Secūr Auto Emergency Tool & LED Flashlight

Secūr Auto Emergency Tool & LED Flashlight
Company: Secūr
Price: $29.99, less than $20 on Amazon at time of publication

We’ve all seen the stories on the news: a vehicle is stranded and can’t signal for help; there’s a car accident and the driver is trapped in his car because the seat belt won’t unbuckle or he can’t break the glass to get out. The Secūr Auto Emergency Tool & LED Flashlight can help with those scenarios.

The Secūr Auto Emergency Tool & LED Flashlight is a flashlight-warning beacon-seatbelt cutter-window breaking tool all in one small package. It also claims to charge cell phones, which I’ll discuss at the end. No batteries are needed; it charges strictly by hand crank. The flashlight charges very quickly: one minute of cranking gives 40 minutes of light, and holds a charge for days. There are three magnets that secure the tool on a car so other drivers can see the flashing red light.

I found that after ignoring the flashlight for a week that the red light didn’t work and the flashlight was dim. Simply turning the crank for a minute strengthened the flashlight and brought back the red light. It’s comforting knowing you can always get light and not worry about replacing dead batteries.

Two features of the tool I couldn’t test are the seatbelt cutter and window breaking tool. The cutter is a regular razor blade recessed into the handle. Adults won’t accidentally cut themselves, but be sure to keep it away from little fingers. On the flashlight end of the tool is a metal hammer-like knob with a plastic cover. Use this to break the window or windshield if the car door won’t open.

I mentioned the Secūr Auto Emergency Tool & LED Flashlight also charges cell phones. In my testing it doesn’t work, for the most part. It charged my iPhone 4S a little bit, but it would have taken a lot of work to get enough charge to make a simple 911 call since it only charges while turning the crank. With the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 an error message popped up: This accessory may not be supported. Since for charging to potentially work you’ll need your phone cable to connect to the provided female USB plug, you’re better off having a phone charger in your car. Make it a habit to charge your phone when it gets below 50% just in case you’re ever in an emergency situation and charging is unavailable. The charging provided by the Secūr Auto Emergency Tool & LED Flashlight isn’t meant to be a full fledged charger, it’s just for emergencies. Even so, if it doesn’t work then it’s a totally useless feature and a bit frustrating.

Overall, the Secūr Auto Emergency Tool & LED Flashlight is handy to keep in the glove box or trunk of your car. It’s inexpensive and could help you get out of a potential dangerous situation.

MyMac.com Review Rating: 7 out of 10, based on not being able to test the window breaking and seat cutter functions.