History Main / ExternalCombustion

[[quoteright:300:[[Comicbook/BatmanTheCult https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_the_cult_-_car_bomb_2183.jpg]]]]

* {{Subverted|Trope}} in the film version of ''Film/TheSumOfAllFears''. Dressler has his bodyguard start the car first, as he's savvy enough to know people like him get offed this way. After a tense moment, the car starts just fine. When Dressler (who was established early in the film to be a chain smoker) pushes in the car's cigarette lighter, it explodes as soon as the lighter pops back up. The bodyguard who started the car survives.

** British agent Quiller is the target of one of these in Tunisia. Fortunately, the bombers didn't have the chance to wire the bomb to the ignition, so they set it to go off when the car experienced a sharp vibration, such as the door closing. And then a heavy bus rumbled by and triggered it while Quiller was still halfway across the street. In Adam Hall's typical narrative style, it's stated:

** In the first novel, the car bomb is placed in the suspension, rigged to go off when it falls and hits the ground as the car starts moving. As Quiller needs to fake his death to escape surveillance, he starts the car's engine and leaves the bomb on the hood, hoping the vibrations will cause it to slide down the hood, fall off and detonate. After a while nothing happens, and Quiller thinks the bomb has got stuck and he'd better go back and dislodge it, when the garage blows up in his face.

** Michael's [[HopeSpot blissful]] [[KarmaHoudini escape from mob life]] in Sicily comes to an end when his [[DisposableWoman new wife]], Apollonia, decides to bring the car around for him and gets blown up. He gets FiveSecondForeshadowing when one of his compatriots, Fabrizio, panics and runs off when he realizes Michael isn't driving himself.

A favourite assassination method of [[TheMafia mobsters]] and [[SpyFiction spies]] alike is to hook up a bomb to the ignition switch of a car, so that it will lie dormant until some poor soul starts it.

Variations include remote-detonation and bombs hooked up to other parts of the car, but the idea is to kill the occupant. Cars [[MolotovTruck turned into]] [[SuicideAttack suicide bombs]] don't count.

A subtrope of VehicularSabotage. See EveryCarIsAPinto for cars blowing up [[RuleOfCool that have no reason to]].

* ''Literature/TheOdessaFile''. The IntrepidReporter has a bomb put in his CoolCar, not attached to the ignition but set to go off when the suspension is compressed. Fortunately the car is foreign make with a heavy duty suspension, so it doesn't go off until later when one of the villains steals it and drives over a bump in the road.

There is an interesting case of TheLawOfConservationOfDetail attached to this trope. 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 viewer probably has a [[OhCrap distinctly uneasy feeling in his stomach]]. Wait for it... three... two... one... [[IncrediblyLamePun ignition!]] Another dead giveaway is if the car is [[TrojanHorse a gift from someone]] the recipient [[BigBadFriend really shouldn't trust]].

* Late in a ''Manga/CityHunter'' arc, some of her pursuers plant a bomb to Ryo's car, ensuring that it'd explode only when Ryo tries to start it, in an attempt to get Ryo out of their way while their cohorts go after [[GirlOfTheWeek Miyuki]], whom Ryo is hired to guard. That being said, the keyword is "attempt", because Ryo manages to get out of its range in time to avoid being in the radius of the explosion, before he confronts and beats up the saboteurs for it.

* ''Manga/Golgo13''. A criminal gang attacks a hijacker who's parachuted into the Amazon with his three million ransom. Actually they've been LuredIntoATrap, as the hijacker is Duke Togo who has a contract on them. As Duke massacres the attackers with machine guns and rocket launchers he's pre-stashed in the area, their leader decides ScrewThisImOuttaHere and runs for the vehicles. One of his mooks starts a vehicle a moment before he does and blows up. The leader looks at his own ignition key, throws it away and decides to go on foot. [[ImplacableMan He doesn't get far]].
* One of the manga adaptations of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'', covers a lot of backstory from prior to the start of the anime. One scene has a car bomb used against the sons of Degwin Sodo Zabi, who many suspected of having [[KlingonPromotion assassinated his predecessor, political rival, and fellow revolutionary Zeon Zum Daikun in order to take his job]]. [[spoiler:Although the Zabi's eagerly blame Zeon's remaining followers, it's very strongly implied that Degwin's daughter set the bomb to take revenge on one of her brothers.]]

