Survival Preparedness for the Car

Multiple hazards are associated with automobiles, making your car a target for survival preparedness. You may have an accident and there is nobody on the scene and you must wait for emergency response personnel. Your car may break down, leaving you stranded if you cannot communicate with anybody. In a blizzard bad rainstorm, you may not have the visibility you need to drive safely, forcing you to pull over and wait out the storm.


Survival preparedness kits should include survival items that you think you may need in potential survival situations. For your car survival kit, be sure to include an emergency blanket, survival food and water, warm clothing and a complete survival first aid kit. Body warmers are an excellent addition to your car survival kit to provide warmth as you will not want to light a fire inside of your car. Be sure to have some basic tools in your car as well for car repairs or for miscellaneous tasks you may want to perform on your car to survive.


Keep enough survival supplies in your car for at least two people, maybe more if there are frequently more people in your car than just yourself. Blankets, food and water are the most important survival preparedness items you may need in an emergency so store enough of these items for yourself and a couple others.

Review the contents of your survival preparedness kit often to replenish any used or spoiled survival supplies. This is especially important as it is easy to forget that you have a survival kit in your car and it is easily damaged with extreme heat. Some survival equipment, especially food will spoil in a hot car. Try wrapping your survival kit in a survival blanket and putting it somewhere in the car that is out of the sun and somewhat insulated.

Car survival preparedness kits can be stored anywhere inside the car but it is important to use some discretion. Storing a survival kit in the trunk is convenient because it does not take up space inside where someone may be sitting, but consider that perhaps you will not be able to open your trunk if it is jammed shut or you are not able to exit your car in an emergency. Only store your survival kit in the trunk if you can access the trunk through the back seat.

Another place to store a survival kit in the car is under the seats. This way the survival kit is not in your way and it is easily accessible, even if you cannot get out of your seat.

Wherever you decide to store your survival preparedness kit in your car, make sure it is easily accessible in all potential survival situations.