The reasons are obvious why a person may feel secure having their pepper spray constantly in their possession, but this comes with equal risk. Safely storing this self-defense spray without it literally turning against you may not be as routine as using it.
Can You Carry or Store Pepper Spray Safely In Your Car or Glove Compartment Without It Exploding or Leaking?
Yes, it is possible to carry and store pepper spray in your car or in a glove compartment without it exploding or leaking by buying one that has a higher threshold for high temperature which is usually listed in the pepper spray manufacturer guidelines on safe storage, maximum temperature range and not exceeding the expiration date on the canister.
If you still aren’t sure if a pepper spray will store safely in your car climate conditions, consider what these Real Users have safely used and experienced along with alternatives to pepper sprays you may store in your car.
Which Pepper Sprays Are Likely Not To Explode In A Car or Glove Compartment?
In our research, we came across many people asking about carrying or storing pepper spray safely in their car or glove compartment. Considering the increased number of car hijackings, it’s totally understandable why most people wanted some sort of self-defense protection while traveling.
It is important to bear in mind that traveling with pepper sprays is much more different than storing them at home.
For starters, temperature fluctuation (based on where you live) is the number one contributor to exploding or leaking pepper sprays in cars.
Saying this, there are also different thresholds that each pepper spray may have (to extreme climates) and this may make one product brand more suitable than others.
Instead of just advising you myself, I thought it best to scout the internet for you and provide you with a list of real customer/user experiences of different pepper sprays and how they reacted under different weather conditions.
Real Users Tell Us Of Their Experiences
On one of the stores online, Rick purchased a Magma (an insanely multi-functional Portable Self-Defense Security Pepper Spray with Light and Alarm) last year and mentioned it was the best buy he has ever made!
He stated that an ideal place to store in the car would be in the glove compartment where it’s likely to stay much cooler than in direct sunlight on the board.
The design of this type of pepper spray also reduces the accumulation of pressure in its canister making it less likely to explode under higher temperatures.
In Summary
9 Tips: How Do You Store Pepper Spray Safely In A Car?
- Keep the pepper spray canister away from sunlight or direct sunlight
- It is safer and cooler to store inside the glove compartment where it is likely to be cooler
- Strapped securely within reach under the car seat is a better option than on your dashboard that’s exposed to direct sunlight and away from your face if it does explode.
- Discreetly tucked away from children in the car
- Know the expiry date to prevent leaks and explosions and ensure its effectiveness during use
- Using a car windscreen sun reflector or visor can help to keep your car cooler, particularly when your dashboard, leather seats, and the interior doesn’t experience direct sunlight and heat up as much.
- Keeping a pepper spray in a separate windscreen sun visor that’s insulated with foil will often keep whatever’s inside cool since the sun will be deflected.
- Keep the spray in a mini thermal material pocket bag in your car glove box, much like a cooler box that we use for the kid’s lunch.
- A more reactive precaution, store it in a zip lock packet to reduce the pungent effect of an exploded pepper spray
The truth is that you will never completely understand the temperament of your pepper spray to be 100% sure that it won’t explode, but these guidelines will definitely reduce the probability of it occurring.
What’s In A Pepper Sprays That Makes It Dangerous?
To understand Pepper sprays a bit more, we look at its core ingredient OC (Oleoresin Capsicum). OC is derived from a plant more commonly known as chili peppers. Its use spreads across 2 main areas viz.
- The law enforcement or police sector, as pepper spray or tear gas in riot or crowd control
- For therapeutic reasons, only the same burning of the skin sensation felt is very much diluted to serve as a pain relief medication in patients with muscle and bone pain (arthritis).
Are Pepper Sprays Flammable? What Makes It Explode?
Yes, pepper sprays are flammable for the following reasons of their ingredients and what makes it function. To explain this: Propylene glycol that’s added in this compound to emulsify OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) in the making of pepper sprays is what’s slightly flammable at high temperatures, couple this with the pressurized aerosol canister that enables the squirting feature & whether alcohol is also present and it will explode.
