A device invented in South Africa in the late 1990s offered car owners an extreme anti-carjacking solution by turning their vehicles into flamethrowers capable of shooting flames to repel would-be carjackers, reflecting the desperate measures that the severe carjacking problem in that country drove inventors to develop. The device, which deployed flames along the sides of the vehicle when activated, represented an extreme response to a genuine and serious crime problem, illustrating both the ingenuity and the desperation that high crime environments can produce. The unusual invention has resurfaced in automotive discussions as a remarkable example of extreme anti-theft technology.
South Africa’s severe carjacking problem during the period when the device was invented created a market for extreme security measures that would be unthinkable in lower-crime environments, and the flamethrower car defense system represents perhaps the most dramatic example. While the device addressed a genuine safety concern, its extreme nature and the obvious risks it created for bystanders and the legal complications of deploying flames in self-defense limited its practical adoption. The invention remains a fascinating example of how extreme crime environments can drive the development of equally extreme defensive technologies, even when those technologies raise their own serious concerns.