MOST cars have a simple but very important life-saving feature installed that is rarely talked about, but it involves tight spaces.
As cars become more advanced, so do their safety components - but there's a feature that most cars have that most may not even realize is there.
Dash Yamamoto (@dash_yamamoto), a TikToker who posts humorous car videos for his 6,000 followers, used his platform to educate his viewers on an important safety feature hidden in the trunk.
"Now if you drive a sedan and you ever get kidnapped or get thrown in the trunk, the good news is there's always a hidden latch somewhere in every single sedan," said Yamamoto.
He then closes himself in the trunk of his car, and the camera goes dark.
"Now you want to look and feel around, but it's usually really obvious where it is," he said.
Almost right on queue, the emergency trunk release is glowing brightly in the dark.
He gives it a good tug, and the trunk flies open.
"And that is how you'd get out," he concluded.
Thankfully, what Yamamoto says is true - though, it should be noted that all vehicles in the United States have this emergency feature, not just sedans.
Therefore, all vehicles made after 2002 will have an emergency release in the trunk, regardless of the country of origin.
And while it doesn't seem that long ago that cars had this feature as standard equipment, motorists had been fighting for the feature since the 1980s.
It wasn't until the late 90s when Janette Fennell and her husband were kidnapped at gunpoint and put in the trunk of a car that the movement gained traction.
The couple were fortunate enough to escape, and Janette added more fuel to the fire by starting the Trunk Releases Urgently Needed Coalition (TRUNC).
However, it took her efforts and 11 unfortunate accidents involving children by 1998 for the National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration to begin pushing for change.
Since being a huge force for change, Janette has also pushed for other safety features in cars like rear window safety switches, establishing rear visibility standards, and seat belt safety reminders.
She also pushed for studies to be done on an alert system to notify drivers of children in the backseat.
Some automakers, like Ford, had produced cars with that safety feature well before the law was put in effect - but the important thing is, unless your car is older than 2002, your car has this feature.
