Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Synchros shot? Weird noises while shifting? Not sure what needs to be replaced?
User avatar
gizmo
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 1000
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:22 am
Cars: tC

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by gizmo »

Tups wrote:If there's other people in the car, make sure that they have at least freed themselves from the seatbelts and know what you're about to do before you open or break anything. Of course, if you're those "every man for himself" type of guys, don't mind the others.
I think there's a flawed assumption in that logic: if you consider the car's descent as a result of gravity (and conversely drag created by fluid resistance) and we consider a reference frame relative to that motion, then I believe your original logic would have us assume that the car falling motionless in a reference frame relative to the aforementioned reference frame. (for the sake of simplicity, assume the drag force counteracts the gravitational force such that the resultant velocity is constant and thereby workable using inertial reference frames). Point being, if the car is moving (spinning, twirling) relative to its descent then having the passengers "free" themselves might cause them to become dislogdged, disoriented, and potentially injured. However, I agree, that a plan should be made (possibly long before the crash) and that each person should be ready to execute that plan before anyone attempts to evacuate the car.
Tups wrote:Yeah, the water outside the car is pressing the door against its frames, so it's nearly impossible to open it until the pressure difference over the door is close to zero, i.e. the car is filled up with water. However, until then there's an air pocket that allows you to breathe and carefully plan your escape from the metallic coffin, so there's really no need to break a window, possibly get seriously injured when the water rushes in and risk capsizing the car. Except if you're driving a POS Vauxhall. Then GTFO ASAP ;)
Here is an interesting point, one I had not considered and one I cannot easily dispute. The question is, even if the crashing smack dab on the surface of what would soon be be a mile long descent into the ocean, would a broken window or an open door invite dangerous amounts of pressure or fluid into the cabin? If this were the case, even if landing on the surface of the ocean somewhere deep in the heart of the ocean (where there is arguably endless amounts of water), then certainly the prognosis only gets worse as the car sinks (as the atmospheric pressure increases).

One question all the literature or videos I've read haven't answered is this: assuming a person crashes deep in the heart of the ocean, again where there's arguably endless amounts of water and the depths are impassible, and assuming the person is able to "punch" the window before sinking just 10 feet into that water without being crushed or harmed by both the water and the glass shareds, then the question is: will that person be able to swim to surface as the car continues to sink? I ask this question because I wonder if, combining my partial understanding of Pascal's principle and Archemede's Priciniple, I would think that the displaced water, whose equilibrium had been upset, its naturally tendency to revert to equilibrium would force that water to fill the void above the car (a void that the car had filled just moments before it sank to its new current location) and therefore the swimmer would need more "energy" than the kinetic energy of the displaced water seeking equilibrium (meaning -- the swimmer is doomed).

This wasn't an attack on you Tups, so I trust you didn't take it that way. I'm glad you brought up the points you did, I haven't heard them elsewhere, and they've forced me to reconsider my emergency plan. Unfortunately, I no longer have one, and I'm more glad about that than I am upset (because my previous one would've killed me).

I'm just totally and utterly stumped and trying to work this out logically the best way I know how. I only have 2 semesters (4 at some other colleges) worth of classical physics so my understanding is feeble at best. I just want to know what I should do -- if anything -- to survive such a catastrophy if I should ever, heaven forbid, find myself trapped by it.
User avatar
Tups
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 2229
Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 4:37 am
Location: Suomi Finland Perkele

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by Tups »

Oh, you male chicken, I don't have even the slightest idea what you're saying ;)

As for the latter part of you explanation, I believe the amount of "energy" needed to escape a sinking car (v_down > 0, possibly a_down > 0 as well) doesn't differ much from a car that has hit the bottom. Well, obviously there are various currents around the vehicle, but in the end I doubt they are too much for you to swim through. After all, even sinking ships don't suck stuff down with them (I admit, though, that I have to trust Mythbusters with this one, since if a ship sinks, I, as a naval architect, have already failed).

Anyway, I guess the best solution to prevent drowning in your car would be triggering some strip-like explosives to a sensor that looks down under your car. When the sensor detects deep water (not just a puddle), it'll send a signal to blow away all doors and perhaps cut the seatbelts automatically after the car has hit the water. Perhaps there should also be some inflatable pontoons as well, and a small outboard motor...
2007 Ford Focus ST225
1982 Ford Escort Mk3
User avatar
theholycow
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 16021
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:36 pm
Cars: '80 Buick LeSabre 4.1 5MT
Location: Glocester, RI
Contact:

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by theholycow »

Tups wrote:Perhaps there should also be some inflatable pontoons as well, and a small outboard motor...
Image

Image

Image

Image

...and this one apparently goes from driving to diving:
Image
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT

Put your car in your sig!

