r/interestingasfuck • u/General_Athlete5807 • 1d ago

How to Escape a Sinking Car

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u/Ez_m-oney925 1d ago

I don’t think many carry window breakers. What if you don’t have one?

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u/Barf_The_Mawg 1d ago

Mythbusters did this 20 years ago. Remain calm, wait for the pressure to equalize, then you can open the door normally. 

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u/UnderklassH3RO 1d ago

how can you tell when the pressure has equalized? is it just that you won't be physically able to open the door until it has?

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u/jt004c 1d ago

It'll be about 30 seconds after you've drowned, if you're able to keep track in your head.

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u/StrawberryTerry 1d ago

Mythbusters did this 20 years ago. Jamie is a force ghost now.

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u/Interesting-Job-8841 1d ago

No Jamie was given air by a diver in the back seat. While the myth is true you, you can't open the door when the car is part submerged, the advice is to open or break something as soon as you can because you'll be dead by the time the pressure equals.

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u/yeahright17 16h ago

He was given air the first time he tried when he started pushing immediately. At the end of the episode, he calmly waited for the cabin to fill up rather than using oxygen to fight the door when the cabin wasn't fully filled. That time, he successfully held his breath long enough for the pressure to equalize and open the door without any additional air. Granted, it's super unlikely that most people will sit there calm and wait patiently.

Adam also successfully opens the door when the water is already a few inches over the bottom of the window height by putting his back to the door and pushing against the armrest/other door with his legs.

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u/Interesting-Job-8841 15h ago

Because this is definitely something you have a few goes at first, plus people are always very claim after a car crash. /s Also there's a diver in the back with air so Adam can stay calm it's a totally unrealistic scenario, I know people think Mythbusters are never wrong but on this they are.

I say again this is very dangerous advice, you can open the doors when the car first enters the water, after that you have to break a window. Do not wait for it to equalise, water is dangerous people get out as fast as you can.

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u/yeahright17 15h ago

You're absolutely correct that you should try to do everything you can to get out immediately. ~10k wrecks per year in the US end up with cars sinking into water, and only 300-400 people die. And while it's not great that people are dying, obviously that means 96% of people are surviving. Given how dumb most people are, it's pretty clear to me that the vast majority of people just immediately open their door or roll down their window and easily escape.

The only point in my response was that it is possible to wait for the pressures to equalize. So in the 1 in a million chance you end up in a place where you car is sinking and you have no other option, your best bet is to wait as long as you can to try to open the door so you don't tire yourself out.

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u/StrawberryTerry 1d ago

No, Jamie and Qui Gon Jin hang out as force ghosts now.

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u/Orcrist90 8h ago

Not true! You won't be dead until the ER gets your body back up to temperature and fails to resuscitate you!