The 10 Best Car Window Breakers to Buy in 2020

A design proven throughout twenty years of production and service, the Resqme (pronounced ‘Rescue Me’) is a fantastic little window breaker that’s great whether you’re planning on leaving it in your car, or attaching it to your key chain and carrying it around with you every day.

Originally developed for first responders like EMTs, the Resqme was built to give them a tool that would be instantly accessible and light enough to carry around everywhere. But it proved so popular that it was made available on the commercial market.

It’s incredibly simple to use. As a push-type spring-loaded window breaker, to activate it is simple. Hold it in your hand, with the active end pointed outwards, and push it into the window. The force you use primes a spring inside the body of the device, which fires a tiny steel spike into the window, cracking it. This will either cause the window to shatter completely, or it will leave it broken enough that you can easily sweep or kick the remnants free.

The seatbelt cutter is equally simple. There’s a small cover to stop you from accidentally cutting yourself on the blade, which can be removed in seconds. Once that’s done, you just slide it over the seatbelt and pull sharply down.

What’s equally impressive is that all of this is packed into such a tiny package. It’s barely larger than your thumb, only 3 inches long and around 2 high. You can store this anywhere, and it’s small enough to bring with you on your daily rounds, whether in a bag or a pocket. It’s solidly made throughout from ABS plastic and stainless steel, so don’t worry about it breaking on you.

The only real downside with this tool is that a spring-type glass breaker only works on tempered glass. That means it won’t work on your wind-shield, and some newer car manufacturers are starting to change the glass used in side windows too. So, if you’ve just bought a new car, it’s worth checking.

Apart from that issue, this is a fantastic tool for any situation, and it would be very hard to go wrong when buying one.

This isn’t just the best hammer on our list, this is the best hammer we’ve seen. Ztylus make solid and dependable emergency tools, and this hammer packs all of the options in one sleek design.

Firstly, it’s not just a hammer. Tucked away on the top of the hammer head is a spring-loaded window breaker. To use it, you push the head of the hammer against a side window in your car, which primes the spring and sends a spike of metal through the glass, breaking it.

But it also has a hardened steel glass-breaking hammer. This is great for two reasons. One, a spring-loaded window breaker will only work on tempered glass, like you find in your cars side windows. But newer models of car, as well as the front and rear windshields, are made from tougher laminated safety glass. A spring-loaded glass breaker will barely even scratch these, but a good hammer can break them, allowing you to get free.

The second advantage is that often when breaking a window with a spring tool, some or all of the glass is left in the frame. But with the hammer, you can sweep it free and keep yourself safe from cuts and other injuries.

Ztylus also recently redesigned this hammer, and it shows in how smartly made the rest of the features are. The belt cutter is on the rear of the hammerhead, which means you use it from the same grip as you would to swing the hammer, perfect in a crisis. The body is solid, and unlike some hammers has a rubber handle that really aids with grip. Finally, there’s a wide hole on the bottom end, which will accept hooks, keyrings, cable ties and more, allowing you to store this easily where you need it.

Designed by Kit Carson, a retired Sergeant Major in the US army and renowned frontiersman, the M16 is a professional knife built for function. It’s been in use for more years than most of us have been alive, and won multiple awards. Those are some serious credentials, and they add up.

There’s a glass breaker on the bottom of the handle, which puts it in the prime position for an easy backhand swing. The belt cutter is mounted to the blade guard above your hand and points outwards, in the same direction as the point of the knife. This is a smart choice because it keeps the knife pointed away when you’re using it, and means that you can cut with a pushing motion, using the whole strength of your arm.

The blade itself is high-carbon stainless steel with a blackened titanium nitride coating. It’s sharp, and won’t lose easily use its edge. Like a lot of knives, the bottom third is serrated, but unlike almost all other blades this has Veff serrations, which are specifically designed to cut straight through ropes and cordage. That means, even if you can’t bring the belt cutter to bear, the knife will do the job.

You can easily open the blade with one hand, even when you’re holding the knife in a standard grip. Once the blade is open, it locks securely with a liner pin. This makes it impossible for the knife to flex or close under normal operation. When you do want to close it, it’s as simple as pushing the locking pin in with one finger.

This quality extends to the handle. It’s made from glass-reinforced nylon, making it light but incredibly strong. It’s lighter still because of the holes bored through it, which also really helps to keep it clean.

But the best part is that this is actually a deceptively inexpensive knife. It’s not a budget choice by any means, but it’s not expensive at all, especially considering what you get. If you’re only buying it for the safety tools, it’s probably not worth it. But if you regularly use a knife, whether for your work, or as a daily tool, this is a fantastic option when you’re looking for your next purchase.

