Brake Pedal Cutting

[arhaney]

What does your department use for cutting brake pedals? Trying to decide what to purchase. Has anyone ever used a Excaliber windshield cutting tool with a metal cutting blade?

[E229Lt]

Bolt cutters work well or a rope tied to the door lock and brake pedal and force the door open.

[lutan1]

Rope tied around the pedal and pull it sideways.

Had a pedal cutter for years- never used it yet!

[Dave1983]

We dont cut pedals we do dash roll-up's which pulls them up and out of the way. But if we did, I guess a sterring wheel cutter would work.

Dave

[EFD840]

I'm like everyone else. Why cut it at all when you can pull it to the side with a rope.

[firemanpat29]

Thanks I never thought about a rope. Did have to cut one
that was in patients leg up to the knee once. Bolt cutters
did ok. If I remember correctly it was and old B210 and it
took 3 bites with the bolt cutters.

[Bones42]

Cut one once with one of the small brake pedal cutters, think it was from Hurst but not sure. Cut the pedal free, it only shot about 1 foot out from the pressure. Decided that was one we didn't need to try again. We pull them out of the way.

[UFD460]

our GENISIS system came with a pedal cutter ..works well when the vehicle is upside down and you cant do a dash roll...

[FlyingKiwi]

How many times have you cut seat belts at an MVA?

There is the best pedal puller you will ever meet. Cut a length off and leave it with your crash kit.

And its free.

[gunstar34]

My rescue carries a, rabbit tool, it think it is called, but never used it.

[arhaney]

I mentioned pulling the pedal out of the way to one of our more experienced members and got a strange look and then he said, not a bad idea. We'll be trying this at our next training session! Sometimes we need to take the blinders off.

[mrklun]

How about a Sawzall to cut the pedals - cord and cordless sawzalls are great tools to use for extrications along with conventional HRTs

[lutan1]

How about a Sawzall to cut the pedals

You go wrap your shin bones around a brake pedal then get someone to attack it with a sawzall!

It's gonna hurt like hell!!!

Everyone needs to remember that often we're moving the pedal from around the casualties feet or knees- depending on the impact. Even a pedal cutter can create issues as they often twist the pedel as they cut, or the actual cutter will twist and move around.

The less movement, twisting or vibrations from that pedal, the better

[lutan1]

Further to my last, don't forget the simple things like moving a seat back away from the pedals...

[fyrgrunt]

I cut one the hard way once with a hacksaw blade clamped in a visegrip, took about 20 minutes to do. Had a victims foot trapped by the floorboard being pushed up, and had no room to use anything else at the time.

[E229Lt]

Another new tool in our box is the cordless Re-Bar cutter. Used most often for window gates in our area.

Might work but haven't seen done yet.

[Weruj1]

Artie.....how long does it take that to cut the window bar ? one snap and it s done ?> or a few seconds to a minute to kinda "eat" the bar?

[len1582]

The Excaliber saw you mentioned works good and is smaller and easier to get into a tight space than a sawzall.One day we had a woman who hit a pickup and ended up with her left calf impaled on the emergency foot brake arm. The footpad got knocked off and the end was about 2-3 inches into her calf.It was still fastened on, so it had to be cut for her to be taken to the medical center for it to be removed.It was tight working under the dash,but did the job in 15-20 seconds.We've also used it several times where "man-vs- machine" to free a hand or arm. One thing,it uses alot of air.So for an extended operation plan on a good air supply...It's like any tool,if you learn how to use it,it will work good for you.