A man named Aaron posted a video on TikTok that has now been watched over 18 million times. In the video, he shares important advice about what to do if your car’s gas pedal gets stuck and won’t let you stop.
According to Buzzfeed, Aaron decided to make this video after finding out that one of his friends from when he was younger died in a car crash. When he read about what happened in the accident, it made him really sad because he thinks she could still be alive if she had known what to do.
“If your accelerator on your car sticks and you got a sticky gas pedal, don’t try and steer,” Aaron said in his TikTok video. He explained that when this happens, your engine keeps running wild, but your transmission doesn’t have to. “If I was in that car, she would still be alive,” he said while talking about his friend.
This simple move could save your life someday
What Aaron teaches is pretty easy to understand but really important. If your gas pedal gets stuck and your car keeps going faster, you need to shift your car into neutral right away. When you do this, the engine stops being connected to the wheels. So even if the engine is making a lot of noise and revving up, it won’t make your car go any faster.
“If you have a runaway car, to save your life, grab your shifter and put your shifter into neutral,” Aaron told his viewers. He said that once you put it in neutral, the engine can’t push power to the wheels anymore. The engine will sound really loud, but your car will start slowing down by itself.
After you shift into neutral, push down hard on your brakes. Aaron said to use both your regular brakes and your emergency brake if you need to.
Wait until your car stops completely before you turn off the engine. You have to do it in this order because if you turn off the engine while the car is still moving, it makes your power steering and power brakes stop working. That would make your car way harder to control.
Aaron said this whole thing only takes about two seconds but it can save your life. “Grab that shifter, put it in neutral. That’s it. Neutral. It’s no longer driving. The car will begin to slow down,” he explained. Car accidents can happen really fast, just like in situations where drivers lose control in unexpected ways.
A lot of people commented on Aaron’s video to thank him. Many of them said they had been worried about this exact thing happening for years but never knew what they should do. One viewer, Taylor Connor, commented, “jesus I didn’t even know a runaway vehicle was a thing.” Another user, DrBaddie, asked, “Why don’t they tell us this in driving school?”
Some people even shared stories about how they survived scary moments when their cars wouldn’t stop by doing exactly what Aaron described. A lot of folks agreed that driving schools don’t teach this information even though it’s really important to know.
Problems with driver education have caused tragic outcomes for inexperienced drivers in different situations. Aaron hopes that by sharing his friend’s story, he can help stop other people from dying in accidents that could have been prevented.
