The scene is familiar if you’ve seen many spy dramas or thrillers: the hero is captured, held captive, and unable to resist while his captor hooks up a set of jumper cables to a car battery. As dutiful consumers of media, we’ve been conditioned to know that this means our hero is about to be tortured, possibly to the brink of death.
Don't be afraid of a car battery – you won't get shocked if you do this!
But that's in the movies. Can a car battery actually electrocute you in the real world?
The full answer to that question is predictably complex, but at its core it's just one of many lies Hollywood tells to provide a more compelling story and greater spectacle.
While certain aspects of electrical systems in cars can be dangerous, and the batteries themselves can be dangerous, there is a high risk that your car battery can electrocute you, let alone kill you.
