Why aren’t car windows made out of something non-breakable to deter thieves? Or simply laminated like a windshield?
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Everybody’s already acknowledged this is a safety concern, but I’ll also offer that the *only* thing I took away from my HORRIBLE high school physics teacher (sadly; I love the subject) was an insanely out of context rant about driving into a lake and not being able to open your car doors because of the exterior pressure; and as a result I’ve had three sets of glass-breaking tools in my car consistently for the past 20+ years.
Besides the need to break windows to rescue people, an unbroken windshield or window is a danger in the event of a crash. Imagine a crash where instead of the windshield shattering into a million tiny pieces, a solid plate smacks into the driver, or worse yet, the edge gets driven into them
There’s a lot of reasons such as the price but crucially you don’t want to be inside an inescapable car on fire.
If you smack your head against the passenger window during an accident, don’t you want the window to break before your head breaks? As a person who has survived breaking a car window with my head during an accident, I know which I would prefer.
One reason: They need to break so you can get out.
In an accident you often have to crawl out a window. With a big laminated sheet you have to shove out the whole panel. The front windshield is laminated so that it also protects you from things flying at the car at high speeds. This is less of an issue with side windows.
But after the dust settles you, or rescuers, need to get access. And a window that shatters into small non-sharp pieces lets them do that.
1. unbreakable glass is probably super expensive compared to regular auto glass
2. Sometimes windows need to be broken in emergency situations when a window cant manually be operated.
1. Ex: Child locked in a car in the summer for an extended period of time.
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Because if you got into an accident or had to be removed from the car, a brittle substance is ideal for a quick extraction.
Also, making a car out of solid steel would make it hard to drive since you cannot see through steel.
For safety. Say you drove your car into a lake. You can’t open the doors because the water pressure won’t let you until you can fill the car with water.
You need to be able to break the window to escape.
They’re designed to break and break as safe as possible which is why you end up with very small pieces of glass and not glass shards when you break a car window
Side windows use “Safety” glass. It’s pre-stressed so that it shatters into small, less dangerous, pieces when broken.
This is so during an accident, where it is common for doors to be pinned or damaged and they can’t be opened, for it to be easy to escape out the more easily shatter-able window.
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