Seatbelts are designed to not be cut. Glasses on cars are designed to not be broken. That’s all well and great until you find yourself in an emergency where you need to get out of a car and you’re stuck because of a jammed seatbelt or door. Although seatbelts and laminated glass panels are designed effectively to protect you, they can sometimes become the barriers to your safety – which is why it helps to have something like the Lifehammer Smart Automatic on you. A little larger than an AirPods case, the Lifehammer Smart Automatic is an emergency tool that helps you quickly slice through seatbelts and shatter glass windows so you can make an exit in a scenario where every second matters to your safety. Designed to be the essential EDC that every car needs, this $25 gadget could literally be a life-saver.
Designer: Lifehammer Products
The Lifehammer Smart Automatic has a pretty compact, self-explanatory design, which makes it perfect for intuitive use in a split-second emergency. The soap-shaped gadget is easy to grasp firmly in your palm, and comes with a cutout on the side that you hook around your seatbelt. Slide the device over and it slices through the seatbelt’s tough fibers like a knife through butter… while still maintaining a safe design that won’t ever accidentally hurt you.
The top of the Lifehammer Smart Automatic houses its glass-breaker tip. It’s easy to identify the two crucial features simply by looking for the orange accents which highlight the cutter and breaker respectively. The top of the Smart Automatic has a spring-loaded head that you simply press into a glass panel. Eventually, it triggers the glass-breaker tip to eject outwards and shatter any tempered or laminated glass – like the ones found on car windows and windshields. The process requires minimal effort and time, allowing you to quickly break through the glass in case your door gets jammed.
A winner of this year’s iF Design Award, the compact Lifehammer Smart Automatic is a lot smaller than most car-safety gadgets we’ve seen, and comes with its own holder that attaches to any part of your car using 3M adhesive tape. This means you can attach the Smart Automatic beside your seat or the gearbox, or even behind the rearview mirror so it’s easier to access than having to open the glove box and fish around.
