What does ‘yellow car’ mean on TikTok?

Another day, another TikTok trend.

As one of the premier social media sites, particularly among young people, it’s really no surprise that new trends crop up on TikTok on a near-daily basis. That doesn’t make them easy to keep track of, of course, particularly among those of us who’ve left our 20s behind. As we work to keep up with the times — a fruitless goal, really — us thirty-somethings find something new to research with every fresh TikTok sensation, and the “yellow car” trend is just the latest.

For once, however, this trend goes way back. It may have changed form, somewhat, with the ascension of social media, but we’ve all been engaging in the yellow car game for decades.

‘Yellow car’ on TikTok

A perusal of your average TikTok FYP will see at least a few videos engaging in the ‘yellow car’ trend crop up, and even ancient users like myself will feel a tickle in their memory. We’ve all been on plenty of family road trips, after all, and that’s what the entire trend revolves around.

Rather than lean into some of the wilder corners of the social media site, the yellow car game is extremely straightforward. It merely requires travelers to keep an eye out, while on the road, for yellow cars. If one cruises by, they claim the car with a quick “yellow car” and, particularly among youthful players, deliver a smack to the person nearest by. While this is obviously intended to be a light hit, teenaged TikTok users take things a step further — as teenagers do — and lean into the opportunity for violence. Jokes about a yellow car providing the opportunity to punch a sibling are rampant on the site, where users delight in the chance to choose violence.

That’s pretty much it! Like all the other car games, including the classic license plate game or “my cow” — a game I only recently learned about (but had a wonderful time participating in) — the game helps pass the time in the car, and makes for surprisingly good TikTok content.