History Main / MyCarHatesMe

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

[[folder:Film]]

* The ride based on ''Franchise/TheWalkingDead'' at Ride/ThorpePark has a section where the rollercoaster cars stop on the track and the ‘driver’ tries frantically to restart the ‘engine’ as zombies claw at the windows alongside the track.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E22TheMonstersAreDueOnMapleStreet The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street"]] (first aired February 4th, 1960, perhaps the earliest instance of this trope on TV), an entire neighborhood loses its power, cars as well as electricity. When one guy's car ''does'' start running, everyone assumes he's guilty of something.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E22TheMonstersAreDueOnMapleStreet The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street"]] (first aired February 4th, 1960, perhaps the earliest instance of this trope on TV), an entire neighborhood loses its power, cars as well as electricity. When one guy's car ''does'' start running, everyone assumes he's guilty of something.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E40AThingAboutMachines A Thing About Machines]]", Bartlett Finchley is chased by his car, which corrals him to his pool and pushes him in. He quickly sinks to the bottom and drowns.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E134YouDrive You Drive]]", Oliver Pope is distracted while driving and kills a young neighborhood boy named Timmy Danbers in a hit-and-run accident. His car soon begins to behave strangely, honking its horn and turning on its lights by itself. When Oliver's wife Lilian later attempts to drive it, the car drives itself to the scene of the accident. The car eventually tries to run Oliver down but stops at the last moment. It then opens its passenger door, instructing Oliver to get in, and drives him to the police station so that he can confess.

* ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'': The Millennium Falcon. The ship flies just fine, but the faster-than-light "hyperdrive" system is unreliable. Of course, this first happens because the ship had just completed a series of repairs, apparently with Han and Chewie overlooking something, and the second time there was sabotage at the place where they successfully repaired the hyperdrive. Once R2-D2 manages to find and fix the uncoupled power coupling, it functions perfectly for the duration of the final film.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' -- the moment it becomes critical for the time-traveling [=DeLorean=] to start up, it doesn't. There's an elaborate fan theory as to why this is, involving the supposition that the [=DeLorean=]'s time circuit is being used [[MeanwhileInTheFuture at another point in time]] (preventing the one in the "now" from working), but it could also just be {{Plot Driven|Breakdown}} PhlebotinumBreakdown. Of course, despite the fact that he was working on a very strict timetable, and failed to get moving as soon as his alarm went off, he still managed to hit the wire [[MillionToOneChance at the exact moment lightning struck]]. To be fair, the movie does establish that there is something wrong with the starter,[[note]]Not precisely accurate, as we hear the starter trying to turn the engine over.[[/note]] so it isn't as if the car ran perfectly until the very moment the plot needed it to break down. The [=DeLorean=]'s problems with breaking down were [[TheAllegedCar very much]] TruthInTelevision. It was also theorized that it was simply the laws of time travel at work to keep time together. Marty wanted to go back to mall earlier to prevent the events of the movie thus far from happening. Since that would further complicate the situation (and have two Delorean's and Marties in the same area at once) the car failed to start until it was too late for him to do so.

* ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' had a beat up Volkswagen that wouldn't start at an inopportune time. Since he wasn't parked long enough for any Gremlins to screw with his car, you have to [[FridgeLogic wonder]] why Billy didn't just leave the engine running.

* Creator/JohnCleese, known to be desperate for money after being cleaned out by a rapacious ex-wife, has now revamped the famous ''Series/FawltyTowers'' sketch (see page photo) as an advert for a firm of opticians. He returns to what he ''thinks'' is his stubborn car and begins thrashing it with a branch. Only he realises, too late, it's the police car parked up in front...

* ''Literature/HowToSurviveAHorrorFilm'' subverts this by saying that while your car's engine ''will'' initially turn over repeatedly when you first try to start it, once your attacker starts pounding on the windows it will start right up without a problem. Played straight, however, if you ever decide to take a detour on a road trip, upon which your car will break down in some middle-of-nowhere TownWithADarkSecret.