MTG says the feds are ready to control your car with a ‘kill switch’ — while she battles ‘manufactured outrage’

Former Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to X on Jan. 26, 2026, accusing federal policymakers of stoking what she called a “manufactured outrage machine” while misrepresenting a federal mandate in new cars, which some call a government-controlled “kill switch.”

Greene’s post, manufacturing its own kind of outrage, opened with her warning that Republicans and Democrats alike are distracting the public from pressing domestic issues. She wrote that “Republicans can’t even end refugee programs that fuel fraud. They freaking funded it in the DHS appropriations bill along with [government-mandated] kill switch in your cars.” and argued that the political class wants Americans absorbed in controversy rather than real economic problems like “Americans can’t afford health insurance.”

However, the idea that the federal government will install a remote vehicle “kill switch” that officials can activate at will is a mischaracterization of the underlying policy.

What is “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology?”

The provision at the center of the debate, included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, instructs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology” for all new passenger vehicles starting with model year 2026, systems that can “passively monitor” a driver’s behavior and “prevent or limit vehicle operation if an impairment is detected.”

That language has sparked widespread alarm in conservative circles, with critics branding it a “kill switch” because the technology could, in extreme cases, limit or disable a vehicle’s operation if impairment is detected. But the law does not mandate any mechanism that allows law enforcement or federal agents to remotely shut off private vehicles at will, a distinction noted by multiple news reports and fact-checking outlets.

Instead, the mandate’s stated intent is to reduce drunk and impaired driving deaths by using in-vehicle systems such as eye-tracking cameras, sensors, or alcohol detection modules that assess whether a driver might be impaired, then limit operation if so. It is up to NHTSA to write the detailed regulations defining how these systems will work, and as of early 2026, draft rules have not yet been finalized.

“The chaos started with extremists like you”

Greene’s not the only current or former politician outraged by the so-called “kill switch.” The issue came to a head on Capitol Hill in late January, when the House of Representatives rejected an amendment by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky that would have defunded the mandate, per News Nation.

Massie and other Republican allies argue the provision could lead to misidentification and false positives, for example, systems wrongly interpreting fatigue or distraction as impairment, thereby limiting vehicle operation without due process. Supporters of the technology, including safety advocacy groups, counter that such adaptive safety measures could save thousands of lives annually by curbing alcohol-related crashes.

“Kill switch” comment aside, Greene’s post drew sharp responses from critics who pointed out past controversies surrounding Greene’s own political history. One commenter on X wrote, “This is priceless…you spent years peddling QAnon lunacy…now you’ve quit Congress and discovered Republicans can’t govern? The chaos started with extremists like you.”