Where is the best place to put a safety hammer in a private car?
3 Answers
Private car safety hammers can be placed in door storage compartments, center armrest boxes, glove compartments, or the upper end of the B-pillar (with a bracket). The introduction to safety hammers is as follows: Definition of safety hammer: The life-saving hammer, also known as a safety hammer, is an auxiliary escape tool installed in enclosed compartments. It is generally installed in easily accessible places within enclosed compartments such as cars. In emergency situations such as car fires or submersion in water, it can be conveniently taken out to smash glass windows and doors for smooth escape. How to use a safety hammer: It mainly utilizes the conical tip of the life-saving hammer. Due to the small contact area of the pointed tip, when the hammer strikes the glass, the pressure on the glass at this contact point is quite large (somewhat similar to the principle of a thumbtack), causing the car glass to undergo significant external force at this point and resulting in slight cracking.
I keep the safety hammer in the mesh pocket on the side of the driver's seat armrest box. I've tested it multiple times—just reach down with my right hand, and I can grab the hammer handle, even with my eyes closed. This position is lifesaving when the car is submerged or the seatbelt is stuck—you can still hook it even with water pressure pressing on your arm. A reminder: don’t use double-sided tape to stick it; the adhesive will fail in summer heat. Once, while helping a friend organize their car, I found they had stashed the safety hammer in the trunk toolbox—in an emergency, you won’t be able to crawl back there! It’s common knowledge that the front windshield is hard to break, so the safety hammer must be placed where you can reach it before the airbag knocks you out.
When traveling with elderly and children frequently, I've created a safety zone in the rear seats. The safety hammer is inserted in the left rear door storage compartment slot, with a fluorescent green hanging rope dangling down. This way, the driver can reach it by turning around, and family members in the back can also access it themselves. I tried placing the hammer in the armrest box, but my 7-year-old child said it got stuck and couldn't be pulled out. I specifically chose a small-sized engineering plastic hammer, whose pointed tip breaks windows three times faster than a round one. The idea of hiding an emergency hammer in the spare tire well was rejected by me, as the trunk is most likely to deform and become inaccessible in a rear-end collision. Checking the tightness of the hammer head monthly has become second nature—there's no room for compromise when it comes to safety equipment.
