Star Trek: 10 Devices That Every Starfleet Ship Has

In the event of a warp core breach, hostile takeover, or other catastrophic emergency, all Starfleet ships are equipped with enough escape pods to carry the entire crew. They are not warp capable but have navigation thrusters that can transport people safely to a planet's surface or rescue ship.

Escape pods are a very necessary precaution in the event of a ship-wide disaster. Were it not for escape pods, Benjamin Sisko would have never survived the battle of Wolf 359 when his ship, the Saratoga was destroyed.

Unfortunately, because these vessels travel at sub-light speeds, they are practically useless unless they can escape to a nearby planet or ship. In the Next Generation episode Angel One, four crewmembers of the destroyed Federation freighter Odin were forced to travel in an escape pod for over five months at sub-lightspeed before reaching the planet Angel I. The primary hope is that the escape pods can use their onboard transmitter to call for help from a larger, warp-capable ship.