breaking-the-glass-scenario is that more and more laminated glass is being used in side windows as well as the windshield. Laminated glass is designed NOT to break (Ok it cracks but the lamination holds it together) -- the NHTSA prefers it, it is designed to contain passengers in a rollover, prevents glass shards from flying around, and it's more burglar proof to boot. The punch and all those other techniques for tempered glass don't work on it. Especially your elbow. Firefighters have special handsaws that let them punch a hole, then stick it in the hole and use it kind of like a can opener to cut the laminated glass. Or they use power saws. Imagine trying that from inside the car, especially if underwater. Rollovers are more common than car underwater, so it's probably a net win statistically, but not if you happen to be the statistic trying to get out of the car.

    Apparently some cars split the difference, they may have laminated glass on the front side windows but tempered glass on the rear side windows and the rear windshield. Laminated glass is heavier and more expensive than tempered, so they are making a trade-off between the likelihood of who is going to be sitting where in an accident versus saving weight (gas mileage) and cost.

    So you may want to check your car and make sure your handy-dandy widget is going to work like you think it will. Each glass panel in your vehicle should have a small stamp in one corner identifying the glass as laminated or tempered, or it may have a code, or you may have to look it up on line. If you are driving a 70's muscle car reliving your youth you can pretty much count on tempered glass, but starting in the 90s (I think) laminated glass began making an appearance in places besides the windshield, and definitely in the last decade or so it has become more wide spread.

    And I wasn't kidding about using my Glock 19X as a glass breaker if necessary. Either as a hammer or a powered punch.


    ETA:
    AAA's list of vehicles with laminated side windows
    Holy smokes, there are some Chevy pickups from back in the '80s that had laminated side windows. The vast majority though are vehicles produced since 2000.
     
    Last edited:

    4sarge

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    Sylvain

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    I've seen that used in some vehicles ...

    882231_2_b.jpg


    It's a large and heavy pair of scissors that can be used like a hammer to break glass.

    Probably a better weapon than a rescue tool.You don't want to get hit in the face with it during a rollover.
     
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