So, it’s not the main ingredient OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) that explodes because it’s merely a herbal product (extracted from plant) but the emulsifier.
If this pressurized Pepper Spray canister with propylene glycol is placed under duress ie. heat, immense sunlight, or extreme beating, it is likely to explode and then the pungent effects of OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) take over from there.
What Should You Do If Your Pepper Spray Exploded In Your Car?
Firstly, pray that you and or your family and children are not in the car when this can explodes! Much worse if you’re driving in the middle of a freeway and can’t immediately exit the car. Even a fully ventilated car with opened window and the AC on won’t suffice.
What you’ll feel next will be so life-threatening that it’s almost not even worth keeping pepper spray in your car for self-defense. It’s important to get yourself and especially any kids out of the car and do it as soon as possible!
Pepper sprays are designed to attack our senses, and respiratory system and ultimately cause disorientation which will quickly spark panic once you can’t see or breathe and your skin is burning.
You definitely want to know more in this interesting article we wrote about the effectiveness of pepper sprays on a person, their eyes, blindness or death, and how long it lasts here.
Count yourself very fortunate if it explodes or leaks in your absence because all it will take is a lot of ventilation and a routine cleaning up which is nothing compared to suffering this intoxicating blast if you were in the car.
Here’s a real experience I found online on the survival podcast forum:
Safer Alternatives If You’re Scared or Unsure Of Storing Pepper Spray In your Car
You want to carry something to defend yourself in your car because of any possible violence or uncertainty but you also don’t want to run the risk of being a victim of your own pepper spray.
What Are Your Alternate Options For Pepper Spray?
- Stun Guns and Tasers
- Tactical Flashlights
- Tactical legal knives
- Tactical legal hand keychain or pens
- Batons & Kubatons
- Hairsticks or pins (easier for ladies)
- Some form of Fighting experience (6 Best & Easiest Martial Arts)
If there’s no negotiating with you, and it has to be a pepper spray, then consider a smaller more mobile keychain pepper spray that you can carry away with you with your car keys.
This way you don’t have the risk of it staying in a hot car and you always have it on you whenever you are either in the car or locking up and walking away.
Just think, if you are ever attacked at your car door while either opening with a key or using the remote, you already have your pepper spray in your hand.
How To Conceal Your Pepper Spray In Your Car?
Your car, at times, can become a public place frequented by many different people ie. Work colleagues, friends, family, your children, or others on school runs, and pepper spray is not something you just want lying about in your car both as a safety hazard and a conversation starter.
- If a pepper spray is large, you can look at options of strapping it in a car mount, holster, or easier with some tape on the upper side of your glove compartment making it less visible.
- If you live in cooler countries or states in the US, having it on your driver-side door panel is ideal for both privacy and easy access when in need.
- If you can easily reach it under your seat, this could be an ideal option to tape it on the underside.
- If neither of these works for you and your travel through dangerous areas, then a well-disguised pepper spray keychain will work best.
On the topic of storing, there are car mounts for pepper sprays available but it’s debatable how concealable this really is.
If you reside in much cooler areas, don’t mind displaying your spray, and have a need to constantly have your pepper spray on hand like during forest drives where you’re exposed to wildlife for a long period of time, then a car mount would be perfect
Conclusion
Last year I decided to buy a few pepper sprays for my wife, sister’s, and mom’s cars. They chose to either keep it at the side door panel or in the glove box since temperatures here don’t exceed the maximum threshold of the saber red pepper spray.
Whichever they chose, at least they’re one step closer to protecting themselves!
Storing a canister of pepper spray in your car or home for self-defense reasons is not questionable these days, more so for women protecting themselves against an attack from a person or wild animal.
Both men and women drivers who often travel alone during the day or especially at night should consider some form of protection but remember that this self-defense spray can be as much of a threat to you as it is a lifesaver!
