*length=1:57 HAHAHAA ... love the cheery music!

The duration of this video has been updated from unknown to 1:57 - length declared by PlayhousePals.

One of my worst and probably largely unfounded fears while driving, and why I've wondered why hoods don't swing open from the front (though I can see how that would make service a million times harder, which I guess is reason enough).

I had an old BMW (1995 ish) and the bonnet hinged from the front. Servicing it was easier than any other car I've owned, as they'd actually put the oil filter in a sensible place. Everything was easily accessible from the sides of the car rather than the front. I'd never thought about it until I had that car and from then on I can't for the life of me think why they hinge from the back on most cars.

If a car is hard to service, regardless of which way the bonnet hinges, it's because they've made it that way. Car companies make a lot of money out of servicing...

I had one pop up, rip off, go flying through the air, in bumper to bumper 55 mph traffic.

Adding video to channels (Music) - requested by ant.

That music is from this movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Arm

Thanks. Crazy piece.

I'm no expert, but I believe all Corvettes since their inception in the 50's have opened forward. Safety at speeds mostly, but I understand it makes them far easier to service as, other than the radiator, there's nothing to do at the front of the engine. Even then, the resevoir is pushed back for weight balance.

I love how the editing matches the musical tempo!

In soviet russia - engine tells you when it wants a service.

Does this happen commonly? I've never seen this in the US.

When I was a child, our family had this happen to our car. We were on vacation driving to a relative's house several states away. The hood latch broke and the hood started to vibrate quickly for about 3 seconds before the safety latch gave way and the whole thing flipped off the car. A car that was behind us ran it over, but luckily their car didn't suffer any damage. I was under the impression for a long time that all hoods would just fly off if they came loose because of that.

It's like a surprise boner, for cars.

Happens if you don't lubricate your hood latch. Some people disable the safety catch because it bugs them. Some cars don't have a safety catch, or use ones that are so weak as to be useless.