15 Car Safety Essentials You Should Always Have Before Hitting The Road

This 67-piece tool kit will be your saving grace if you ever get a flat. It works on all types of cars, including motorcycles, trucks and tractors.

Promising review: “This kit has everything needed to successfully plug a punctured tire. It comes equipped with 40 tire plugs, a quality tire gauge, valve stem tool and 12 valve cap replacements. Just a reminder, never try to plug a puncture that is outside of the tire treads. If your tire is punctured on the sidewall, go and have it patched on the inside. Plugs use your tire’s tread to help secure the plug itself to the tire.” — DonnieV

More than 26,000 people have bought and rated these car battery jumper cables, with the vast majority giving them a five-star rating. They’ll be just what you need if your car battery dies and they have a thick coating, which protects them from rust. They come with a handy carrying case too!

Promising review: “Very durable and easy to use. They don’t take up too much space in your car and they can save you from having to call a mechanic in the middle of the night for a high amount of money.” — Daniel Truque

The weather may be mild now, but the countdown to winter is on and once the weather turns, an ice scraper just may be the most important item you have in your car. This one is a standout because it has one side for brushing off snow while the other side can be used to scrape ice off the windshield.

Promising review: “I LOVE this scraper/brush! I deal with 100+ inches of snow a year, and this has been a lifesaver! It’s super lightweight, comes with a storage bag, is easy to clean, fits anywhere you have space and is very high quality!” — Paige Swenson

If the GPS in your car stops working (or your phone dies) will you know how to get around? It’s worth it to keep a map of the U.S. roads in the glove compartment just in case. This one has a map of every state (including detailed maps of 375 cities), plus Mexico and Canada.

Promising review: “A great updated atlas to use when traveling the great lands of the USA. The spiral bound keeps it in place and is so practical to keep multiple maps together. It’s easy to navigate, with detailed city maps that are easy to read. You can easily follow the map from one state to the next. It also includes Canada and other places. It gives you snippets about the popular food to try and sight suggestions to visit in that location. A great buy if you’re traveling the States.” — Southern Charm

If you rely on your phone to serve as your GPS when driving, it’s important that it’s at eye-level. Tearing your eyes away from the road to look down at your lap or cup holder just isn’t safe. More than 15,000 people have bought and rated this phone holder (mostly highly), which mounts right on your dashboard or air vent. It works for all types of cell phones.

Promising review: “I have a OnePlus (really big heavy cell phone) and the phone holders I tried in the past that attached to the heat/AC vents could not hold my phone in place because it’s too heavy. It would work for a little bit but eventually the whole thing would just detach from the vent and fall on the floor of the car while I was driving. Not good. This phone holder was the first one I tried that ever actually worked for a larger heavy phone. It was extremely easy to assemble and attached easily to the top of my dashboard. Yesterday I took a long (five-hour) drive out of state on lots of bumpy roads and the phone holder really held extremely well and gave me no problems at all. It stayed in place throughout the ride. I am very happy with this product and recommend it to anyone with a large or heavy phone.” — Andi Land

If your car breaks down, using road flares is a way to alert other drivers to slow down or move to another lane so they don’t hit you. This set is USB rechargeable, has nine different flashing modes and is waterproof.

Promising review: “These are so great for safety on the road. You get 12 in a small, reflective orange bag. They are chargeable with a micro USB on one end, and USB 2.0 on the other. Each cable is split out with the USB 2.0 on one end, and three micros on the other, so can charge three at once. The units are made of super sturdy orange plastic with a rubber, grippy feel. They also have a strong magnet on one side if needed to stick to metal. They have red LEDs along all the sides, and white LEDs on one flat side (side without hook).

I cycled through all the settings, using a single push of the power button. Very simple to use. The red LEDs have always on, spinning, and blinking settings. They’re bright in the sun, super bright in the dark. The white LEDs on the top side only have an always on steady setting. SO BRIGHT. This steady-only setting for the white LED is the only drawback, as flashing would be nice. Overall, a very good product and lots of worth for the money. I’m going to gift a set of these to every family member for their birthday! So easily A+.” — Emma Tomiak

Being trapped in your car unable to escape it is a nightmare scenario. But it will never happen if you keep this window breaker/seatbelt cutter somewhere in arm’s reach. For less than $9.50, it’s worth the precaution.

Promising review: “They are good quality, they are lightweight, I haven’t had to use them and I hope I don’t but I’m confident.” — Lilith Morningstar

Just like it’s a smart idea to keep a first aid kit at your house, it’s a good idea to keep one in your car too — which for many people is their second home. This one has everything you could need, including bandages, burn cream packets, gauze rolls and pads and OTC pain relievers.

