First-aid kit

A good first-aid kit should have everything you need to take care of minor cuts and scrapes while on the road, and it should also be helpful for treating more seriously injured people until they can get expert medical assistance. We like the First Aid Only First Aid Essentials Kit. Although it lacks some of the higher-quality tools that we recommend for a wilderness first aid kit, it comes with plenty of bandages, alcohol prep pads, pain relievers, and equipment to treat up to four people’s minor cuts and scrapes. For a full list of included products and a chart comparing all the kits we like, see our full guide.

Headlamp

Our pick Petzl Actik Core A rechargeable headlamp A bright light with the highest beam quality that stays charged for days—whether you charge it with a USB or AAA batteries—makes this perfect for backpacking trips. Buying Options $70 from Amazon

It’s bad enough to get stuck with a breakdown in the dark, but attempting one-handed repairs while fumbling with a flashlight is even worse. A much better solution is to use an elastic strap-on headlamp that leaves both hands free to work. We think that the Petzl Actik Core is a good option for keeping in your car because it’s rechargeable, unlike our top pick, the Black Diamond Spot 325. This design means you won’t ever get caught with a dead battery as long as you have a USB car charger on hand. (It can also use regular AAAs.) The Actik Core’s 450-lumen light quality was the brightest of our test group, and it had the best optical quality, too. Some things we liked less were the missing flood feature (which is helpful for camping) and a lower-than-expected weatherproof rating.

Flare alternative

When your car is stranded by the side of the road, it’s critical to give other drivers as much warning as possible so that a minor problem doesn’t become a major one. Battery-powered emergency beacons are a much safer alternative to traditional magnesium flares, both for your health and for the environment around you. We suggest making the StonePoint LED Emergency Beacon part of your roadside emergency kit.

It’s critical to give other drivers as much warning as possible.

The StonePoint set gives you three separate lights that are water-resistant, magnetic, crushproof to 6,000 pounds, and easy to set up and turn on. The magnets let you mount the beacons on your car, which helps other drivers see your vehicle more easily and mitigates any difference in intensity compared with a brighter magnesium flare. By putting one on the road (preferably elevated on something and located about 100 feet before your car), another on the trunk, and another on the hood, you’ll create a very visible early warning for drivers, with a lot less risk of fire.

Work gloves

As important as it is to carry the right gear for roadside emergencies, protecting your hands is also a must. Ammex GWON Gloveworks Orange Nitrile Gloves are stronger and more puncture-resistant than their natural-rubber counterparts, and they’re also more resistant to oil, grease, chemicals, and other toxins you’d just as well keep off your hands. And for all their strength, they’re thin and flexible enough for handling small parts and working in close quarters under the hood. The raised diamond pattern on the surface helps to provide a good grip, and the powder-free polymer coating inside makes the gloves easier to get on and off. Available in sizes M through XXL and in boxes of 100, these disposable synthetic-rubber and latex-free gloves are a top-rated choice for Amazon reviewers, many of whom report using the same pair over and over again. Keep a couple of pairs in your car, and you’ll always arrive with clean hands.

Emergency poncho

Breakdowns are never any fun, but making repairs in the rain is the pits.

Unexpected breakdowns are never any fun, but making repairs in the rain is the pits. One inexpensive accessory is the one-size-fits-all Emergency Zone Emergency Poncho. Measuring a roomy 50 by 80 inches, this poncho has high ratings on Amazon. The poncho includes a built-in hood, but it’s lightweight and thin enough to easily fit in a glove compartment, a backpack, or even your pocket. In addition, it comes with a resealable plastic bag for storage. The Emergency Zone Emergency Poncho will keep you dry while you’re changing a tire or making other repairs, and it can double as a drop cloth to kneel on. Sure, a thick plastic lawn-and-leaf bag with holes cut for your head and arms would be an even cheaper alternative, but for this product’s low price, we’ll take the full coverage of a poncho. The company also sells a Children’s Emergency Poncho that measures 40 by 33 inches.

Foam tire sealant

An aerosol can of sealant won’t fix every flat tire, but it will get you out of a jam.

An aerosol can of sealant won’t fix every flat tire, but it will get you out of a jam if you run over a nail, or at least let you drive to get help or to reach a safer place to put on your spare. And using sealant is easier and quicker than changing a tire, a real boon in some situations. The best product for the job is the ubiquitous Fix-A-Flat. Just screw the built-in hose onto a tire’s valve stem and pull the trigger, and Fix-a-Flat dispenses a mix of sealant and air to inflate your tire. Also note that this product won’t completely inflate the tire, so your best bet is to top it off with air from another source as soon as possible. And don’t drive more than 100 miles—the shorter distance, the better—without either getting a permanent repair or replacing the tire. The 16-ounce size is designed for most cars; a 22-ounce can is available for larger pickups and SUVs.



