Hollywood has a way of romanticizing the mundane. Take cars for examples. While most films use them as a way to get characters from point A to B and change locations, they usually get the limelight in action movies for more thrilling reasons.
Heroes will often use vehicles to make daring jumps and protect themselves from stray bullets, but is there any basis for these things in reality?
Cars Don’t Explode
Typically, if a car takes enough damage on the big screen, flames would start coming out of it. The heroes usually have seconds or minutes to escape the burning wreck before it explodes.
Fortunately, this rarely happens in real life.
One of the biggest misconceptions about cars is that they explode whenever they catch on fire. You have movies to thank for that.
Even if a car crashes into a wall and catches flames, odds are it won’t explode. Instead, it will continue to burn until there’s nothing left to sustain the flames.
Even if all the fuel in your vehicle catches fire, it still won’t explode. This is because gasoline isn’t an explosive substance. The fact that it exists in a liquid state also makes it less likely to detonate.
The next time you see a car explode in a movie, know that either explosives were planted inside or the explosion was added with computer-generated visual effects.
Tires Don’t Always Squeal
Another massive misconception about vehicles is that their wheels squeal and make a tremendous amount of noise when driving at high speeds. These noises seldom happen in reality, but they’re used to great effect in movies for dramatic effect.
The same goes for braking. Tires don’t screech anywhere near as much as they do in films when drivers slam the brakes. Modern cars have computers and programming to prevent tires from screeching even on pavement.
On top of that, tires only make that high-pitched screeching noise on certain surfaces. They won’t make the same sound on sand, gravel, and grass, which are all too soft and break apart easily. These surfaces lack structure and rigidity, tires can’t get enough traction on them to squeal.
All in all, there’s a reason directors add in many unnecessary sound effects — to make viewers feel like they’re in the vehicle with the characters.
Cars Are Not Bulletproof
When a shoot-out breaks out, the heroes often take cover behind a car, using it as a shield to ward off bullets. Unfortunately, you can’t count on your vehicle to offer the same level of protection.
Contrary to what many action movies would have you believe, cars are not bulletproof. Police vehicles are typically reinforced to handle bullets, but the average vehicle won’t offer much protection against gunfire.
In fact, hiding behind vehicles during a shoot-out might not be a good idea. If you get shot, car fragments can make your injuries worse.
In real life, your best bet would be to drive away if someone tries to shoot you. Unless you’re in a police car or some other armored vehicle, your ride won’t provide you much cover.
Vehicles Have Head Restraints
Think about it. When was the last time you saw head restraints in a movie that featured cars? There’s a good chance the answer to that question is never, and there’s a good reason for that.
Filming scenes in cars is tricky because there isn’t much space to work with. At the same time, it’s hard to get a character’s face in the frame. Head restraints make this more difficult by obstructing the camera, hiding faces, and limiting movement.
Because of this, most directors remove the head restraints from vehicles to give actors more room to look back and move about.
In some scenes, head restraints are reinstalled to provide safety and padding for the actors and stuntmen in the vehicles. This is often done when the vehicle is shot by the camera from outside, which means seeing the characters’ faces is unnecessary.
High Jumps Destroy Vehicles
In many action movies, cars tend to make a lot of jumps — and many falls.
It’s common in high-octane car chases like the ones in the Fast & Furious franchise. Another one of the biggest examples is The Italian Job (2003), which has multiple action sequences featuring three modified Mini Coopers.
It’s a classic in adrenaline-pumping car chase scenes: vehicles being driven over rising bridges, ramps, and even lanes to get over cliffs and other obstacles. The cars land heavily, but that doesn’t stop them from picking up where they left off, gaining speed in no time as if nothing happened.
As a general rule of thumb, if you get any air time at all with a vehicle that isn’t built for these kinds of stunts, there’s a good chance you’ll damage its components.
The average suspension of a car simply isn’t built to handle that much force. Likewise, the vehicle’s frame isn’t designed to withstand such impact. The wheels and related components might also become inoperative. The engine might follow suit if it gets dislodged and damaged.
If you’re wondering how directors get away with filming scenes like these without destroying the car, there are some explanations.
The first is that with a little bit of editing, scenes can flow together to make it look like a vehicle makes a massive jump. It’s also possible stunt vehicles were made for the movies to use and dispose of, modified to be more resistant to drops and damage.
Keep Reading: Related Posts
Any information provided on this Website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace consultation with a professional mechanic. The accuracy and timeliness of the information may change from the time of publication.
