History Main / TrappedInASinkingCar

Want to show a character struggle for survival in a dangerous DrowningPit situation that is easy to set up? Look no further, simply have the victim trapped in a car shooting off a cliff or bridge straight into a large body of water below. Often preceded by [[VehicularSabotage malfunctioning brakes]], [[PopTheTires blown tires]], an [[DeadfootLeadfoot incapacitated driver]] or the car [[VehicularAssault being rammed off]] by another vehicle.\\

* Nicholas Pileggi's ''Wiseguy'' based off Henry Hill's exploits in the mafia has a narration of their disposing of a body via plunging the car it's in in a pond.

* Mac on ''{{Series/CSINY}}'' in the season 5 pilot. He was kidnapped by a hostage-taker and the guy abandoned Mac and the car in the river. Naturally, Mac escapes.

* Parodied on an episode of ''Wrestling/WWESmackDown''. After General Manager Wrestling/TeddyLong is forced to admit that he was working together with Wrestling/CMPunk to screw Wrestling/TheUndertaker out of a championship match they were in in the [=PPV=] prior, Teddy tries to flee from the area before the Undertaker can pay him back. Once he reaches his limo, he's horrified to see that Taker is his driver, [[EasyRoadToHell and he takes Teddy for a very long drive to parts unknown]]. Although this variation doesn't involves Teddy drowning underwater, he does get consumed by Undertaker's SuperSmoke, which fills up his limo as Taker [[DeadlyRoadTrip drives away to have a REALLY long talk with his boss]]...

* ''VideoGame/Battlefield4'' starts its campaign mode early on with the one of the player's platoon members' death by him being trapped in a car, unable to flee.

* ''Webcomic/EnnuiGo'': In Vol. 5, as part of a series of flashbacks exploring main character's Izzy Pritchard's DarkAndTroubledPast, [[AbusiveParents her and her twin sister Adelie's mother]] [[OffingTheOffspring tried to kill the both of them]] by driving her car off the pier and leaving them to drown when she escaped. Luckily, they were saved thanks to the combined efforts of [[VillainousRescue Florida Man]] and [[BenevolentMonsters Red Snapper's mother]].

** In an earlier episode, a body is found in a submerged car. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:the victim was in an interracial lesbian relationship, and she and her girlfriend were being pursued by the girlfriend's insanely possessive brother when they found that the bridge ahead of them was out. With nowhere else to go and unwilling to risk being caught by the brother, the pair decided to [[TogetherInDeath commit suicide together]] by driving off a bridge -- only it was the 1930s and cars were a lot more open than they are now, so one of the girls somehow got out, or was pulled out by the force of the water, and survived.]]

* In the final moments of the ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "The Thin Blue Line", a perpetrator runs Lily's car off a bridge. In the next episode, "Into the Blue", she manages to break the window to escape but starts having bizarre hallucinations in the aftermath of the incident. In the final moments of the episode, [[spoiler:she realizes that everything that happened since the crash has been [[AllJustADream a hallucination]] and she's still in her sinking car. She is subsequently rescued by divers.]]

* In the final moments of the ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "The Thin Blue Line", a perpetrator runs Lily's car off a bridge. In the next episode, "Into the Blue", she manages to break the window to escape, but starts having bizarre hallucinations in the aftermath of the incident. In the final moments of the episode, [[spoiler:she realizes that everything that happened since the crash has been [[AllJustADream a hallucination]] and she's still in her sinking car. She is subsequently rescued by divers.]]

* ''Webcomic/EnnuiGo'': In Vol. 6, as part of a series of flashbacks exploring main character's Izzy Pritchard's DarkAndTroubledPast, [[AbusiveParents her and her twin sister Adelie's mother]] [[OffingTheOffspring tried to kill the both of them]] by driving her car off the pier and leaving them to drown when she escaped. Luckily, they were saved thanks to the combined efforts of [[VillainousRescue Florida Man]] and [[BenevolentMonsters Red Snapper's mother]].

