The Question From My Son I Could Not Answer After 25 Years Of Being The Safety Guy In My Family
I am the guy in my family who gets asked about car stuff. Jumper cables in every trunk, flashlight in every glove box. Then my son asked me what the little orange hammer in the minivan actually does. I realized I did not know.
- About 400 Americans a year drown inside their own cars. NHTSA figure. Most on regular commutes, not rivers.
- Seven to ten seconds after water hits the wiring, the dashboard goes dark and the power windows stop.
- At three feet of water, Pascal's Law loads the door with a force heavier than a small car. Nobody, no matter how strong, opens that door.
- Side glass is designed to resist blunt impact. That is literally the spec. What breaks it is a sharp point pressed hard at one small spot.
This is embarrassing to admit as a fifty-two-year-old dad. I have been buying safety products for twenty-five years and I had never once actually tested any of them.
I live in Connecticut with my wife and three kids. Our oldest just got his license last summer. He drives across a long bridge on his way to his summer job. I have spent a lot of the last year thinking about that bridge.
I am the guy in my family who gets asked about car stuff. I change the oil myself. I keep jumper cables in the trunk. I have a flashlight in the glove box of every car. I have a little orange hammer with a seatbelt cutter in a clip next to the driver's seat of my wife's minivan. It came with the car.
So when my son started commuting across that bridge, I did what I thought a reasonable dad does. I checked the emergency kit in his car. I told him where everything was. I told him to keep his phone charged. I told him what to do if his car went in the water.
That is what I would have told you two years ago.
Oh I gave him the textbook advice. Roll down your window the second you hit the water. Climb out. Swim to the shoulder. That is what AAA publishes. That is what I had learned.
Now I'll admit, I had never tested any of it.
- The jumper cables in his trunk had never been opened.
- The flashlight in his glove box had a 2019 receipt taped to it.
- The little orange hammer in my wife's minivan was plastic and I had never once pressed it against anything.
He asked me on a drive one day what the little hammer does. And I realized I did not know.
I went home and I looked it up.
What I Actually Found
About 400 vehicle-submersion drownings a year in the United States. Most are not reckless drivers or freak weather. Most are regular commutes. A flash flood. A drainage ditch. A guardrail that gives out on a long bridge.
Here is the mechanism.
Seven to ten seconds after water hits the wiring, the electrical dies. Windows, locks, dashboard, gone. Pascal's Law then loads the door with a force heavier than a small car at three feet of water, and no adult pulls against that. The only exit is the window. The window has to be broken.
Tempered glass is engineered to resist flat force. A fist, a heel, a shoulder, the sole of a boot. The little orange hammer with the plastic handle in my wife's minivan was never going to work.
Twenty-five years of being the safety guy, and I had the wrong picture of it.
Finally Taking Control Of Our Glove Boxes
I set out looking for a tool that would actually work. I did not want another plastic hammer I had to trust on faith.
That is when I found a product called the Safety Hammer that promised to solve exactly the problem I had just found.
What Is The Safety Hammer And How Does It Work?
The Safety Hammer is a small piece of gear that stays clipped inside the cabin. It uses a spring-loaded mechanism instead of the swing-hammer style that came with the minivan. A single press against the pane. A spring inside fires a tungsten-carbide tip into the glass at high speed. One press, one window on the floor.
Here is the part that closed the sale for me. Every order comes with a testing kit. A piece of tempered glass, the same thickness as a car window, mounted so you can safely break it on your kitchen counter. You do not have to trust it on faith. You break the pane before you ever put the tool in a car.
The Safety Hammer Is Popping Up In Glove Boxes Everywhere
120,000 happy customers across the country now keep one in every car. My brother-in-law in Texas ordered three the week after we did.
Rave Reviews
More Praise From Real Customers
Retired state trooper. I have pulled people out of ditches for twenty-six years. The number one thing I tell new drivers is that the door will not open. This tool is the one I wish every car I ever opened had on the dash.
I am a grandmother and I have arthritis in my right hand. I can still use this. That is all I needed to know. One for every grandkid who drives.
My Son's Reaction
When the Safety Hammers arrived, I put one on the kitchen counter with the testing kit. My son pressed it against the pane. Less than a second. A thousand small pieces. He did not say anything for a few seconds. Then he said, "Huh. So that's what it feels like."
He put the tool in his glove box. He has driven across that bridge every morning since.
My Safety Hammer Experience
My verdict is that my orange plastic hammer is in the trash. There are Safety Hammers in every car in my household now. I know what the tool does because I have used it. So does everybody else in the family.
How Much Does The Safety Hammer Cost?
When I ordered, the best deal was $39.95 per unit with free shipping, down from $79.95. I bought four. I would gladly pay three times that much for a safety tool that comes with the glass you break before you need it.
The company refunds the full order within 30 days, testing pane included. No questions asked.
The Safety Tool You Personally Use Before The Emergency.
- Spring-loaded tungsten-carbide tip · one press shatters tempered side glass
- Testing kit included · break a pane on your counter before it goes in the car
- One-finger operation · works for kids, grandparents, arthritic hands
- No batteries, no app, nothing to fail
- 30-day money-back guarantee · free U.S. shipping
GUARANTEE
Break the testing pane. If you don't feel different, send it back.
Break the testing pane on your kitchen counter. If you do not feel different about driving after, send the whole thing back within thirty days, testing kit included, and the full order is refunded. No questions asked.
Final Verdict
The Safety Hammer is the only safety tool in my house I have used before needing it. Every other piece of gear in my garage has been sitting on faith. This one has been sitting on a demonstration. My son knows where it lives and he has broken the practice pane too. That is what stops me worrying about him on the road.
ADVERTISING DISCLOSURE: This is a sponsored editorial. The Commuter's Review earns a commission when readers purchase through the links in this article. Our reviews are independent; our revenue is not.
RESULTS DISCLAIMER: Product performance depends on the specific vehicle, the glass type (tempered side windows only — the tool is not rated for laminated windshields), the strike angle, and the state of the electrical and mechanical systems in the vehicle. Results vary by situation.
SAFETY NOTICE: Safety Hammer is an escape tool, not a substitute for seat belts, child seats, safe driving practices, or compliance with traffic law. Never operate the tool in a moving vehicle.