Q&A for How to Escape from a Sinking Car

The steel tip of the safety hammer is designed to concentrate the force at the point of impact. Even under water you should be able to break a side window. If you ever find yourself in that situation, you will probably find that you have more strength that you think due to the adrenaline rushing through your body.

When you smash the windows, get the dog out of the window and it will make its way to the top.

Do anything you can to get up to the surface using obstacles (e.g. the car) to push you up. Don't flail because it will just tire you out.

If you can't break the windows, try to open the door. Most people can hold their breath longer than they think, and running out of breath is a multi-stage process. Push off from the car or the bottom to propel yourself up to the surface.

Cats can swim. Put the cat out the window before yourself and it will swim to the surface.

You will have to carry an infant. Unbuckle the infant quickly before exiting the vehicle. Use a teddy bear hold which is like carrying a person in a hug until you reach the surface. Then, hold on tightly until you are rescued or reach land.

If the water is not filling the car any higher than your midsection, it might be safer to stay in the vehicle. However, this can pose some risk as your vehicle could be sucked into a deeper area and fill with water. In this case, you definitely want to escape the vehicle and find something floating nearby.

Ideally you should give them something to float on, if available -- if not, you will have to drag that person with you to the surface.

This is not true in every car, but if your headrest comes all the way out of the seat, its metal posts can likely be used in a pinch to break through a window.

No. 911 will not help you while you're in the sinking car. You will likely drown before they get there. It is best just to get out as soon as possible as told above and call 911 after you've escaped.

You can by a ResQMe tool on Amazon. It will usually cost $10-15 and is small enough to keep on your key chain or hanging on your rear view mirror.

No. This is only the case with pressurized air, inhaled in above one atmosphere conditions, i.e. below the surface. The air in the car, if it sinks, will have been brought down with it from the surface, and thus will not expand notably when brought back up in your lungs.

You only need to break one. It takes more time to break all of them.

It could, but at this point you will not be worrying about getting cut by glass. You're going to want to get out as soon as possible no matter what. You can hold something in front of your face for protection.

Car windows are safety glass that gets pulverized into tiny bits when shattered, so it's nothing like the jagged shards produced when breaking regular windows.

Try to open the door when the pressure is leveled.

In this situation a phone is no where near as valuable as your life. While it may cost you a lot, it’s a better price to pay than your life so just leave it in the car and escape.

Stand up on the other side, or use the windshield to escape. Do whatever you have to do to survive.

If your car goes into a lake that is only frozen on the surface, it will be like driving into normal water and will not slow you down. Follow the directions as usual and escape through the hole your car made in the ice.

If he breathes in water, get him to the surface as fast as possible and call emergency services or give him CPR.

While possible, it would be very, very hard. It will take a long time to get into the trunk through the small space in the back of your car and once you open the trunk door, the water will fill the space immediately.

Try to forget about them. Chances are they’ll only go for you if you're injured, but if you suffered no cuts from breaking the glass, chances are they will leave you alone.

Search for anything in your car that is heavy. Move away from the window and throw the object as hard as you can at the glass. If you don't have any objects in the car like this, use your foot. See steps 4 and 5 for more info.

Never try to break your front windshield. It is laminated and may crack but won't break without a saw! Always use a side window or rear windshield.

If you can get out of the car, you shouldn't wait.

Get to the oldest kid first. Push them out towards the top, they should be able to use their arms to propel themselves out and stay above water. Grab the youngest child and follow.

Some car seats are make of foam and polystyrene, which float. You can tell your child to hold on and not let go.

They probably already will have activated, and they are unlikely to be very helpful with buoyancy or buy you any more time. .

Yes, assuming that the water isn't exerting pressure on the window. If there's more than an inch or two, don't expect it to open. Best case scenario is to roll the window down and swim out.

You could wait for the car to completely fill up with water. This makes the pressure between the outside and inside of the car equal. After this, you can just open a door to get out.