Having read the MPSIMS thread on leaving a child unattended in a car, I got to wondering, would a person of average strength and ability be able to knock out a car window without the use of tools? If so, what would be the best strategy? Side window? Front or rear? Hopefully this is something that none of us will ever have to find out but I am curious.
Obviously, getting a tire tool or some sharp heavy object would be the best solution but let’s assume that that’s not an option.
Seemingly you don’t need anything big, if you do it right. My car got broken into with a tiny little piece of gravel. The cops told me that the technique was to throw the gravel extremely hard at the window, several times until success. Not sure whether success was a crack that could then be punched through, or if the technique actually shattered the window. It worked though.
Wrap your coat (or something relatively thick) around your elbow for padding purposes and then drive your elbow as hard as you can into the center of the largest window. The smaller the window, the less likely it is to break, so if you go for the center of the largest window it will be easier to break.
Your foot would be even more preferable, but take care that you don’t cut yourself on any jagged shards. Safety glass generally doesn’t have any of those, but you never know.
In any event, if you try to punch the window out there is a very good chance that you’ll break your hand. I would not recommend that.
Side/door windows are easily shattered - and designed to be that way. The glass is tempered - so shatters into small bits when broken. Front and rear windows are also tempered, but also laminated, so even though it shatters into small bits, they are trapped in a plastic sandwich which is still usually held in place. So your best bet is the side windows.
If you practiced karate, you could easily punch through a side window safely - the issue mainly being one of properly positioning your fist so as to not injure yourself from the impact, and not one of requiring superhuman strength or chi powers.
lacking that training, you could just as easily break the window with any hard object that comes to hand: rock, large keychain, your shoe heel, etc.
There is a device marketed that is roughly the size of a ballpoint pen solely for this purpose. it contains a cocking mechanism which when released drives a small metal shaft out of the tip of the “pen”. It’s purpose is to shatter car windows in an emergency.
I should add, it was a side window, not the windscreen.
I thought the technique was to strike the window near a corner rather than directly in the centre?
Snatch and grab muggers do this all the time.
There was a local news segment warning women not to put their purse on the car seat.
A mugger can smash the window at a red light, grab the purse and be gone in under 15 seconds.
They even demonstrated it. The guy had something between his fingers. Keys, a steel bolt? I don’t recall. Whatever it was worked. Pretty shocking to see how vulnerable you are even with the doors locked.
IIRC, that’s for clearing out a windshield, which is a very different type of glass than the side windows. You can’t punch through a windshield, so you want to get the edge to pop up so you can peel the window away.
A dot-punch. We used to steal them from metalwork classes back in my school days.
Punching windshields was a fad not too long ago. Since safety glass is used for all auto windows and windshields, where a layer of plastic is sandwiched between glass. The punching or hitting with a heavy object usually serves to fragment the glass, making the pane flexible so it can be pulled apart or out of the frame.
The trouble is your OP mentioned a child locked in the car unattended. Anything done to fracture glass could cause glass fragments to fly in the interior, with eye damage being a possible problem. So outside of an urgent circumstance, like the car being on fire, or the child already passed out from heat, find another means to gain entry to the car. The first thing to do would be calling the police, fire department, or rescue squad, who should be equipped to safely open a locked car, or could advise you on steps to take.
Might be harder than you think. Here’s a guy humorously failing at breaking one with a hammer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XLH8E3fxHY
Blunt force with something not as hard as the glass is somewhat difficult. But if you hit it with anything harder a small crack will cause it to shatter. Broken spark plugs are used often by criminals because of this:
It is impossible to break a car windshield with your bare hand.
If he can’t do it, no one can.
On a recent hiking date (in a remote area) my partner locked his keys in the car. With no cell reception he decided to break the window rather than walk the 20 miles back to town. He first tried his elbow with no luck. He then tried to kick it in, still nothing. He then stood on the trunck and tried to stomp in the back window - nada. He finally got a small log and rammed it through.
I think the impact area must be small and concentrated. I think it’s not possible with a punch at least without breaking your hand… movie tough guys aside.
My niece when she was five or so accidentally locked her self in an Astro van as my mother was putting the shopping cart back. My mom freaked and some guy came and punched out the rear window about 20" x 20" with just a windbreaker wrapped around his fist.
Years ago when I was going to run a car in a demolition derby, I was supposed to take out the side windows. I decided to break them out. I’m a big guy, and I took a large sledge hammer and hit the side window repeatedly, but the sledge just bounced off. A friend of mine who works in the body shop where the car was stored laughed and came over with a small hammer with a chisel shape on one end. He tapped the edge of the glass with the chisel head, and the window shattered into lots of small pieces.
Aren’t most door windows on modern cars slightly convex?
If so, that shape will make it even harder to break with a blunt object like a fist. It’s like that school trick where you challenge someone to try and crush an egg just by squeezing it in the hand. It can’t be done! However, lightly tapping an egg on the edge of a pan will crack the shell easily.
When the side window rolls down on that reporter, I lost it. That was funny, thanks for sharing!
Funny video, but no car vandal would use a hammer. Porcelain from a spark plug works the best, better than a rock, and they know it.
Bill Goldberg severely injured himself attempting this stunt at a pro wrestling event. If you’re in a position where you’ve got to try it, definitely wrap a coat or something around your arm first.
I remember that. Goldberg actually had some protective plastic on the windshield, and maybe his hand. But it wasn’t enough to stop broken glass from cutting open his arm.