Car Emergency Kit: Suggestions?

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Not a full-blown survival kit, but, what do you all suggest as good items for a car emergency kit, for both hot and cold, summer and winter road conditions? A friend is trying to put one together, and drives where it snows during winter.

Some of my suggestions so far have been:
Shovel
Durable Hand Held Ice Scraper
Jumper Cables and Emergency Battery
First Aid Kit
Durable Pocket Knife, notably a Spyderco with FRN handle
Possibly some food and water
Emergency rope or chain if he needs to pull something out of the way
saw of some sort
fire starter
Decent Flash Light with extra batteries
Emergency Seat Belt Cutter/Window Glass Breaker

What are some other important items to add?

[jabba359]

Some sort of wind-up charger to charge your phone in case it dies
Emergency blanket (also, if you know you're traveling in cold weather, make sure you have proper cold weather clothing handy even if you don't plan on wearing it)
A small hatchet wouldn't hurt
Rope (not thicker towing strength like you mention, but something that can lash a brace to an arm/leg, or building a shelter)

And, not necessarily a physical item, but if traveling off the beaten path, let someone know where you're going.

[farnorthdan]

cold weather gear, bibs, coat, snow boots (sorels, bunny boots etc.) kitty litter or gravel for traction, small shovel, flares, jumper cables, thats all I can think of right now.

[Knivesinedc]

Maybe some hand warmers
Reflectors
pen (a pen that has antifreeze ink, like a fisher space pen) and paper
A handgun and ammo (guns are always good :D )
First aid kit (if not already mentioned)

[TomAiello]

Water filter. Like a Sawyer mini filter.
Firearms as your jurisdiction (or where you are traveling) allows.
Glow sticks (or flares) to mark roadway emergency.
And definitely food and water. Something like a bunch of granola bars, or jerky.

[The Mastiff]

In addition to a bunch of stuff from above:

Meds for passengers you have. A few days worth for whatever their needs are

Remember in cold weather caloric needs go up. Before going to sleep in cold car, or sleeping bag in the car a fuel food helps keep you warm. Protein and fats are good in cold weather as they have the calories and burn slow enough to get you through the night. A candy bar can burn fast and keep you warm for a while but you will wake up cold. Slow burning foods before sleep.

Also, cold dry weather increases need for water. Insure everyone stays hydrated just like in the heat. If stuck somewhere keep up off ground or anything else that sucks the cold out of you. Choose the correct fabrics. Get rid of cotton when possible. It'll kill you when wet. There are much, much better choices.


camp stove of choice w/fuel
Ti or al pot
plastic cutlery and napkins
salt, pepper, candy
hand wipes

mini shovel
TP

chapstick or vaseline
matches & lighters
orange flag for car & orange spray paint

Back pack
trash bags

In addition to car kit which should be in every car.

[Nate]

Taking some notes here myself, good idea for a thread as winter is already baring it's fangs here in the midwest.

I always have a thick wool blanket in my trunk which has come in handy a bunch of times, even if I've never used it in an emergency situation.

I'm also kind of stunned by how few people seems to carry jumper cables anymore. I've jumped like four cars for strangers in the past 2 or 3 months...

[bearfacedkiller]

I have a lot of the stuff above in my truck. I have road flares also. They double as a great fire starter. I also carry a tow strap.

[JNewell]

Lots of good candidates above. I used to keep a folding shovel and a folding bow saw in my vehicle. I thought that was overkill until one fall I got snagged on something on a dirt road in a situation where an axe would really have been helpful. I got myself free with the saw but promptly bought a long handled compact axe and put it under the rear seat. That would depend a lot on your travel area, though. :)

[PanChango]

Whatever you keep in your vehichle, I would keep it strapped down. I used to keep a pocket knife in my center console, until I was broadsided by an F150 about 8 years ago. My Jeep rolled and my center console ended up in the middle of the street. Luckily I had a Harpy in my pocket and was able to cut myself out of my seat belt. If you are in an accident, things will likely not be where they were...

