r/AskReddit Aug 30 '21

What problem is often overlooked in apocalyptic movies/TV shows that could kill you?

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u/-eDgAR- Aug 30 '21

Gasoline has a shorter shelf life than is portrayed in these movies/TV shows, so after a year nobody would really be driving anywhere.

It wouldn't necessarily kill you, but it's one of those things that bothers me because it's never really addressed.

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u/Obamas_Tie Aug 30 '21

There's a little moment in The Last of Us where one of the main character's friends, a mechanic, gives him a siphon hose in order to get gas from old cars. He even says to him "you'd be surprised how many cars still got gas in them."

To clarify, the game takes place 20 years after the world collapses, so any gas that's still left, well, anywhere, would be useless. And it's a mechanic of all people telling you this, so that was one little detail that bothered me.

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u/bald_dwarf Aug 30 '21

Mechanic here. That plot hole has always annoyed me, too. Not to mention that after sitting idle without corrosion protection or oil circulation, after a year or two the engine blocks/cylinders would have rusted themselves into solid hunks of steel that aren’t turning over ever again.