History Main / InVehicleInvulnerability

* In ''VideoGame/RigsOfRods'', a hatchback can be flattened by a tractor, crash headlong into a wall, or be dropped from a crane and the driver can still get out without harm, even if the cab where the driver sits is decimated

* Speaking of crew and spaceships, in ''StarControl'', the health for ships and landers IS its crew count, and you can move crew between the ships in your fleet as needed. Note that the captain is always the final hit point keeping the ship from CriticalExistenceFailure, though the only plot-relevant captain is the PlayerCharacter in the flagship.

* Fully [[AvertedTrope averted]] in ''Driver 3'' (Driv3r, according to the official title). Crashing into things damages you. It's entirely possible to kill yourself by crashing into a wall. Or, if you've been shot a couple of times before getting into the car, just by backing into another car trying to get out of a parking space.
* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the ''OperationFlashpoint'' series, in which occupants of vehicles are vulnerable to damage from collisions, bullets and explosions alike. This leads to events such occupants of vehicles such as military trucks being shot through the canvas, tanks being disabled after one hit because the shell penetrated and killed the crew, and even helicopter pilots being shot through the windshield of their aircraft.

* ''{{Dubloon}}''. Not only your crew is invulnerable while inside the ship, ''the ship itself'' is invulnerable as well, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation until the ship-to-ship boss battle comes]].

* While the player character and named crew members cannot be hurt outside of cutscenes, RedShirt crew in ''InfiniteSpace'' can die by the hundreds when their ship is shot up. And, somehow, you're able to hire hundreds more at any starport. On the other hand, they may just be incapacitated and treated in the sick bay since your fleet recovers crew as it flies.

* The same applies to the ''{{Halo}}'' series, although the second game onwards lets people clearly damage and outright destroy vehicles. However, vehicles NEVER explode and become unusable unless the occupants die first.

* Justified in any ''FormulaOne'' game. In RealLife F1, it's probably difficult to seriously injure yourself if you were trying on most modern circuits.
** As demonstrated by Richard Hammond in ''TopGear'', though, it's insanely easy to injure yourself due to exhaustion and the incredible G-forces generated by acceleration, turning, and braking.
* ''NeedForSpeed''
* ''GranTurismo''
* ''{{Carmageddon}}''

* In ''RigsOfRods'', a hatchback can be flattened by a tractor, crash headlong into a wall, or be dropped from a crane and the driver can still get out without harm, even if the cab where the driver sits is decimated
* In ''SaintsRow2'', the best way to fight a gang with assault rifles is by acquiring a tough SUV, upgrading its armor and driving it into the gang hideout and shooting your guns out of the window. The enemies will take an eternity to whittle down your vehicle and only shoot you through the open window by accident (when they aim for the car and miss). This is why outdoors missions have many more enemies than indoors ones, but there is nothing to prevent you from using your car for indoors missions as well, provided it is small enough to fit through the door.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in recent combat flight sims such as ''VideoGame/IL2Sturmovik'', where pilots can and will be wounded if not outright killed, and an ace's kill count will most likely have a significant portion of that consist of pilot kills. In WWI-era sims like ''Red Baron 3D'' and ''RiseOfFlight'', the typical advice is to "aim for meat or metal"-the pilot and engine, respectively, as hits in other areas would likely just punch through cloth and do relatively little damage.

* Inverted in ''SaintsRowTheThird'' once you've gotten all the character upgrades. On foot, you're immune to every form of damage, up to and including explosions. Inside a vehicle, if the vehicle blows up, you automatically die.

** The early ''CommandAndConquer'' games, when an infantry who piloted the vehicle would come out when the vehicle is destroyed, although if there was an [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill overkill]], the pilot would also die.

** There ''are'' exceptions: the Crew Shaken and Crew Stunned results can represent a vehicle crew temporarily panicking or fleeing, although the "typical" explanation is that its targeting or drive systems were knocked about. However, those only occur in specific circumstances and cannot result in the all-important [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere falling back]] that the infantry rules provide for.

