Whoever said that girls are the only ones who do not know how to change a tyre is ignorant and sexist. I know grown men who don’t even know how to use a jack what more change a tyre and apparently they love cars. Right. Well, their life and now ours – who actually know how to get down and dirty with a flat tyre – is about to be made much easier with this contraption, the Titan Air Jack.
Quite simply, the jack is nothing more than a heavy duty balloon capable of raising vehicles more than 100-times its weight above ground level. The cool thing about the air jack is it is inflated by the exhaust gases of your own vehicle; you place the deflated balloon under your car and fix the inflation hose onto your exhaust pipe. So with the engine running, the balloon will be filled up with hot gasses that are forced into the bag until the woven PVC-coated polyester bag lifts a vehicle a full 30 inches off the ground, which is plenty of height to get the wheels off the ground for most vehicles.
The device offers several advantages over traditional jacks. First, it can be used on soft surfaces (mud, sand, or snow) where other jacks just don’t work. Second, it easily lifts one whole side of the vehicle at once, saving tons of time. Best of all, the low pressure bag doesn’t require placement on normal jacking points so you’re free to lift where you want and then place jack stands exactly where you need them. The US military and emergency services have apparently been using jacks of this type for years, so the idea isn’t just full of hot air. I’m just wondering though, can the inflation hose fit on those monstrous exhausts that are so common on almost every other car on Malaysian roads these days, if they do then this will be a god-sent device for everyone.
Source: CNet News via AutoBlog
