Does a viral video show a real instance of a delivery drone dropping a car battery through the windshield of a parked car? No, that's not true: An auto repair business created the video as an April Fool's Day marketing stunt. The video has been on the repair shop's YouTube channel since 2015. Few, if any, civilian drones available in 2015 could have lifted a standard lead-acid car battery.
The 2015 video was added to an August 27, 2025 X post (archived here) on the @InternetHOF account under this title:
A drone was testing a delivery when it stopped mid-air and dropped a car battery on a woman's windshield
This is what the opening frames of the video looked like at the time this fact check was written:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video posted at x.com/InternetH0F.)
The version posted to X in 2025 is a low-resolution copy of the original, which was posted on April Fool's day (April 1) 2015 on the YouTube account of G&C Tire and Auto Service, a Manassas and Chantilly, Virginia auto repair business. That post, with elaborate fake incident reports to the Federal Aviation Administration, promised G&C was tireless in innovating to improve service, but much safer and more reliable than drone delivery of auto parts.
In the copy posted to X in 2025, at 00:41, a green and white car battery falls from above, crushing the red car's windshield and roof. Next, a small consumer-grade drone falls, bouncing off the car's roof rack before clattering to the pavement beside the car.
Hobbyists tested similar drones of that size in 2015, finding maximum lifting ability was 2.5 pounds (archived here). Searching 2015 drone manufacturer sites, Lead Stories found specifications sheets for similar white plastic drones did not address payload, as they were designed only to carry the onboard video cameras. Meanwhile a standard lead acid car battery of the size shown, typically weighs at least 30 pounds, but more likely up to 50 pounds:
(Image Source: Graphic assembled by Lead Stories, using screenshots from original video at G&C Tire and Auto Service YouTube channel.)
