If you're trapped in a vehicle that's quickly filling up with water, breaking a window to escape might be much tougher than you think. One-third of new cars have side windows that are as hard to break as front windshields. Knowing what type of window you have could be critical in an emergency. That's because a driver who gets trapped in a submerged car could be counting on a vehicle escape tool to get out. One easy strike with a hammer-style tool and the tempered glass that has typically been used for side windows shatters, creating an emergency exit. New research from AAA shows that many car manufacturers are replacing tempered glass with much stronger laminated side windows. Lamination simply takes two sheets of tempered glass and puts a solid piece of clear plastic between them, bonding them together to make them twice as strong. In fact, it’s laminated glass is nearly unbreakable. While AAA acknowledges the safety benefits of putting laminated glass in side windows, they also believe drivers need to know that the tools they've counted on to survive floods and fires may no longer be able to break open an escape route.
