How to Survive a Submerged Vehicle Accident—Because Everyone Should Know

If you ever find yourself in a car that's submerged under water (who hasn't?), your first instinct should be to try and open either the window or the door in the first few seconds of touching water. Unfortunately, if you wait any longer than that, the lopsided ambient water pressure subjected to the car will make it impossible to open the car door, and the now ubiquitous power windows will likely short out..

Serving to prevent severe neck injuries, removable headrests can also help save your life when your car is sinking in water.

While not ALL headrests are detachable, the majority of them are. It makes the seats easier to install and uninstall by the factory, and allows many seats to lay back flat when removed.

Luckily, this can also serve another purpose.

If you're in a sinking car, remove the headrest from your seat. Place one of the two medal rods between the window and the door and insert it into the car. Make sure to slide it in on one of the bottom two edges of the window, because that's where it's weakest.

After the rod is snug inside, pull the headrest towards you and the window should shatter. You can see this method being performed in a sinking car (at 0:20 seconds) in the video below.