* In ''RigsOfRods'', a hatchback can be flattened by a tractor, crash headlong into a wall, or be dropped from a crane and the driver can still get out without harm, even if the cab were the driver sits is decimated

* ''{{Flatout}}'' tries to be an aversion, although it's more to see your driver fly like a rag doll.

In video games, particularly in {{driving game}}s, it doesn't matter how fast you crash into a wall or an obstacle; as long as the vehicle doesn't explode, the driver not only survives, but is completely uninjured. It's even stranger that the vehicles in video games don't seem to have airbags or, if they do, they just don't activate. This, in most cases, is one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality.

* Played straight, sort of, in the table-top Warhammer 40K game where a unit inside a transport vehicle cannot be directly damaged in any way before the vehicle is destroyed.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'': You and your crew members are never injured in naval combat unless your ship itself is sunk. Rather, your crew act as a resource to enable boarding other vessels, so having them all die in the exchange of cannon-fire before boarding would be annoying as a game mechanic. There's also an inversion of the trope: while you aren't at the helm of the ''Jackdaw'', it is completely invulnerable, even if there's a raging battle going on around you.

* The first ''{{Mafia}}'' averted this as well, coming complete with collisions damaging anybody inside the vehicle. Played kinda straight with ''MafiaII'' though.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' in its earlier incarnations, unless you were on a motorcycle. In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', this gets [[AvertedTrope averted]] with cars as well; you can get thrown from the car if you crash hard enough, and enemies can shoot you through the windows. If you delay after mounting a bike, Niko'll pull a helmet from Hammerspace, which lessens the damage taken when he's thrown from a bike.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlagFlag'': You and your crew members are never injured in naval combat unless your ship itself is sunk. Rather, your crew act as a resource to enable boarding other vessels, so having them all die in the exchange of cannon-fire before boarding would be annoying as a game mechanic. There's also an inversion of the trope: while you aren't at the helm of the ''Jackdaw'', it is completely invulnerable, even if there's a raging battle going on around you.

* A rare film example is ''Film/DeathProof'', where Kurt Russell's character, a Hollywood stunt driver and SerialKiller, has his car specially reinforced to be... [[TitleDrop the title of the film]].

* Averted for the most part in the ''Videogame/MechWarrior'' series, where [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] pilots can be [[SnipingTheCockpit blasted through the mech's cockpit]]. Played straight in ''Mechwarrior Living Legends'' with the tanks, [[SpacePlane aerospace fighters]], and [[FutureCopter VTOLs]]; all of which have invulnerable pilots (barring the very rare "Sudden Pilot Death Syndrome" when landing in aircraft) - tanks almost never have visible cockpits, aerospace move too fast for sniping the pilot to be practical, and [=VTOLs=] are too unpredictable for reliable sniping, so none of them have cockpit hitboxes.

* A rare film example is ''DeathProof'', where Kurt Russell's character, a Hollywood stunt driver and SerialKiller, has his car specially reinforced to be... [[TitleDrop the title of the film]].

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''MassEffect'' where your vehicle is an IFV which is effortlessly capable of surviving everything from 400 foot drops off mountains to orbital re-entry and is equipped with InertialDampening to soften the blow for the passengers.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' in its earlier incarnations, unless you were on a motorcycle. In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', this gets [[AvertedTrope averted]] with cars as well; you can get thrown from the car if you crash hard enough, and enemies can shoot you through the windows.
** If you delay driving away for a second or two after entering a car, Nico does an in-car animation of putting on a seatbelt. If you let him do this, [[TruthInTelevision he won't be thrown from]] [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything the vehicle in a crash]]; if you take off too fast, he skips this part, and he's free to ragdoll over the hood in a head-on. Likewise, if you delay after mounting a bike, he'll pull a helmet from Hammerspace, which lessens the damage taken when he's thrown from a bike.