TikTok’s Viral Check Engine Light Pumpkin Is Every Car Owner’s Nightmare

Jack-o’-lanterns are a classic part of celebrating the Halloween season. Carving malevolent images into these decorative gourds is a time-honored tradition, though people have been getting more creative with their pumpkin carving for a long time now. Triangle eyes and jagged-toothed smiles may have been spooky once upon a time, but it takes a truly modern type of horror to terrify today’s audience. TikTok users might have just found a way to use this humble orange vegetable to trigger one of every car owner’s biggest fears.

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A trend has gone viral on the video-sharing app where people are carving their car’s check engine light into their pumpkins. Anyone who’s ever seen this light come on their car’s dash in real life is intimately familiar with the feeling of dread that drops into the pit of their stomach when they see it. Your check engine light usually comes on when your car’s onboard diagnostic system has detected something wrong with your car’s emission performance, with causes ranging from benign to catastrophic. A good diagnostics tool can help you pinpoint the source of the problem, but you definitely don’t want to keep driving your car with the check engine light flashing until you get it sorted out -– even if it often means that fixing whatever is wrong with it will come with a heavy service bill attached. So it’s easy to see why even seeing the dreaded symbol on a pumpkin can be quite scary.

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It’s difficult to trace the source of the trend. There are pictures and videos that have been posted online of people carving their cars’ dashboard warning lights into pumpkins going back years. It’s unclear why the practice has been experiencing a sudden surge in popularity, but for whatever reason, the trend exploded on TikTok this year, with dozens of videos posted to the app in recent weeks. Many of them are from smaller accounts with a few hundred views apiece, but some, like this video posted by kyla_rx8have managed to accrue millions of views with thousands of likes and comments. Some of the videos just have the outline of the engine block, while others have the words Check Engine carved into the pumpkin in spooky lettering.

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@kyla_rx8

Just wanted to share my spooky pumpkin. It matches my car #fyp #mazdarx8 #cargirl #carsoftiktok #halloween #rx8 #checkenginelight

♬ Spooky, Scary Skeletons – Andrew Gold

The trend has become so popular that it has grown beyond traditional pumpkin carving and has made its way into the maker space as well. There are several videos from content creators showcasing various designs for 3D-printed check engine pumpkins as well. Print files for these designs have already started appearing on file-sharing sites like Thingiverse.

While the check engine light seems to be the most popular symbol to be featured in these videos, it’s far from the only one. Those who were a little more ambitious in their collection of seasonally decorative squash have gone on to carve some of the other dashboard warning symbols to be displayed on neighboring pumpkins as well.

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There are TikTok videos showing whole collections of carved pumpkins sporting the oil pressure light, the battery charge warning, the brake system warning, the coolant level warning, the tire pressure warning, the ABS warning, and even the airbag deployment light.

@scottybondo

#halloween2022 #pumpkins #checkenginelight

♬ Halloween Theme Song – Ultimate Halloween Bash

An unexpected check engine light sighting is enough to give someone the shivers, but seeing all of these lights come on at the same time is enough to send any car owner into a full-blown panic. Hopefully, these Jack-o’-lanterns will be scary enough to ward away the nefarious spirits of engine trouble and keep all of our vehicles running smoothly.

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