Tire inflator

All tires lose air pressure, whether quickly due to a leak or drop in ambient air temperature or slowly due to the normal seepage of air through the tire’s rubber. Underinflated tires can be a safety risk by making your car handle poorly, making it harder for you to keep control of the car when swerving to avoid an obstacle in the road, or causing a tire to fail (and possibly blow out) due to overheating. Underinflated tires also use more energy, which hurts your car’s fuel economy. Having a small air compressor in your car to inflate the tires is the quickest and easiest way to set them right.

Like most tire inflators we’ve tested, the Viair 77P plugs into your car’s 12-volt outlet (aka cigarette lighter) for power, so it’s convenient to use on the road. Its extra-long, 45-inch air hose and a generous, 16-foot power cord let you easily reach any tire on the vehicle. And its compact size and handy carrying case make it easy to stow in a vehicle’s trunk or cargo compartment. In our latest tests, the 77P inflated our test tire from 30 psi to 41 psi in only a minute and 13 seconds, which was one of the quickest times we recorded. In a previous test, it took a little less than 3 minutes to inflate a completely flat tire to 32 psi. During long-term testing of the 77P over the past three years, it has consistently performed well, and we’ve appreciated its quick performance, especially when a slow leak is crying for attention during a busy commute.

Our runner-up and former top pick, the Viair 78P is virtually the same as the 77P, with most of the same advantages. The key difference is the 78P’s push-on chuck, for connecting the pressure hose to a tire’s valve stem, which is more complicated compared with the 77P’s screw-on connector.

Jumper cables

All it takes is leaving the headlights, or even an interior light, on when you park, and you may return to a dead battery. When that happens, typically the quickest way to get going is to have a solid set of cables that are long enough to reach a Good Samaritan’s battery and thick enough to carry sufficient current to start your car. After scrutinizing the specs of dozens of sets and having an electrical engineer analyze three top-rated models, we’d buy the AAA Heavy Duty 16-foot 6 Gauge Booster Cables.

A thicker cable handles current more efficiently than a thin cable, and the AAA 6-gauge cables are both long enough and thick enough for most situations. Their 400-amp current rating means they can handle most vehicles (even trucks and SUVs). They also come with a sturdy and convenient mesh storage bag.

What really makes the AAA jumper cables stand out over all the others we tested is its clamps, which are especially easy to use and well designed and constructed. They attach easily to conventional, top-mount car-battery posts and include a small extension for attaching to the smaller posts found on side-terminal batteries. If you’re unfamiliar with how to use jumper cables, familiarize yourself. But lest you forget, AAA includes a handy diagram in the bag.



Portable jump starter

Weego Jump Starter 22s Our pick The Weego 22s is the best overall value, with the power to start most cars and midsize SUVs, as well as sturdier clamps and better safety features than most other models offer. Buying Options $60 * from Amazon *At the time of publishing, the price was $50 .

Compact portable jump starters make starting a car that has a dead battery easy, without your having to call a roadside-assistance service or needing the help of a Good Samaritan and a set of jumper cables. Powered by lightweight lithium-ion batteries, these packs are small enough to fit in a glove box, capable of holding a charge far longer than old-style jump starters that use heavier lead-acid batteries, and available for less than $100. Beyond providing the power to start your car, portable jump starters can also recharge your phone, tablet, and other devices in a pinch.

Beyond providing the power to start your car, portable jump starters can also recharge your phone, tablet, and other devices.

After researching 40 portable, lithium-ion jump starters and testing 12 models, we recommend the Weego Jump Starter 22s as the best jump starter for most drivers. It delivers the most impressive combination of power, safety features, build quality, and value of any model in our test group. For an accessible price, the Weego offers enough oomph to start most cars and midsize SUVs, and it has the best safety features of any of the models we’ve tried.

A portable jump starter is also easier to use than traditional jumper cables, and in case you hook it up wrong, the Weego unit’s safety features, such as reverse-polarity protection and audible alarms, will protect both you and your car. The clamps are sturdier than those on most other models, and they make a solid connection to a variety of battery-post shapes and sizes. The battery pack, clamps, and USB-A–to–Micro-USB cable (for charging) all fit in a handy case that you can easily stow under your seat or in your trunk until you need it.

Duct tape

As any MacGyver fan will tell you, duct tape is an indispensable tool. We tested the hell out of 10 rolls of duct tape and chose Duck Max Strength above the competition for its perfect blend of attributes: high material strength, a strong adhesive, and superior overall flexibility, which makes it easy to wrap around odd shapes and curved surfaces. It also tears in a nice, straight line and lends itself to short-term roadside repairs on your gear, as well as on the interior and exterior of your car.