Promising review: “I just got a new home and came straight to Amazon to find the perfect first aid kit. These are so important to have on hand in every home. This is the perfect kit, it comes with everything you need. Having this at home makes me feel good knowing I have a kit that I can turn to for incidents. While this is great for homes, this would also be great for a car. The kit even comes with a little booklet on how to handle certain incident scenarios. So very helpful. Worth every penny!!!” — Lunnaa

This flashlight may be small, but it’s one of the brightest you’ll find. It’s also water resistant and is really durable; it can survive a 10-foot drop. Right now it’s almost half-price, making it the perfect time to buy it.

Promising review: “Bright and versatile. Right after I bought it, we had a thunderstorm with 92 mph winds. Needless to say, with all the trees that fell around the city, no power for days. This flashlight lasted, was light and very bright. Easy to change the size of the beam. Now have one by my bedside, and plan on getting another for the living room and basement. Worth every cent I paid. Highly recommend.” — L. Brice

It’s dangerous to both you and others on the road to be driving with a flat. If something feels a little off, that’s when having a tire gauge can come in handy. That way, you catch the unevenness before you’re really SOL. This one can be used on all types of cars as well as trucks, motorcycles and bicycles.

Promising review: “I’ve had this gauge since 2020. I’ve used it quarterly for four years, and it is a handy little gauge. It’s the perfect size and grip and a very lightweight gauge, too. The digital display is bright blue with a large black font and is easy to read. The battery died after four years. I opened it up recently with a mini Phillips head screwdriver. It’s only two screws—one on each end. When I opened it, I observed a Lithium CR2032 battery about the size of a USD nickel coin. I was all out of 2032s, but I had a 4-pack of CR2016s in my desk drawer. I grabbed two of them, stacked them one on top of the other, popped out the CR 2032, and dropped them in, et voila! The blue light came right on, and the digital display worked perfectly.

PRO BATTERY TIP: Although the Lithium CR2016 batteries are thinner than the required CR2032s, when you stack two CR2016s together, they’re about the same thickness as a CR2032. This gauge will work with either ONE (1) CR2032 or TWO (2) CR2016 Lithium batteries. Wonderful gauge for the money. I recommend buying a couple of them. I just bought my second one for a different vehicle.” — Buick McKane

If you are stranded in your car but still have power, you can use a car power inverter, like this one, to keep your phone, tablets and laptop powered, which can be a game-changer in an emergency situation. It comes in handy on long road trips and commutes too.

Promising review: “I travel a lot and often work overnight, while needing to catch up on the office day to day, this is fantastic. The hum from the motor is a little buzzy, but not unbearable. Definitely a good buy for the money.” — Jenni

Not only will this cozy blanket make long car trips more enjoyable for passengers, it can also keep you warm in the event of an emergency, while you wait for help. This one is similar to what is issued in the military and is specially designed to help trap body heat in emergency situations.

Promising review: “I didn’t detect much of a smell and since these will live in my vehicles for emergency use, I don’t really care. They’re warm, they’re cheap and they feel like they should last quite a while. It should be big enough for multiple people to be covered in it since it’s the size of a queen bed. I got this mainly because of my two daughters who are headed off to college soon. As a parent, you always think of the worst of what can happen. I envision them somehow sliding off a mountain road in the snow and becoming stuck. So their car has this blanket, water bottles, water filtration, fire starters, a knife, first aid kit and emergency food. I’m sure I’ll be adding more to their ‘kit’ as time goes on. But for those good dads and moms out there who can’t help but worry about their babies, this blanket should help.” — BC in NC

In many parts of the country, winter snow is no joke and you never know when you’ll need a shovel to dig yourself out of a dangerous situation. This shovel only weighs two pounds and folds in half, making it easy to stash in your trunk. The carbon steel material and jagged edges make it strong enough to dig through an icy-snowy mix.

Promising review: “Great as an emergency shovel during winter storms. Packs neatly into the pouch. Hasn’t broken on me yet.” — Professor M0chi

For many drivers, their phone is their primary road map. Without it, they’ll be completely lost. Each of these car charger adaptors can take a dead phone up to 80% in just 35 minutes.

Promising review: “This thing actually charges fast! I finally got one that does what it says. I honestly think it charges faster than the one that came with my phone. Highly recommend. Also has a regular USB charger that seems to charge at a good rate also. The USB C is the fast charger. Great product and it doesn’t have a super bright light like a lot of these do. Small and sleek. Hides away in the plug. Good product. Comes with two.” — Angelina

With this small, battery-powered radio that easily fits in the glove compartment, you can stay up to date on important info without draining your car battery the way listening to your car radio would do. It lasts for more than 800 hours on one set of batteries.

Promising review: “I purchased the radio for use in the car. My car radio is currently not working. I listen to a station which is 74 miles away. The Power Bear radio picks up the station just fine.” — Mitchell I.