The glovebox kit every new driver should have

Kelvin 8 emergency tool cutting a seatbelt in a car
Kelvin Tools

New drivers get a car and a lecture. What they rarely get is a kit for the first time something goes wrong at the side of the road. The good news is that the kit is small, and most of it never needs batteries.

Door pocket, not trunk

Anything you might need while still in the seat has to be reachable from the seat. If the car is on its side or the trunk is crushed, a tool in the trunk is not a tool. Keep the emergency items in the driver's door pocket or the centre console, and the comfort items in the trunk.

The emergency items

  • A way to charge the phone without the car. The Kelvin 8 carries a 2000 mAh USB power bank and a hand-crank generator, so a dead phone and a dead car battery are not the same emergency.
  • A light that works when the car does not. The Kelvin 8 has an LED flashlight with an SOS mode and LED emergency flashers, which is how other drivers see you on an unlit shoulder.
  • A seatbelt cutter and a window breaker. Both are built into the Kelvin 8 body. You hope never to use them; they are the reason the tool belongs within reach.
  • A siren. The 100 dB emergency siren is for being found, not for traffic.
  • Magnets. The four alloy magnets on the Kelvin 8 let it hold itself to the car body as a work light or a flasher.

The comfort items

  • Jumper cables or a jump pack, and the ten-second lesson on using them.
  • A tire pressure gauge and a small compressor that plugs into the 12 V socket.
  • A blanket, water and a snack. Waiting for a tow takes longer than anyone expects.
  • A reflective triangle or vest.
  • A multitool for the small fixes: a loose licence-plate screw, a rattling trim panel, the battery cover on a key fob. The Kelvin 23 is built for the glovebox and a good fit here.

The three-minute drill

Before the first solo drive, sit in the car with the engine off and find everything by touch. Open the Kelvin 8, find the flashlight switch, find the crank. Know where the triangle is. Panic is mostly not knowing where things are.

Twice a year

Check the power bank charge, swap the water, look at the tire gauge. The Kelvin 8 needs no batteries, but the power bank holds a charge better if it is topped up now and then.

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