We’ve used duct tape for everything from an emergency short-term patch on a radiator hose to a quick reattaching of loose wires and wayward bits of trim. While it isn’t a permanent fix, it might get you home, or at least to a mechanic or to a safer place to make repairs. Duct tape can even handle first-aid duties when the right materials for the job aren’t available.



Multi-tool

No roadside emergency kit is complete without a multi-tool. Small enough to carry in a jeans pocket or to attach to a belt, a multi-tool allows you to have a set of useful tools almost anywhere. Our choice is the Leatherman Skeletool CX, which offered the best mix of functionality, ergonomics, and solid construction of the 18 multi-tools we tested. With a high-quality 2.6-inch blade made of 154CM carbon-fiber stainless steel, as well as pliers, a bit driver, a pocket clip, and a carabiner/bottle opener, the Skeletool comes with all essentials and none of the extra bells and whistles that make other multi-tools bulky and difficult to use. Short of a socket set and a hammer, it has just about everything you would normally need to tighten stray parts, replace bulbs and loose wires, make minor adjustments, cut or pull out stuck debris from under your car, and perform other emergency repairs on the road.

Escape tool

A floating car will submerge and sink within two minutes on average.

A floating car will submerge and sink within two minutes on average, leaving little time for you to escape after a watery crash. Water pressure makes doors and windows difficult or impossible to open, and electric windows will likely short out once the wiring gets wet. Those conditions could leave breaking a window as the only way out, and it can be difficult to do without tools. That’s where the elegantly simple resqme comes in. Designed to fit on a keychain, the compact resqme includes a sharp knife blade for slicing through jammed seatbelts and a spring-loaded hardened-steel plunger for breaking a side window. Rescue professionals we spoke with told us that, for most people in a submerged car, handling the resqme would be easier than attempting an underwater swing with one of the many hammer-type self-rescue tools available. Available in a variety of colors, the resqme also gets very good user reviews on Amazon.

Fire extinguisher

Vehicle fires account for 10 percent of all reported blazes in the US, according to the National Fire Protection Association, and 6 percent of all fire-related deaths. Because cars are filled with volatile liquids, fabrics, plastics, and other materials, a spark can turn into an inferno in minutes. That makes having a fire extinguisher onboard critical, because a car can be completely engulfed by the time help arrives. We recommend the First Alert PRO5 for your car. It exceeds the minimum size recommendations of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), yet weighs a manageable 10 pounds. We prefer its type over a disposable model because it has a sturdy and reliable metal (not plastic) valve. And, if you do use it, you can refill it for about half the cost of a new extinguisher.

When dealing with a car fire, of course, use your judgment. The best time to extinguish one is as soon as you notice it. If a fire grows, you’re probably better off getting far away from the vehicle. Here’s some advice from Autoblog on what to do if your car catches fire. It’s worth reading.

Cleanup items

Odds are, if your car breaks down, you’re going to get dirty; it’s just a question of how dirty. Microfiber towels or rags are an essential part of a roadside repair kit, not only for cleaning things up but also for protecting your hands from cuts and burns and helping you get a better grip on slippery parts. A 24-pack of Quickie Microfiber Towels from Amazon is a civilized option that’s available for only a few bucks. More than just a bargain-bin choice, these towels are a favorite among Amazon reviewers, who currently give them a high rating for offering superior durability, great washability, and a substantial feel without being as hard to get into crevices and tight spots as some thicker competitors. The Quickie towels also come nicely folded and packaged for storage. All of that makes them a better choice than a greasy old rag for washing windows and cleaning up juice-box spills, and you can toss them into the washing machine and use them again.

If your car breaks down, you’re going to get dirty; it’s just a question of how dirty.

Microfiber towels are priced right, but they’re still not as cheap as an old T-shirt or towel, which is what most people have in the trunk. The choice is yours. Either way, keeping a tube of hand cleaner on board is also a good idea. We like Goop Multi Purpose Hand Cleaner - Orange Power. Available in a 5-ounce tube on Amazon, Goop cuts through dirt, grease, oil, and paint, yet it’s nontoxic and biodegradable. Just squeeze a little onto your hands, rub them together, and wipe off the residue with a clean cloth.

Storage bag

Once you’ve put together the pieces for your roadside emergency kit, you’ll need a container to keep everything handy and organized. A soft-sided tool box will conform better than a metal box to the contours of your trunk and will be easier to pack around; its contents are less likely to rattle, too. Measuring 21 by 5 by 8½ inches, the Black+Decker MATRIX Wide-Mouth Storage Bag is big enough for all the items in our basic kit. Unlike some other tool bags, it opens wide to accommodate large items and to allow you to see inside more easily. That’s important, especially when you’re retrieving objects of various sizes in the dark. It has pockets inside and out for smaller gear, and it comes with two removable dividers secured with Velcro. Sporting both a carry handle and a shoulder strap, this bag also has a rigid bottom for easier transport.