The RESQME Tool Window Breaker – Best Place To Keep In Your Vehicle

resqme-tool-window-breaker
( resqme tool window breaker )

The ” RESQUME ” tool (window breaker) comes with a built-in seat belt cutter. It’s something to consider keeping in your vehicle (or on your keychain). I keep one in my truck in case of an emergency — to quickly shatter and break a window to escape.

( see image below where I keep it inside the vehicle )

The resqme tool has a built-in blade to cut a jammed seat-belt — in the event of becoming trapped in your vehicle. It also has a spring-loaded spike to shatter a vehicle’s window with a simple “press”.

I bought one of these to keep in my truck for an emergency, just in case. Not only could this tool potentially help me escape being trapped, but it could be used to help rescue others.

The resqme tool is designed to help you escape quickly from a vehicle following a car crash or if sinking in water. Here’s an article I wrote awhile back:

[ Read: “How To Escape From A Sinking Car” ]

The window breaker is a spring-loaded center punch with a spike that is activated when you push the head of the tool against a window. You can test it or try it out by pressing it against a piece of wood (warning: it will leave a mark!). You will notice when you press hard enough, the internal spike ‘snaps’, leaving a dent where the spike was released.

The mechanism resets itself automatically so you can use it again in an emergency. It cannot accidentally ‘go off’ because it requires 12-pounds of pressure while pushing against a surface in order to ‘arm’ the spring and trigger the center punch.

resqme-tool-spike
I am pressing the resqme and holding against the edge of a wall-corner, to show the spike

The seat belt cutter portion is a razor sharp blade mounted in a groove to enable you to quickly slice through the seat-belt material. The blade is protected by a clip which snaps tightly into the tool. The clip has a hole in it which cab be used to attach to a key ring.

I did not want to carry this on my keychain. So I tied a small length of paracord to hold the resqme tool to the gear shift lever. That way it will ALWAYS be accessible if I need it in the vehicle.

resqme-tool-in-the-truck

resqme The Original Keychain Car Escape Tool, Made in USA
(view on amzn)

23 Comments

  1. I have considered buying one of these devices for years, but like many of my potential purchases, have managed to put it off. Just a thought… A friend was once involved in a rollover accident. He had to use someone’s phone to call for help because his phone and everything else went flying during the accident. The tool might not remain on the gear shift lever, and might be difficult to locate if you’re upside down hanging from your seat belt. You might want to consider a way to better secure it.

  2. I’ve considered getting the passport carrier for around my neck to carry a cell phone and glass breaker while driving.It might be annoying at first but you won’t be groping for what you need in an emergency.

  3. I bought that Car Cane that slides into the door latch to give you stability when turning to get out without putting pressure on a broken leg. It can shatter glass, cut the seatbelt…plus be used to conk someone on the head, or allow you to hurl it at them. 😃

    1. M’Lynn,

      We have one of those in my wife’s car. Daughter bought it for her. Handy little piece of equipment.

      1. The interesting thing is that you’ve basically got a mini hammer, without raising any suspicion when your car gets searched at a check point for weapons. After 9/11 we couldn’t enter work without checks of our cars and also bags we were carrying. Any guard will seize a hammer, yet none even take note of a Car Cane being a form of tool. You couldn’t wear a knife on your belt and enter, yet put a kitchen knife in your lunch sack and carry an apple, nothing is said.

        It’s a time to get creative!

        1. M’Lynn,

          Good thinking on your part. Pretty sure everyone else reading your post understood the check points you were referring to were entering private business property, and in-house security where you worked, shortly after a catastrophic terrorist event.

    2. M’Lynn

      That’s a pretty neat little device. I went to Ken’s Amazon link to look and ordered one.

      1. M’Lynn,
        I have one that I use when riding in our cars. Helps me get in and out of lower vehicles. Don’t need it so much in the SUV or truck
        Anyone with a bad hip ,knee, or back can definately benefit from it.
        I do recommend keeping it in glove box or centre console. If in a fender bender that thing could knock ya out!!
        PEACE
        MadFab

  4. I keep a 9mm holstered by the steering column…I can break the window.

    1. I carry an all metal pocked knife almost all of the time.
      The best tool I have ever had.
      Only way I won’t be able to use it is if my arm is broken.

      Plus the leatherman 300 super on my belt.

    2. I hope your talking about using that gun as a hammer, firing in that little space and you’ll be deaf.. but most likely alive.

  5. Ken,
    Looks like a good tool. A lot smaller than the one I used to carry on my belt. Used the old one a few times. Not as often as one might think though.

  6. I was in a nasty accident back in ’92. I shattered my femur at the knee, a compound fracture in the tibia, and a burned foot from a fuel injector catching fire because I was pinned in the truck. My partner was yelling at me that the fire extinguisher was right below my seat… I can STILL remember him yelling that to me, and I can still remember not knowing what the heck he was saying at the time!

    My point is, shock is a serious condition, and you’re not always in a right frame of mind when an accident happens.

    1. CA_X2B.

      Glad you survived that — sounds pretty awful. I’ve wondered about shock and confusion after an accident. I guess having a tool handy is better than not having one, just in case you are conscious/lucid enough to use it.

    2. CA_X2B
      Ive often wondered about that, if i was in a serious wreck would i still be coherent, all the folks i know who have been said it was all just a muffled blur,,,

  7. I have had one of the RESQUME devices for years. I keep it in the glove box of my Accord, but will now look for a more accessible and secure location. I think I should be able to zip tie it to the tranny shift lever (automatic transmission) which should keep it secure in case of a severe accident and readily accessible.

  8. I got a couple spring loaded center punches from HF and put one in each of our vehicles.

  9. “When seconds count, help is minutes away.” We’ve said that hundreds of times over the years. We tend to always say it in regards to our homes though, not cars.

    My city had the 133 car pile-up eleven days ago that stretched a half of a mile. Time span was 44 seconds.

    ”Help” actually was on the scene as it unfolded. An ambulance was already on the shoulder from a wreck that had just cleared. Plus a good number of accident victims were Police, Fire & Nurses heading to work. That 44 seconds felt like an eternity to some that wanted to spring into action. Yet to others, it all transpired much too quickly.

    One woman got out of her car dazed. A nurse on the shoulder realized the woman was wearing the same scrubs as her so she called out, “Come to me!” to get her attention. As she turned and walked across the two lanes towards the shoulder, the Fed Ex truck that went airborne crushed her car into a wad of twisted metal.

    All of us know how many more trucks there are on the road these days. We know how distracted drivers have become with electronics. Ice never had to be part of the equation.

    Put a rock, a hammer, a bat – something, anything – in your car. It matters.

  10. You may need both tools in your car depending on which windows in your car are tempered or laminated glass. Tempered requires the Resqme-type punch to break the glass. Laminated windows can just be hammered with a sharp tool like the Car Cane, but the Car Cane won’t break tempered glass, which is on many newer cars.

  11. Oops! My last comment was inaccurate. I had it backwards. Laminated windows are on newer cars (on some windows) and require the Resqme tool. Tempered can be broken with the Car Cane or other sharp tools.

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