The frustrating thing about emergencies? They occur without knocking on your door or giving you prior notice. Well, they wouldn’t be called emergencies otherwise. There may be some situations when you may need to break your car’s window or windshield. It’s common to see people attempting to use the spark plug to break the windshield during emergencies. But is the spark plug equipped to break the windshield? We look into this and more in this article.
Spark plugs can’t easily break the windshield as the glass material used to make it is tempered and laminated. The side windows, on the other hand, are an easier target for the spark plug.
Every now and then, news reports about how children, pets, and even adults find themselves locked in cars spring up. In those situations, people try desperately to break the windshield or side windows, sometimes without success. We hope you never find yourself or a loved one in such situations but below, you’ll learn about some of the best ways to break a car’s window. Here we go.
How Strong Is A Car Windshield
Once upon a time, before men increased in wisdom and creativity, glass used to be such a fragile thing. But not anymore. Glass can now be made to be as strong as desired, even stronger than steel, and we are not exaggerating. Thanks to tampering, lamination, and other strengthening processes, glass can be made invulnerable to tensile stress.
The windshield is one of the most important components of a car and is unsurprisingly stronger than normal annealed glass. The actual strength of your vehicle’s windshield will depend on the type of glass used but keep in mind that manufacturers prioritize safety when making the windshield. Even though glass is far stronger than steel, it’s also more brittle than steel, and this is why glass is more likely to break compared to steel.
Can A Spark Plug Break The Windshield?
A spark plug can turn out to be a lifesaver in situations where you are outside a car and need to get someone stuck in the vehicle out as soon as possible. If you throw a spark plug at a car window, the window will break as spark plugs are strong enough to break through tempered glass, which is what your car windows are made of.
However, the windshield is a different matter as it is also laminated in addition to being tempered. So, it’s a lot more difficult to break the windshield with a spark plug. And this makes the side windows your best option. So, in a nutshell, spark plugs can’t break the windshield in most cases. You’ll have better luck trying to break the side windows.
In case of an emergency, open the hood of the car and remove the spark plug. Smash the plug into a hard surface (preferably cement or concrete floor) and smash a hammer or metal bar into the plug if there’s one around. The broken spark plug will now have different porcelain pieces lying around. Pick one or two of the biggest porcelain pieces and throw it at the center of the side window as hard as you can.
Tell the person inside the car to lean out of the way. If it’s an animal you are trying to rescue, do a mock throw to make the animal stay out of the way before breaking the car window.
Other Ways To Break Your Auto Glass In An Emergency
There are other ways you can break your vehicle’s window in an emergency. They include:
Emergency Hammer
An emergency hammer is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to break the auto glass. Every car owner should have one and put it in a place that’s easily accessible. Most emergency hammers have a dual-sided, nick-plated hammer tip and cut. This makes it easy to cut through seat belts and break the side windows of a car.
Modern emergency hammers have other potentially life-saving features, such as an emergency flashlight and glow-in-the-dark locator. The hope is that you never have to use your emergency hammer. But one has to be prepared for the worst while hoping for the best.
Any Heavy Object
If you are trying to break a car’s window from the outside, any heavy object such as a rock, good-size ball bearing, or metal may just do the trick. Depending on the density of the material, you may need to throw it with considerable force to break the car’s tempered side windows.
The Headrest
Chances are you didn’t think the headrest could break a vehicle’s window. After all, headrests weren’t designed for that. But desperate situations call for desperate solutions. And if you don’t have anything you can use to break the vehicle’s windows, remove a headrest and hit it against the side window as hard as you can. Eventually, the side window will give in.
What To Do When You See Someone Trapped In A Car
If you see someone who is trapped in a car trying and failing to get out, the first thing to do is to call the authorities. It doesn’t matter whether you can help the person or not, whether you feel a responsibility to help the person or not, call the police and inform them of the situation.
If you decide to take action, take a video or picture of the car before attempting a rescue. The footage should show the trapped individual and the license plates of the vehicle. Then, you can use any of the methods discussed above to break the windows. Don’t attempt to break the windscreen. It’s laminated and more difficult to break. Instead, go for the side windows, which are easier to break.
If you are able to finally get the person out, show them the footage you took earlier. You may also want to show the authorities the footage you took. Be careful about approaching the trapped person when they are free. They may lash out at you for breaking their side windows even though you did it to rescue them. Let the police handle the situation if they arrive at the scene and get in contact with witnesses, as you may need them to corroborate your story later.
Note that we are not encouraging you to go around breaking people’s vehicle windows at the first sign of trouble. It’s always advisable to let the authorities arrive and handle the situation. But if it is a complete situation, you can follow the steps discussed above.
