No. It's an EMP attack that has left every single car paralyzed on the interstate.

But let's take a step back from this flight of fancy and examine whether a strong enough electromagnetic pulse can affect your car, and what you can for do to prepare yourself for an EMP attack.

The lesson of these strange times is that you must protect yourself, your loved ones and your means from disruption. We're not just talking about the worst-case scenarios of yesteryear. Even the smallest town has procedures for dealing with natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires and floods.

But how do you prepare for the unknown?

Your finger on the electromagnetic pulse

It may not be possible to prepare for every specific eventuality, but it's possible to identify your vulnerabilities. Since the beginning of society, humankind has needed tools and transport to survive in a community and a family unit.

In modern times, our tools have become electronic. Our cellphones, computers and records - all electronic. Gone are the days of storing important records, photos and media on analog storage like paper and videotape. This is the age of digital.

The force that can really nix electronics is electromagnetic pulses. These are bursts of electromagnetic energy, which can be naturally occurring, such as in lightning storms or solar flares. Or they can be manmade, for example as the result of a nuclear detonation.

If a hostile power wanted to knock out the electrical grid of an entire continent, they might employ a high altitude nuclear explosion. In one such high altitude nuclear test named "Starfish Prime", electronics more than 500 miles away in Honolulu and New Zealand were damaged, while 300 street lights in Oahu, Hawaii were fused.

We've already discussed how to keep your electronics safe in the event of an EMP.

Because we no longer travel by horse and buggy, it's worthwhile asking the question "will an EMP knock out a car?"