Bonus points if the car goes into a [[SloMoBigAir slow-motion fall once in mid-air]]. For added drama, the [[JammedSeatbelts seatbelts may jam up]] or a passenger [[HelpImStuck gets stuck some other way]] on impact.

Bonus point if the car goes into a [[SloMoBigAir slow-motion fall once in mid-air]]. For added drama, the [[JammedSeatbelts seatbelts may jam up]] or a passenger [[HelpImStuck gets stuck some other way]] on impact.

%% * ''Film/CarnivalOfSouls''

* ''Series/{{Alias}}'': In the BackStory, Sidney's mother died when she drowned in her car. It was discovered after she died that she was a KGB operative. During one episode, Sidney has to temporarily fake her death, and she does so by driving her car off a pier, then surviving by breathing the air in the tires. This clues her into the fact that her mother might not have drowned as everyone thought.

* Mac on ''{{Series/CSINY}}'' in the season 5 pilot. He was kidnapped by a hostage taker and the guy abandoned Mac and the car in the river. Naturally, Mac escapes.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In [=S3xE4=], Wilson Fisk attempts to kill Matt by having a bunch of inmates and guards on his payroll attack him in a staged prison riot. When that fails, Fisk activates a backup plan, and has one of his henchmen replace the taxi driver who brought Matt to the prison. The replacement driver gets the cab up to speed, then bails out and leaves the driverless cab to take Matt on a one-way trip into the Hudson. We don't see Matt's escape, but when the police recover the cab the next day, [[NeverFoundTheBody there is no corpse]].

* ''Webcomic/TheAnimeClub'': Parodied using BlackComedy in part 6. The boys have decided to drown themselves by driving a car into the ocean. But Mort wants the group to die by poisoning, causing an argument over what's a more "classy way to die". Then Mort reveals [[OutGambitted he poisoned all their drinks with a slow acting agent before they left]]. They die of poisoning and the car stops just short of driving off the pier.

* NBC News anchor Jessica Savitch was killed along with her boyfriend when he, driving away from a restaurant in a heavy rain storm, took a wrong turn and instead of driving away on the main road, took an access road that led to a drainage canal.

%% * ''Film/BlowOut''

Bonus point if the car goes into a [[SloMoBigAir slow-motion fall once in mid-air]]. For added drama, the [[JammedSeatbelts seatbelts may jam]] or a passenger [[HelpImStuck gets stuck some other way]] on impact.

* In ''Disney/BigHero6'', Wasabi's car ends up going off a pier after fleeing from Yokai. Fortunately, the damage the car has sustained during the chase allows for an easy exit, and Baymax is able to discard the armor Hiro made for him and act as a flotation device.

** Invoked in ''Film/LicenceToKill''. While in custody, the villain offers $2 million to anyone willing to help him escape. Naturally, some baddies jump at the call. As the villain he is being transported across a bridge, the armoured truck is forced into the water where scuba divers rescue him from the back of the truck.

-->-- '''Johnson''', ''Film/{{Transporter 3}}''

* ''Series/LethalWeapon2016': In "Brotherly Love", Riggs is car-butted into water but manages to pull out (bloodily) even as Roger dives in to save his mate.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Characters/JamesBond:

* ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' had a couple. Roy and John have to use the Jaws of Life underwater in "Seance" and another has a teenage boy trapped in his submerged car.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Nothing Important Happened Today". A female SuperSoldier lures a man into taking her home and forces his car over the edge of a bridge and into the water. She then uses her immunity to death to hold him underwater until he drowns.

* Happens on ''Series/{{ER}}'', after two doctors are shot at in a road rage incident. Their car goes off the bridge into the river with them and their friend trapped inside. Luckily, the windows are rolled up, so they're able to call for help before the car sinks, as well as have enough time for the rescue squad to get there before it fills with water.
* Several times on ''Series/ThirdWatch'', ending tragically once--they get the two people in the car out safely, but the man who was locked in the trunk drowns--they'd been taken prisoner by a carjacker--and triumphantly the second time, this time with a sinking ''helicopter''.
* Mac on ''{{Series/CSINY}}'' in the season 5 pilot. He was kidnapped by a hostage taker and the guy abandoned Mac and the car in the river. Naturally, Mac escapes.
* On ''Series/AsTheWorldTurns'', after kidnapping and raping Jack, his crazy ex-wife Julia decided to cap things off by leaving him tied up in his car and pushing it into a lake.
* An early episode of ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' had lovebirds Eddie and Shauni trapped in an armored truck that had plunged off the pier.