Learn to launch/FAQs/lugging/misused terms: meta-sig
watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
User avatar
wannabe
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 8113
Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 11:48 am
Cars: NONE - take the bus
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Contact:

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by wannabe »

ok. lets do our own experiment. find a body of water, put ur car in, and record what happens :) or find a clunker to put in, that works too
2003 Chrysler town and country

Crafting and stuff
LHOswald
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 2787
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:46 pm
Cars: '99 Civic Hatch w/B16a
Location: Enfield, Connecticut

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by LHOswald »

paul34 wrote:I think the seatbelt cutter on the lifehammer is probably more useful, especially if you're in a nanny state that freaks out over regular people carrying everyday tools like knives, which would otherwise serve that purpose quite nicely... if you do carry a pocket or fixed blade knife, I think one with a serrated blade would probably cut through a belt a little bit easier. But you also have to be able to get to it if you're in a bad wreck or what have you, in some cases the lifehammer might be easier to get to.
i think thats stupid as hell. i carry a knife with me all the time regardless of what laws are for that area. i don't know if someone is going to want to hurt me in an unfamiliar area, and i don't know if something will happen to me that would permit the use of a knife. i almost always keep a switch blade or a butterfly knife with me everywhere i go. i would rather get out of a situation safely and face a fine or a wrap sheet than getting seriously injured or killed
Image
User avatar
mad_finn
Senior Standardshifter
Posts: 452
Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 4:42 pm
Cars: Cevrolet Caprice STW (at)
Location: Vantaa Finland

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by mad_finn »

Holycow inspired me on those ambhibious cars...

13litre engine, 18 speed manual, total weight 36tons.11 years on the road,700k.miles driven
User avatar
Tups
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 2229
Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 4:37 am
Location: Suomi Finland Perkele

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by Tups »

Since we're already way off-topic, for anyone concerned about safety and self-defence, I recommend browsing through No Nonsense Self Defence, especially the writeups about knife fighting. It's a real eye-opener.
2007 Ford Focus ST225
1982 Ford Escort Mk3
watkins
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 15880
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:42 am
Cars: '08 Saab 9-5 Aero wagon
Location: Salem, MA

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by watkins »

Toyboata
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by Rope-Pusher »

How long can you hold your breath?
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
User avatar
gizmo
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 1000
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:22 am
Cars: tC

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by gizmo »

I recognize this has become an ever increasing closely knit community but don't you guys feel like it has strayed a bit from the full fledged support forum I remember to more of a "frat house"?
94Corolla5Speed
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 6927
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:51 pm
Cars: 1994 Corolla, 1990 Miata
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by 94Corolla5Speed »

I agree for the most part, but paul34 answered your question in one of the first, if not the first post, and the rest of us don't have tC's, so we can't tell you where to mount it since we don't know the interior layout. Asking on a tC specific forum might've been a better idea.
User avatar
gizmo
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 1000
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:22 am
Cars: tC

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by gizmo »

That is very true, I apolgize for not thanking paul34 sooner.

Very good suggestion. I'm debating whether I should expoxy it or if I should drill it in like the tool itself suggests.

AND FYI, it serves as a seatbelt cutter too.

I also keep a fire extinguisher in the trunk, I actually try to plan for whatever I can, "BE PREPARED" just stuck with me, and I remember asking the guy at pep boys is it safe to have the fire extinguisher in the car when it sits in the trunk on a very hot day for hours at a time and he said, "if the fire extinguisher explodes due to massive heat exposure then it should put itself out."

I almost collapsed from laughter.
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Mounting?

So the rabbit rancher, farmer Alfalfa, had his first two rabbits, Flopsy and Mopsy die on the same day, within minutes of each other. He tenderly collects the carcasses and takes them to the local taxidermist. "Bob, this here's the bodies of Flopsy and Mopsy, muh first two rabbits. With the offspring of these two, I was able to support muh fambilly, puttin a roof ovah they heads and food in they moufs".

After a reverent pause, Bob sez "Ya want 'em mounted?"

and farmer Alfalfa replies "No, jess holdin paws would be fine"
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
User avatar
padauk_dust
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 1497
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:59 pm
Cars: '88 Accord, '96 VFR

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by padauk_dust »

^ :lol:
'88 Accord DX
'96 VFR750
User avatar
theholycow
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 16021
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:36 pm
Cars: '80 Buick LeSabre 4.1 5MT
Location: Glocester, RI
Contact:

Re: Mounting: Emergency Window Breaker

Post by theholycow »

gizmo wrote:I also keep a fire extinguisher in the trunk
Good enough for other people's fires, but might be a bit inconvenient for your own.

I keep one in my truckbed next to a small toolbox. I accidentally triggered it once and got yellow powder everywhere...
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT

Put your car in your sig!

Learn to launch/FAQs/lugging/misused terms: meta-sig
watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
Post Reply