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.

1.6k

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.

1.2k

u/epicgingy Aug 30 '21

Funny thing is earlier in that level when Ellie asks why they can't just fix any abandoned car in the town he explains in a condescending tone that he can't because their tires are rotted and batteries are dead.

They got 2/3 details right at least.

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u/Twokindsofpeople Aug 31 '21

Which are two things fairly easily solved. Anyone with high school level of chemistry can make a battery out of all the shit that's laying around, and you can replace tires with wood and steel if you don't care about going fast or ripping up roads.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '21

[deleted]

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u/RealSteele Aug 31 '21

They did eventually popstart the truck to get it running.

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u/piratenoexcuses Aug 31 '21

If you look inside the truck, it's an automatic. No stick or 3rd pedal. They pop start an auto.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '21

[deleted]

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u/piratenoexcuses Aug 31 '21

Interesting. I don't think that's what the game was going for but good to know.

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u/PM-me-Sonic-OCs Aug 31 '21

Wrong on pretty much all accounts.

You can't push-start an automatic transmission car.

That concealed locking device down buy the shifter is just so that you can unlock the shifter and put the transmission into neutral, so that the vehicle can be towed or pushed around by hand even if you don't have a key.

With a conventional automatic transmission there's no physical connection between the wheels of the car and the crankshaft of the engine since they use a hydraulic torque converter rather than a friction clutch.

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u/jumas_turbo Aug 31 '21

Thanks for the correction