** In ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' saga, a villain has stolen the Batmobile. Batman gets in the car, starts it, and kaboom! Cut to Robin ([[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]]) screaming, when Batman walks by and says he got out just in time, realizing it was booby-trapped, "because that's what I would have done."

* ''Series/DueSouth'': The fate of Ray's second ([[RunningGag or third]]) [[CoolCar '71 Buick Riviera]]. Rigged to the driver's side door handle in this case. [[spoiler:However, Ray, the intended target, wasn't the one who opened the door. [[TearJerker Poor Louis]].]]

%%* Used in Fox News' [[MemeticMutation infamous]] "Hackers On Steroids" 4chan expose.

** In "The Purging of [=CI5=]", two [=CI5=] agents return to their car after wasting time searching a derelict building over a fake tip-off. One of them turns the ignition, but nothing happens until he closes the car door as well. Later Bodie and Doyle worry there might be another in their car. They search the car and find nothing, but Doyle suggests Bodie wait across the street while he starts the ignition. Bodie just replies, "[[HoYay Stick it in!]]" There's no bomb, but as they drive off Bodie suggests the bomb might have been set to go off once they reach 30. Doyle responds by flooring the accelerator.
** Lampshaded in "Hunter/Hunted" when the VillainOfTheWeek (who has a personal grudge against Doyle) uses a [[IfIWantedYouDead thirty-second delay fuse]] so he has time to get clear.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals'' ("The Purging of [=CI5=]"). Bodie and Doyle have just escaped a bomb in their phone, and Doyle worries there might be another in the car they've just gotten into. He suggests Bodie wait across the street while he starts the ignition. Bodie just gives him a contemptuous look and says "Oh just [[HoYay stick it in!]]" (There's no bomb).

* ''VideoGame/DejaVu'' has a booby-trapped car that will explode if you start the ignition or pop the hood.

There is an interesting case of TheLawOfConservationOfDetail attached to this trope. 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 viewer probably has a [[OhCrap distinctly uneasy feeling in his stomach]]. Wait for it... three... two... one... [[IncrediblyLamePun ignition!]] Another dead giveaway is if the car is a gift from someone the recipient [[BigBadFriend really shouldn't trust]].

* Used in the ''Website/SCPFoundation'' story [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/yesterday Yesterday]] as the method Clef uses to take out Moose in his GottaKillThemAll plot. After Moose fakes her death, she escapes into her car - convinced she's outsmarted Clef, until she starts the car's engine and it bursts into flames.

** ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoOnline]]'' features a similar mechanic as in ''Vice City'', though you can also get a variant that instead simply detonates the next time someone starts the car. Some enterprising players who are fed up with other players jacking their cars at gunpoint will ''purposely'' affix one of their nicer, more expensive cars with a remote bomb, then cruise around town until someone [[SchmuckBait has the gall to try and steal it.]] Then, just as the would-be car thief thinks they got away, they simply whip out their phone and watch with glee as the carjacker explodes.

* In the 2020 miniseries ''The Head'', there is a killer among the winterers on an Antarctic research station and [[TheRadioDiesFirst the satellite radio has been sabotaged]], so someone has to drive a Snowcat 270 miles in mid-winter to another station to get help. The Snowcat is packed full of fuel cans and someone gets in and presses the ignition button twice with no effect, but the third time the Snowcat bursts into flame burning them to death. Naturally no-one thinks this was an accident.

* Similar to the example in The Godfather, Tommy is sent to kill crime boss Sergio Morello with a car bomb during a mission in ''VideoGame/{{Mafia|TheCityOfLostHeaven}}''. The gangster's wife decides to take the car out shortly after Tommy plants the bomb and spares her husband a fiery death.

* ''Series/{{Phoenix}}'' is about the investigation into a car bomb that exploded outside a [[CopKiller police social event]] in Melbourne, Australia.

* ''Series/{{Phoenix}}'' is about the investigation into a car bomb that exploded outside Victorian Police headquarters, [[CopKiller killing a policewoman]].

* This is how [[spoiler:Mia Loukas]] is killed in ''VideoGame/CriminalCaseTheConspiracy''. Ironically, it wasn't even aimed at hers, but to the player.

* ''Series/{{Sisters}}''. Teddy's husband met his death this way, courtesy of a drug lord he was preparing to testify against (he was a cop).