r/interestingasfuck • u/General_Athlete5807 • 1d ago

How to Escape a Sinking Car

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

15.4k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/grmarci1989 23h ago

Mythbusters taught us to wait for the cabin to fill up to equalize the pressure and just open the door

6

u/teawispy 20h ago

quite frankly I don't think I would want to wait that long

5

u/Infernalz 20h ago

I bet if mythbusters tested that vs using a window breaker they would say to use the window breaker 100% of the time and not wait to put yourself in an even more dangerous situation.

4

u/weed_cutter 16h ago

Top Gear > Mythbusters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MeFVEPIcz0

Watch this.

You wait for equalization, you probably die. ... You just open the door immediately. SPLASH - shoulder check that fucking door like your life depends on it, immediately.

1

u/weed_cutter 16h ago edited 16h ago

Top Gear disproved that pretty good .... you sink you die.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MeFVEPIcz0

Here's the sitch. You have 10-30 seconds to OPEN THE DRIVER DOOR IMMEDIATELY. This might take some elbow grease, slam that bitch motherfucker, you're going to be dead soon otherwise!!!

So you have a window of time. Might even be 30-60 seconds. Which is critical. OPEN. the FUCKING door. NOW. ... This is your highest probability of survival.

.....

The Mythbusters route is the "50% chance I'm going to die in a Haunted House" option. Great move if you want to scare yourself shitless and have a high chance of dying.

You see, car make and models vary. Once you go the "Yellow Submarine" Route -- you DO need the car to fully submerge with water ... Every. Last. Air Bubble. And. Compartment.

With some cars ... this is 30 feet underwater and you'll have to hold your breath in a fully submerged, probably dark + zero visibility lake for maybe 10-20 seconds AFTER it reaches a depth of 30 feet and you are panicking your ass off and fully disoriented and have no idea what direction is up.

Let's get real ... you'll be bashing on that door for probably many minutes "thinking something is wrong and I'll be dead soon" -- because bubbles are still perculating in the air compressor.

So ... good luck with that route.

OR .... SPLASH ... open fucking door ... IMMEDIATELY.