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{{trope}}

 

 

There is an interesting case of [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]] attached to this form of [[Vehicular Sabotage]]. In normal circumstances, little to no screentime is devoted to a character walking to their car or starting it. Hence, whenever this ''does'' happen - especially if you see a close-up of the key - the more [[Genre Savvy]] viewer probably has a [[Oh Crap|distinctly uneasy feeling in his stomach]]. Wait for it... three... two... one... [[Incredibly Lame Pun|ignition!]] Another dead giveaway is if the car is a gift from someone the recipient [[Big Bad Friend|really shouldn't trust]].

 

{{examples}}

* Parodied and inverted in this banned [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR2NCQf8XbY Volkswagen advert].

* In [[The Eighties|1982]], a remote starter was still a mail-order novelty that might turn up in adverts in back pages of periodicals like ''Popular Science''. The blueprints had existed for at least twenty years, yet no one knew why they "needed" one. In an attempt to be clever, one advertiser promoted a "Remote Bomb Igniter" — finally, something for our gangster customers, long neglected as the gadgetry vendors tended to other clients. No more sending fearful, hapless underlings to "go start the car" (and possibly get blown away in the style of ''[[The Godfather]]''): just detonate the vehicle remotely and business continues as usual.<!-- The Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi on August 5, 1982 notes an advertisement in the June issue of Popular Science for "a Remote Bomb Igniter" but the original's not online. A Nov 1962 ad for a $1 set of blueprints, [[Played Straight]], is archived.-->

 

* In the [[Batman]] ''[[Knightfall]]'' saga, a villain has stolen the Batmobile. Batman finds the car and gets in to start it, and kaboom! Cut to Robin screaming, followed by Batman reappearing and saying he got out just in time, realizing it was booby-trapped "[[Properly Paranoid|because that's what I would have done]]."

 

* In an example so famous it could be the [[Trope Codifier]], Michael's Italian wife Apollonia Vitelli in ''[[The Godfather]]'' decides to bring the car around for him, and... [[Captain Obvious|well...]]

* Yuri's uncle in ''[[Lord of War]]'', after Yuri gifts his car to him.

* Happened to one of [[NUMA Series|Dirk Pitt's]] many vintage automobiles. He wasn't in it, and he had it restored at the end of the book.

 

* On ''[[CSI]]'', a simple time bomb left in the boot of [[Disproportionate Retribution|a cheating husband]]. Unfortunately an unexpected detour means the bomb takes several bystanders with it.

* In the ''[[X-Files]]'' episode "Fire," Mulder and Scully get into their car to find a strange cassette tape on the dashboard. They pop it in, and a voice informs them that by doing so they have armed a bomb hooked up to the car, and opening the door will trigger the explosion. Then the door opens, and Scully jumps—turns out the voice on the tape was just Mulder's [[New Old Flame]], trying to mess with their heads.

* An episode of ''[[American Dad]]'' has Roger plant bombs in the cars of three teachers at Steve's school after they gang up on him. Only the first two bombs actually go off; the third teacher suddenly becomes [[Made of Explodium]] and his torso explodes, leaving behind his legs.

 

* Commonly used by terrorists and guerrillas in real life. Although popularly associated with Middle Eastern hot spots, the basic structure of the car bomb was [[Older Than Television|invented in the 1920s]].

* The October 2017 assassination of [[Malta|Maltese]] [[Red Shirt Reporter|journalist]] [[wikipedia:Daphne Caruana Galizia|Daphne Caruana Galizia]] is [[Dead Line News|pretty much this]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:This Index Is On Fire]]

[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]