The quintessential car safety tool, the VicTsing safety hammer has literally everything you need in your safety gear in one convenient little package. First off, the safety hammer is made of high-grade carbon steel. It’s also double-ended, which is excellent, because it means no matter which way you end up picking this up when you grab it in a panic, you can still comfortably swing it, saving valuable seconds.

The seatbelt cutter is also made out of the same high-grade steel, meaning it’s razor-sharp and should effortlessly cut through a belt. At less than one-third of a pound, it’s light and simple to wield, but has enough weight at the end of its 6.7-inch handle to easily crack through any standard car window.

The holding case thoughtfully comes with two mounting brackets so the whole thing can be held in place with just two screws. The hammer locks securely into position, but clicks out with little effort. If you don’t want to drill a hole in your car (which is understandable), we’ve also seen people say that sticking a Velcro patch onto the back of the hammer works perfectly well. The body of the hammer also has a light reflective patch that can really help with finding it.

As one of the lower-priced models in our list, you’re not getting flashy technology or interesting features. Just two reliable hammers that should do exactly what you need them to do when a crisis hits.

A lot of safety tools on this list are just that, tools. They are just going to sit in your car, waiting for the day they need to be used. There’s a good chance that, when that time comes, they’re going to be hard to grab hold of, unless you intentionally keep them somewhere accessible.

But this tool is different. On top of being an easy to use, high-quality window breaker, it’s also a dual USB charger – perfect for phones, tablets and other personal items. It plugs into your car charger or cigarette lighter, like any other USB charger, and has two ports ready for use.

Each charger has been rigorously tested and certified, and the intelligent circuits built into it regulate power flow, preventing the charger from overheating and protecting your devices from overcharging or short-circuiting.

The fact that this is a USB charger is also another plus for one big reason. Most car charger ports are in easily accessible places, so in an emergency you’ll know where this is. It’s also been specifically designed to be used with the same grip that you would pull it out of the charging port with.

To use it, you wrap your fingers around the base handle and pull it straight out, holding it something like a pistol. Then just push the end into a window to engage the spring-loaded glass breaker. The seatbelt cutter is equally simple. It’s at a 90-degree angle to the glass breaker, which gives you a lot of leverage when you pull it down and makes cutting through the seatbelt easy.

It’s actually easy enough that your kids could use it. That’s a serious point, and a minor negative. You have to make sure that your children don’t get hold of this. It’s that simple to use, and a young child could easily break a window with it, whether by accident or on purpose. But as long as you know where this is, you’ve got an awesome little USB charger that could just save your life.

Simple but rugged, tactical pens are commonly carried as a self-defense tool, but this pen could also save your life in a car accident.

First off, it’s worth pointing out that this is a fully functioning pen and can be refilled by all good ballpoint brands, so you don’t have to worry about replacing the entire thing when you run out of ink.

The body is made from military-grade aluminum, and the whole thing is very well built throughout. It’s easy to hold, and really balanced whether you’re holding it like a pen or as a tool. Slightly thicker than a normal pen, it sits well in the palm without being bulky, and it’s comfortable whether you’re a 5-foot woman or a 250-pound man with shovels for hands.

The cap clicks onto both ends, which is how you access the glass breaker as well as the pen. Once the cap is down, you can wrap your thumb around the end of the pen, giving you a secure grip for powerful strikes. The glass breaker itself is made of hardened tungsten, the same metal that high power cutting tools are made out of, so it keeps its edge for years. Unfortunately, it’s not able to cut belts.

Simple and unobtrusive, this pen can be carried everywhere, especially in the provided belt sheath. It keeps you safe no matter where you go or whose car you’re traveling in. It’s an effective enough tool that you could easily buy this just for the glass breaking option built into a great little pen, but if you’re also interested in the self-defense side, buying this also gives you access to Atomic Bear’s online self-defense courses.

One of the strongest and most well-built safety hammers on the market, if you’re looking for reliability and power, this could be the right choice for you.

It’s made of bright aluminum. It’s attractive, looking like a high-quality, high-cost tool, but you’re not really buying it for that. Why this matters is it means it stands out instantly. When you need it, you can find it – even in low light conditions – as the polished body will catch any light and shine, making it simple to see. The fact that the handle is aluminum alloy rather than plastic also means that it’s very tough and it’s not going to snap under stress.

The twin head design is smart, with a pointed head for breaking the window, and a flat head that can shatter the broken remnants of glass from the frame. The hammer head is tungsten steel, so it’s incredibly hard, and should punch cleanly through the thickest safety glass. It’s also heavy, which is great because it this gives you far more power in your swing.

