A Chevrolet owner was shocked when his car tried to start itself when he wasn’t even sitting in the vehicle.
Ryan (@ryanking5683) documented the abnormal experience of his car being “possessed” in two viral TikToks that collectively garnered over 1.9 million views.
In the first clip, the car owner’s new Chevrolet SUV appears to start itself. However, no one is sitting inside the car.
“What the f*ck,” the confused car owner can be heard saying off camera.
The vehicle tries to turn on its own ignition. The sound of the engine turnover echoes through the night air as the car’s lights flash on and off.
“My car just randomly tries to start by itself,” Ryan explains.
The video then transitions to the Chevrolet owner sitting in the driver’s seat of the car without touching any of the vehicle’s controls. The vehicle is still attempting to start on its own as he sits and records its efforts.
“Like, it’s been doing it while I was in the house. Came out to the car, opened it up, it’s still trying to start,” he says.
@ryanking5683 My possessed car! Chevy said they replaced the engine and there’s nothing else wrong with it. Prior to this it would randomly start and alarm. Its a brand new car i shouldnt be dealing with this right now! #possessedcar ♬ original sound – Ryan
It keeps going
In the text overlay of a follow-up post documenting the same behavior from his vehicle, Ryan writes, “Sitting here with the pups and my car is outside still trying to start itself!”
He walks from inside his home to the front door and, sure enough, the Chevrolet car can be seen attempting to self start.
@ryanking5683 ♬ original sound – Ryan
One commenter on the post recommended, “[You] really need to unhook the battery dear. Lucky the starter ain’t short out n start a fire yet. But sounds like u have a engine prol also. She don’t sound good hope all works out.”
“Stop paying the payment. It’ll go from being possessed to repossessed in about 3 months,” someone else suggested.
Other Chevrolet car owners report the same issue
A Redditor with a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado shared a similar story about their car starting up on its own on the r/MechanicAdvice sub.
“It was parked, no one in or beside it and definitely no one else had keys, as we only had one set—the ignition key and the key fob— so no one else could’ve been pressing remote start … but all of a sudden, when we were around 3-5 ft from it while it was unlocked it just.. started. By itself. Then it cut off not five seconds after,” the post reads.
A user on a Chevy Avalanche Fan Club forum also posted about their truck, “I disconnected the battery and when reconnected it the engine makes an attempt to start by it self in 10 second intervals it made 3 attempts and succeeded on the fourth. I had the keys in my pocket.”
One of the responders also suggested that they check their car key fob. They suggested Chevrolet car owners experiencing the issue pull the batteries out of their FOBs for a few days to determine if it still persists. Their theory was that if the problem persisted, someone else had the same FOB code.
Additionally, there have also been Chevy drivers who have reported that their remote start functionality stopped working, and according to this Reddit user, the problem started after the FOB battery was changed.
GM Authority reported in 2019 that the American car manufacturer recalled 2010-2015 Chevy Camarao key fobs.
TikTokers weigh in
Several viewers remarked that Ryan should take his car back to the Chevrolet dealership.
“If it’s brand new look at the lemon law,” one person wrote.
“If the engine has already been replaced sounds like a lemon law issue,” another echoed.
Someone else joked, “If the car wants to start itself, it can pay its own payments too. Go ahead.”
One person suggested the issue was simply a case of signals being crossed.
“Sounds like the remote start RF got mixed up with a neighbor’s remote for their TV. So someone’s unable to change their channels & is cursing at their screen at the same time as you’re confused,” they said.
The Daily Dot reached out to GM via email and Ryan via TikTok comment for further information.
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