Chao, the billionaire former CEO of dry bulk shipping giant Foremost Group, tragically died at the age of 50 on Feb. 10 after accidentally backing her car into the pond making a three-point turn.
After digging through the rule the NHTSA adopted, there’s nothing in there that mandates side glazed windows. The rule covers ejection mitigation. The summary hits the major point:
The agency anticipates that manufacturers will meet the standard by modifying
existing side impact air bag curtains, and possibly supplementing them with advanced
glazing. The curtains will be made larger so that they cover more of the window
opening, made more robust to remain inflated longer, and made to deploy in both side
impacts and in rollovers. In addition, after deployment the curtains will be tethered near
the base of the vehicle’s pillars or otherwise designed to keep the impactor within the
boundaries established by the performance test. This final rule adopts a phase-in of the
new requirements, starting September 1, 2013.
There’s a lot of discussion in there. The document is over 300 pages. Some of it covers how the side windows can be down or could become deformed from a roll-over. For testing procedures the windows have to be pre-cracked or removed.
The Federal Registrar calls out side glazed windows in 49 CFR 571.226:
S1. Purpose and Scope. This standard establishes requirements for ejection mitigation systems to reduce the likelihood of complete and partial ejections of vehicle occupants through side windows during rollovers or side impact events.
and in 49 CFR 571.226 S4.2.1.1:
S4.2.1.1 No vehicle shall use movable glazing as the sole means of meeting the displacement limit of S4.2.1.
I anticipate that mid to higher end vehicles will have side glazed windows. While lower end vehicles will not.
If I remember the MythBusters episode your only other options are to roll down the windows immediately and then start to exit or wait for the car to completely submerge and hope the electronics that control your windows and doors haven’t failed.
My car’s headrests have a glass breaker tip at the bottom of the metal bars that you use to raise/lower them. I imagine this is standard in many modern-ish cars.
Is laminated glass why my rented chevy bolt has so many pits? Car’s only got 7k miles on it, but when I drive toward the sun it’s like driving into a glitter storm.
Makes me think of the supposed bullet-proof cyber truck glass… Odds are much more likely you’ll be trying to escape your car than be under a hail of gunfire lol.
I punched a window and broke it back in the day, but that was a junk car from the 80s we were destroying. And I was outside of it with all the room in the world.
Trying to do it while seated inside would have been impossible, and underwater all that pressure against the other side spread out equally makes it really umpossible. It’s basically a giant cushion that absorbs and distributes the force. If you do break it, all that water pressure is going to push it straight in your face, and chances are you’re just going to let the water in, but not create a whole big enough to climb thru. Certainly not u til your car is full of water and pressure equalizes.
If you’re worried about this enough to carry a glass breaker, take a page from the Kia boys and make sure it’s ceramic. Even steel with a point is going to be difficult. But ceramic will shatter it with almost no effort. Gotta keep on bipping
Always carry a glass breaker in your car within reach of the drivers seat
New Teslas have laminated glass, not tempered glass. It does not shatter.
https://youtu.be/6tnEDH1HfD0?t=378
So they’re death traps
Gotcha
I’ve just learned that laminated glass is now mandatory across all models since 2020.
https://lifelinerescuetools.com/blog/3397/
After digging through the rule the NHTSA adopted, there’s nothing in there that mandates side glazed windows. The rule covers ejection mitigation. The summary hits the major point:
There’s a lot of discussion in there. The document is over 300 pages. Some of it covers how the side windows can be down or could become deformed from a roll-over. For testing procedures the windows have to be pre-cracked or removed.
The Federal Registrar calls out side glazed windows in 49 CFR 571.226:
and in 49 CFR 571.226 S4.2.1.1:
I anticipate that mid to higher end vehicles will have side glazed windows. While lower end vehicles will not.
Apparently it was because people’s arms (or even heads?) would hang out of the broken window when a car is rolling over at highway speeds.
If I remember the MythBusters episode your only other options are to roll down the windows immediately and then start to exit or wait for the car to completely submerge and hope the electronics that control your windows and doors haven’t failed.
I wonder how long the electronics last in the Tesla being submerged for the window to roll down.
My car’s headrests have a glass breaker tip at the bottom of the metal bars that you use to raise/lower them. I imagine this is standard in many modern-ish cars.
New Teslas have laminated glass, not tempered glass. It does not shatter.
https://youtu.be/6tnEDH1HfD0?t=378
WTF, how can they just make a change like that, and it get approved to be on the road?
Youtube comment,
Tesla that crashed into a pole, it was on fire, and the driver was trapped behind the laminated glass. Scary situation.
The first in crew that responded had a firefighter try to break the glass with a conventional window punch device, that didn’t work.
Then he tried smashing it with some forcible entry tools, that didn’t work either.
The driver ended up dying. It took 45 mins to extinguish the flames and 15 mins to get the car doors open.
I’ve just learned that laminated glass is now mandatory across all models since 2020.
https://lifelinerescuetools.com/blog/3397/
Is laminated glass why my rented chevy bolt has so many pits? Car’s only got 7k miles on it, but when I drive toward the sun it’s like driving into a glitter storm.
I don’t know. But windshields have been laminated glass since forever.
Your previous comment stated it was 2020
Windshields have been laminated for decades. Side windows were tempered glass for decades, and since 2020 are mandated to be laminated glass.
You may one day learn the difference between MAY and MUST.
Makes me think of the supposed bullet-proof cyber truck glass… Odds are much more likely you’ll be trying to escape your car than be under a hail of gunfire lol.
This is apparently a common thing across car manufacturers now.
Apparently not in door gap, trunk lid pours water into car, discharged battery can’t open rear passenger doors, Teslas.
There’s a door handle override but it’s kind of hidden. Terrible, terrible user experience.
death by own car is probably the pinnacle of poor UX.
But everyone that gets in my car for the first time manages to find it if I forget to tell them to press the button with the minus sign.
Those aren’t glass breakers, and you probably can’t shatter the glass with those. Car windows are incredibly strong.
https://carseatblog.com/38120/mythbusters-vehicle-headrests-are-meant-to-break-vehicle-windows/
Yeah, a fully closed car side window is extremely strong. However if you’re able to crack it just a bit it is far easier to break.
Yeah, but it’s way harder under water.
I punched a window and broke it back in the day, but that was a junk car from the 80s we were destroying. And I was outside of it with all the room in the world.
Trying to do it while seated inside would have been impossible, and underwater all that pressure against the other side spread out equally makes it really umpossible. It’s basically a giant cushion that absorbs and distributes the force. If you do break it, all that water pressure is going to push it straight in your face, and chances are you’re just going to let the water in, but not create a whole big enough to climb thru. Certainly not u til your car is full of water and pressure equalizes.
If you’re worried about this enough to carry a glass breaker, take a page from the Kia boys and make sure it’s ceramic. Even steel with a point is going to be difficult. But ceramic will shatter it with almost no effort. Gotta keep on bipping
New Teslas have shatter-proof laminated glass.
https://youtu.be/6tnEDH1HfD0?t=378
isn’t the point of breaking the door window under water to let water in, so you can open the car door once the pressure difference is equilibrated?
Also, I’ve just learned that laminated glass is now mandatory across all models since 2020. Glass breakers won’t save you.
https://lifelinerescuetools.com/blog/3397/
And the world becomes ever so slightly more like Atlas Shrugged again