* ''Series/RizzoliAndIsles'': In "Dirty Little Secret", Jane and Maura are trapped in a wrecked car that is slowly being submerged as [[RisingWaterRisingTension the water rises around them]].
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Happens to Gibbs and the now-grown friend of his late daughter in the episode "Requiem".
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': In "Bloodsport", one VictimOfTheWeek is a woman who is trapped in a sinking car by a [[JammedSeatbelts jammed seatbelt]], and who drowns after she accidentally shoots a man who is attempting to rescue her.
* ''Series/LethalWeapon2016': In ''Brotherly Love'' episode, Riggs is car-butted into water but manages to pull out (bloodily) even as Roger dives in to save his mate.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Nearly occurs to the Doctor and a UNIT private in "The Sontaran Stratagem", where the Sontarans have hijacked the car's satnav system and drive it towards a river. Thankfully, the Doctor is able to unlock the doors, allowing both to dive out before the car hits the river. The Sontarans had previously done it to a journalist who asked too many questions.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': "Dark Secrets" opens with a flashback to 1975 where a brother and sister are involved in an accident where their speeding car runs off the road and into the river; leaving them both trapped in the sinking car. This accident proves pivotal to several murders that take place 25 years later.
* Happens to Gereon and Charlotte in ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' season 2 episode 7. Their car is forced off the road and into a lake by [[BigBadFriend Bruno]] in his truck. The car is sinking beneath the water and settles on the lakebed. [[HelpImStuck Charlotte's arm is stuck]], but neither of them is able to free her as the glass begins to buckle under the water pressure. Once the water has filled the car, Gereon opens the driver's door and goes for the surface attempting to find a lever with which to free Charlotte, but fails, frantically diving back into the water and going for a mouth-to-mouth exchange of air. Charlotte gives up despite Gereon's attempts to stop her. She gets a DisneyDeath resurrection in the next episode though.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''Manga/ERASED'', [[spoiler:Satoru is trapped in the killer's car, unable to take off his seatbelt, and the killer casually pushes it into a freezing lake and leaves Satoru to drown. It ''nearly'' works, instead plunging Satoru into a fifteen-year coma]].

* ''VideoGame/Battlefield4'' starts its campaign mode early on with the one of the player's platoon member's death by him being trapped in a car, unable to flee.

Bonus point if the car goes into a [[SloMoBigAir slow motion fall once in mid-air]]. For added drama, the [[JammedSeatbelts seatbelts may jam]] or a passenger [[HelpImStuck gets stuck some other way]] on impact.

* In ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'', the Maitlands accidentally drive off a bridge and drown in the beginning of the film; the rest is about their ghosts haunting the new residents of their house.
* Downplayed in ''Film/BigFish''. Will Bloom's car gets caught in a rain so intense that it is submerged by the ensuing flood. However, the cabin appears sealed off and Will gets to enjoy the underwater world.

* In ''Film/TheGame'', Nicholas' car is plunged off a pier as part of the super-scary "game" to make his life more exciting. He manages to escape by pulling down the window using a crank that was left in his posession [[ChekhovsGun earlier on]].

* In ''Film/TrickRTreat'', the "Halloween Schoolbus Massacre" is about a group of disturbed kids who were murdered by their bus driver via driving their schoolbus into a flooded quarry.

%% Please help with Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples below

* Nicholas Pileggi's ''Wiseguy'' based off Henry Hill's exploits in the mafia has a narration of their disposing a body via plunging the car it's in in a pond.

* ''VideoGame/Battlefield4'' starts its campaign mode early on with the one of the player's platoon members's death by him being trapped in a car, unable to flee.