[MacLaren]

A good battery operated electric blanket or regular warm blankets if not mentioned.
And water.

[bearfacedkiller]

Whatever you keep in your vehichle, I would keep it strapped down. I used to keep a pocket knife in my center console, until I was broadsided by an F150 about 8 years ago. My Jeep rolled and my center console ended up in the middle of the street. Luckily I had a Harpy in my pocket and was able to cut myself out of my seat belt. If you are in an accident, things will likely not be where they were...

I got in a very bad wreck and had a tackle box in the back window of my car. That thing wacked me in the head, split me open and gave me a pretty good concusion. The items in your car can be dangerous when things go wrong.

[Pinetreebbs]

No matter the weather, I always have a pair of work gloves.

First aid kit

A seat belt cutter in addition to my knife.

A switchable head screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a medium adjustable wrench and a small reversible battery terminal bolt ratchet.

A small flat magnifier.

A cellphone charger cigarette lighter adapter and a USB cable since my new truck as USB outlets.

A good flashlight and one of those crank to operate flashlight just in case the batteries are dead.

Jumper cables

In my pickup I always carry some para-cord, small ratchet straps and a nylon towing strap with hooks on the ends.

[farnorthdan]

I cant believe nobody has mentioned this yet, myself included, and I just noticed it this morning after rereading the posts......A FIRE EXTINGUISHER.....Duh, how many of us have seen cars burning along side the road?

[defenestrate]

I try to always keep a decent floor or bottle jack, a tire iron (also works as a lever for the jack), a T-bar (also to speed changing a tire), a tire plug kit, and some manner of inexpensive tire inflator. Also, some kind of canned food that I can stand to eat cold.

[Doc Dan]

Whatever else is included you must have a space blanket (a good one). I have wrapped myself up in a space blanket when it was -30 to -40 F and stayed warm enough. These take up much less space than a regular blanket and will keep you warmer. Mine were reflective silver on one side but you can get the good ones with silver on both.
Two other items to include would be a medical kit and a folding shovel. These can fit in the spare tire well, very often. I would include a Spyderco Delica FRN as the handle will be comfortable in cold or heat. Even a Dragonfly would do.
One thing to keep in mind is that it all must be portable and easily stashed out of the way. You do not want something so big as to take up luggage room or be impossible to tie down securely.

[Trout Hound]

PARACORD!!! Neon orange so that whether you drop it in leaves or on snow, it is still visible. 150' divided into 25' lengths.

Some cat litter to provide tire traction on ice.

A wide mouth Klean Kanteen, or at least an old coffee can for melting snow into drinking water.

Full size Multitool.

[Trout Hound]

And duct tape. How could I forget duct tape? :confused:

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

Multi stranded electrical cable (building wire) which can come in handy.

[Crazy Fox]

A lot of repeats, but here's what I came up with based on my categorizations:

POWER: I hate the way alkalines leak during storage and they're awful in the cold, so I've been switching to lithium AA and AAA batteries. I'm not yet quite sold on battery jumpstarters or hand crank anything, but I think a spare phone battery and charger are great ideas.

LIGHT: I have several flashlights so that if one breaks or gets misplaced, I have spares to fall back on ("two is one, one is none"). These could also come in handy for signalling after an accident, especially if combined with a high visibility vest.

FIRST AID: Nothing fancy. No $400 GI Joe tactical-trauma-center-in-a-bag for me, just a few items pulled together from other kits I already own and a couple items to deal with heavy bleeding after an accident.

WARMTH: Spare warm clothing, rain gear, blankets etc. from the house. Enough for all the passengers I typically carry, but I'd like more in the event that I need to help somebody else out.

WATER: You'll probably never need it get to hike to civilization after being stranded in the wilderness, but I have often found 2 liters 90% filled with water to be useful for washing off my hands and tools after particularly dirty work. Having a clean, sure grip of the steering wheel is important!