A woman’s humorous review of her mother’s newer vehicle has sparked a wave of discussion online after she joked that the car seemed determined to crush her knees because it did not recognize her as the primary driver. In a viral TikTok video, creator Alex (@dr.mrs.knits) described borrowing her mother’s car and struggling with several modern vehicle features that she said felt more confusing than helpful.
In her post, she explained that the vehicle was much newer than anything she normally drives and joked that manufacturers had “upgraded out of every single thing that makes a car drivable.” Her first complaint involved something surprisingly simple.
According to Alex, she could not find the traditional recessed door pull inside the vehicle. Instead, she said she had to grip the door awkwardly with her fingertips to close it.
Reportedly, things became even more eventful after she started the car
Alex then said the vehicle greeted its regular driver by name before realizing someone else was behind the wheel. “It’s like, hello, Phoebe. Welcome, Phoebe,” she recalled. “And then it says, intruder alert. You’re not Phoebe.” She then described what happened next in exaggerated terms for comedic effect.
According to Alex, the driver’s seat automatically adjusted to her mother’s saved seating position. Because Alex is several inches taller, she joked that the car began “shooting me out through the windshield” as the seat moved forward.
“It’s scooting her up so that she can put her feet on the brakes, but it’s forcing my patella through the steering block,” she said.
She then compared the moment to the famous trash compactor scene from Star Wars. She added that her knees ended up near her chin while she scrambled to locate the seat adjustment controls.
Alex’s description matches a common feature found on many newer vehicles. Many manufacturers allow drivers to save personalized seating positions linked to an individual key fob or driver profile. When a recognized key unlocks or starts the vehicle, the seat, mirrors, and steering wheel can automatically return to the stored position. If another person drives the car before adjusting the settings, the seat may begin moving to the saved location until the driver interrupts the process.
Later in the video, Alex encountered another surprise. After backing out of the driveway and pulling up to an intersection, she leaned forward to check for traffic. “When the car decides it’s my time and I get yeeted back into the seat,” she said.
That moment also appears consistent with an automatic seat belt comfort or pretensioning feature available on some vehicles. Certain systems briefly tighten the seat belt after the vehicle begins moving or during specific driving conditions to improve occupant positioning.
Alex also criticized the vehicle’s electronic gear selector and touchscreen climate controls, saying she preferred traditional controls. “I need a PRNDL. Please. Please,” she said, referring to the familiar PRNDL gear selector found in many vehicles. She also joked that adjusting the air conditioning required navigating multiple menus when all she wanted was “a knob that is blue and that is red.”
The video prompted thousands of viewers to share their own experiences with modern vehicle technology. One commenter wondered if the vehicle might have been from a specific manufacturer, writing, “does she have a BMW perchance? My mom got one and I did not know the seat belts auto tighten once you start driving and the first time it groped me I screamed.”
Another summed up their frustration with a short slogan: “MAKE CARS DUMB AGAIN i scream from the mountaintops.” A third criticized the growing reliance on touchscreens, writing, “Can’t be on your phone while driving but here’s an iPad you have to use while driving.”
Published: Jul 29, 2026 09:11 am