Just When You Thought TikTok Couldn’t Get Worse, the Lug Nut Challenge Appears

Social media challenges can range from absolutely harmless and a little vapid, to downright idiotic, destructive, and borderline evil. Take the Bird Box challenge for instance, where folks were literally blindfolding themselves while driving on major highways (here's hoping they were just flexing for the camera).

Well, there's another gnarly trend involving automobiles that's making the rounds on TikTok, and it's got to do with lug nuts.

Imagine being such a waste of life that you not only derive pleasure from destroying other people's property, but in your twisted sense of thrill-seeking you think that loosening the lug nuts on people's cars and then waiting to watch them get into the vehicle and drive away to see what happens, while recording the entire thing to post to social media, is a form of entertainment.

Not only is the "lug nut challenge" potentially life-threatening and illegal, it's also further evidence that there are some people who probably shouldn't be allowed to procreate.

Sure, let me loosen someone's lug nuts and then record myself committing a crime online. Kind of like these two teens who robbed a dead body they found in a ditch and broadcast their activity for everyone to see on Snapchat.

Here's the thing: it doesn't look like anyone's really posting evidence of their crimes on TikTok, and if they are, they're quickly taking down the videos, because all of the news surrounding the "lug nut challenge" are coming from people who've either suffered car accidents after their lug nuts were mysteriously loosened and fell to the ground, or from media sources and local news outlets, like the Fall River Reporter, who are warning people to make sure they check their cars before hitting the road.

This could very well be like the "Tide Pod" eating challenge, where people only pretended to eat the pods as a joke, rather than actually do it. Of course, there were some folks who bit into the forbidden detergent gummies, but were there really those who ate and even vaped the cleaning agents? Probably not.

Again, there are tales from people, even TikTok-ers who claim they were probably victims of the "lug nut challenge" online, but if you look up #lugnut and #lugnutchallenge videos on TikTok, for the most part it's just a bunch of clips of automotive enthusiasts showing off their car fixing and tire-changing skills.

In some clips, mechanics thank folks for leaving wheel locks inside the car in an easy-to-spot location so they can easily change their tires. In others, deft tire changers secure and remove lug nuts at breakneck paces.

In fact, there's probably more lug-nut-related content on TikTok than you likely ever thought there would be. So if you're looking for clips of people committing crimes that'll result in a gnarly car accident, we hate to burst that sordid bubble, but they're hard to spot.