A lot of plastic safety tools place the seatbelt cutter at the opposite end to the hammer, at a 45-degree angle. On this tool, the seatbelt cutter is directly below the head of the hammer, at a flat 90 degrees. Not only does this mean you can use both tools from the same hand position that you would swing it from, meaning you won’t have to awkwardly spin it around in a crisis; it also means that when you pull it down, you can use the full force and weight of your arm. This gives you more leverage and makes cutting through the seal-belt easier.

If you do decide to pick this up, you also get a safety lid, so this won’t scratch the inside of your car when it’s being stored. If you want the most power out of your hammer, and the best chance of breaking a window with a manual tool, this hammer is a great choice.

As a dependable day-to-day knife, there’s a lot to offer here. The knife itself is solid, especially considering the budget price you pay. It’s a 3 and a half-inch steel folding blade that’s spring-assisted, so it flips out instantly when you need it with a surprisingly smooth action. Once the blade it out, it locks in place so it’s not going to fold back on you when in use.

The handle is light but tough aluminum with precision milled handgrips, which makes it easy to hold whether open or closed. It’s just over 5 inches long when shut, and the lightweight and belt clip make this a great little gadget that you can keep with you and barely notice you have it, until you need it.

In terms of safety tools, it has everything you might need to escape a car. There’s a window breaker built into the structure of the handle, right at the bottom point. This gives you ample leverage when swinging it, and lends itself to a simple downward hammer swing, giving you a lot of force. The belt cutter is also bottom-mounted, and can be used with any grip.

Considering the price, this knife offers a huge amount. It’s very low cost, but high performance, and it’s perfect if you’re regularly out and are looking for a backup knife to leave in your car that can also save your life if you have an accident.

Portable and tough, the VicTsing safety tool is a key chain design that’s perfect for leaving in your car because it’s so small and unobtrusive. It’s definitely hard-wearing, because the body is made out of tough polycarbonate plastic, which is much tougher than standard ABS, and the spike is a tungsten steel mix, which is significantly harder than normal steel.

The whole thing is bright red and yellow, which you’ll be thankful for in an emergency, as it makes the tool much easier to see, especially if it’s in a crowded glove box. But because of the design choice to attach the keyring chain to the blade cover, you could also hang this from somewhere in your car, allowing you to grab it and pull it free in an emergency.

The window breaker is a high-quality tungsten steel spike that is loaded from an 8kg spring. It’s rated to break up to 10mm windows, which means it’s going to break anything except toughened emergency glass.

The seatbelt cutter is similarly high quality, with a stainless steel blade. Unlike a lot of blades, it’s placed at a 90-degree angle against the body of the tool, which can make cutting slightly more awkward, but it’s still perfectly usable.

A lot of the tools on this list are designed to be left in your car all the time, and would only ever be used in emergencies. If you’d prefer something that you can keep with you at all times, and something that’s going to keep you safe whether you’re driving or walking, this little gadget is perfect.

First off, it’s a fully functioning pepper gel spray, made by Sabre Red. Sabre Red is a worldwide brand who primarily make products for emergency services, and law enforcement officials worldwide rely on Sabre products to keep them safe every single day.

That same protection is now available to the general public. The pepper gel spray itself is really easy to use, with a simple flip-top design that keeps the activation trigger covered unless you need it, but that can be accessed in literal seconds. It’s small enough to fit in a pocket, because it’s only 4 inches high and 2 wide, and it comes with a built-in snap clip so you can attach it to handbags, belts or anything else that has a loop.

Pepper gel sprays 20% further than pepper spray, with an effective range of about 12 feet. It’s also less affected by wind and can be used inside, or in sensitive environments, because there are no airborne particles. Instead, it fires a jet of gel that coats whatever you’re aiming at. You get 25 bursts from a standard cartridge, and it lasts for around 4 years before you need to replace it, which is twice the industry standard.

As a safety tool, it’s respectable. There’s a stainless steel spike on the bottom of the spray body that’s built for smashing through windows, and the spray itself is easy to hold so you get a lot of leverage. When not in use, there’s a small rubber button that covers the spike, so you can comfortably throw this into any bag you own without worrying about it catching or tearing on anything.

The seatbelt cutter is also built right into the body, and is equally good quality. It’s built very close to the main body, much closer than others we’ve seen, so it might take a second or two longer to slide over the belt. But once you’ve got it over the belt, that same factor will keep it tight to the body and make it much easier to slice through and escape.

The only issue is that the construction isn’t the absolute best. Occasionally, sections will come loose or fall off, but a touch of glue will hold everything together perfectly. Still, it’s a shame to point that out, as the rest of the product is so good.

Overall, this is a great little tool. Everything it does, it does well. It’s also cheap enough that you could buy this for the pepper gel protection alone, and consider the belt cutter and glass breaker as extras.