KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Newer, safer cars are harder for the "jaws of life" to bite, and that’s adding to the challenge first responders already face.

So just how much more challenging is it when the "jaws of life" meet the latest safety measures?

Training, tactics, and technology are all part of how first responders stay in-step when it comes to making sure they can safely and efficiently extract you if you're trapped inside a vehicle.

Assistant Chief David Harrington with the Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad says, "Is it taking us longer? Just a little bit."

Every vehicle has its own challenges and hazards.

Harrington says, "We have to upgrade technology, upgrade tactics, and equipment to be able to overcome those obstacles."

Because newer model cars are designed to keep people inside the vehicles and keep them from being ejected or crushed.

Harrington says, "All these new innovations have created more of a hardship for rescue workers, because while they're meant to keep occupants inside, it also keeps us from getting inside with the occupants."

Keeping in mind the responders’ 20-minute extraction goal.

Harrington says, "The challenges have not amounted to anything that really complicates anything for us."

And when it comes being extracted from a hybrid, is it any more dangerous?

Judy Devaney owns and drives a hybrid, and says, "I actually had someone send me an email about it. I read it. It doesn't make me afraid of the car at all."

Knoxville Fire Department Captain Robby Copas says, "We'll always check that just to see if it is a hybrid. It changes the way we do a few things," mainly because responders are dealing with electric and gas.

Copas says, "That's our biggest problem in that it has two motors in it."

The Captain says his crews don't disconnect the battery.

Copas says, "Anything that's a bright colored like a wiring harness, we stay away from that."

Aside from that, Copas says, “as far as cutting the roofs off, removing the glass, taking the dashboard off of them all of that, it's exactly the same."

With training and practice paying off.

Harrington says, "It hasn't slowed us down to the point where it's affected any sort of patient care."

The "jaws of life" deliver right at 36,000 pounds of force.

That's comparable to lifting about nine average-size cars.

Capt. Copas says his crew trains year-round, and the Knoxville Rescue Squad put in a full day of training Sunday.