A photo shared on Facebook purports government-accessible kill switches will be mandatory on all new vehicles beginning in 2026. 

Verdict: False

There is no evidence for this claim. It likely stems from a bill passed by President Joe Biden requiring cars to implement drunk driving detection, not a universal kill switch.

Fact Check:

California banned all sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 in August 2022, becoming the first state to take such an action, according to CNBC. Virginia Senate panel democrats blocked a repeal by Republican state senators challenging the adoption of California’s rules for the state, according to WRIC.

A Facebook post purports that cars in 2026 onwards will have a feature that will allow the government to turn them off remotely. “Both political parties are ramming down the idea that one side wants to gain more control over the people,” the post claims. “Yet both parties agree to put a federal mandate that all new vehicles must have a kill switch installed in them by 2026, switch will give law enforcement to shut your vehicle off.”

There is no evidence for this claim, however. The post likely refers to a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021 that would require cars to be equipped with a system that detects drunk driving, according to the New York Post.

The bill’s text states there would be a new “Advanced Drunk and Impaired Driving Prevention Technology Safety Standard” that would require companies to install drunk driving prevention tech in new vehicles. The term “kill switch” does not appear in the text of the bill.

“MADD and drunk driving victims helped pass the Infrastructure Law’s impaired driving technology provision to stop drunk driving – the Number One killer on America’s roads – and the law does not require a ‘kill switch’ or for the vehicle to be controlled remotely,” a spokesperson for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) told Check Your Fact in an email. “The auto safety technology is specifically for the purpose of saving lives and preventing injuries caused by impaired driving.”

Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to corroborate the claim or suggest that a kill switch is being considered with or without the bill. (RELATED: Is Elon Musk Planning To Buy General Motors?)

This is not the first time misinformation about the Biden administration has circulated online. Check Your Fact recently debunked a claim they planned on banning gas stoves.