'Is This Rage Bait?:' Woman’s Car Runs Out of Wiper Fluid. So She Pops Open a Can of Orange Crush

There are plenty of DIY windshield wiper solutions out there. While some are better than others, this one may be the most bizarre. 

Would you try it, or are you picking up the real stuff instead?

In a viral video with more than 2 million views, content creator Tiva Fox (@tivafox) shares her  trick for refilling her car’s windshield wiper fluid with an unusual substitute.

Fox says her car ran out of windshield wiper fluid, and since she’d seen someone “add some orange [expletive]” into the wiper fluid reservoir, she decided to try it herself.

“I don’t know what they used, but this is orange,” she says, holding up a Crush soda can. 

“And I feel like it doesn’t really matter what the contents are. As long as it’s orange, it’ll, like, you know, like, if you dye your hair and you wanna get the blonde out, you balance it with purple dyes. So I think if you, like, wanna wash your windshield, you just need something orange.”

Fox says she often has to figure out car maintenance on her own since she doesn’t have a boyfriend to do it for her. Then she pops the hood of the car and locates the wiper fluid reservoir is. 

That’s when—to the audience’s dismay—she proceeds to pour the contents of the orange soda into the reservoir, potentially damaging it or at least making an unnecessarily sticky situation. 

“I would prefer to not have to do things like that on my own, but I can’t,” Fox says. “You know? I’m not like a birdbrain. I can still handle my own without a man even though I’m still waiting for my husband.”

Did She Really Use Orange Soda?

Fox had people going. But it turns out she was trolling the entire time. 

Not only does her TikTok profile say “I just be trolling,” she made a follow-up video showing that she emptied out the contents of the soda can and refilled it with orange wiper fluid.

“Prepping the soda can I'm going to use to rage bait all the IG hate warriors,” the text overlay on the video reads.

What’s in Windshield Wiper Fluid?

Windshield washer fluid isn’t just colored water. Most store-bought fluids are blue or orange and packed with methanol, a toxic alcohol that dissolves bugs and grime while also keeping the reservoir from freezing, CarParts explains. It cleans better than plain water and won’t turn to ice in cold weather.

Because of the methanol, washer fluid is corrosive. Spill it in the wrong spot, and it can damage wiring or other electronic components under the hood. And if swallowed? Even small amounts can cause blurred vision, seizures, or worse, National Library of Medicine service MedlinePlus reports. Just two tablespoons can be deadly for a child, and a few ounces can be fatal for an adult.

You’ll usually find two types at the store:

• Standard fluid (sometimes called “summer fluid”)—works in warm weather.
• De-icing fluid—made with a higher concentration of methanol so it won’t freeze, even in subzero temps. Some formulas can melt thin sheets of ice in temperatures as low as -49°C.

‘Lights Are On, But Nobody Home’

People were largely fooled by Fox's trolling post claiming she used Orange Crush as windshield wiper fluid.

“You telling me that you walked in a gas station, PASSED the windshield wiper fluid to get orange soda instead????” a top comment reads.

“Perfect example of the lights are on, but nobody home,” another person said.

“Mind you she can vote,” a third wrote.

Motor1 reached out to Fox for comment via Instagram and TikTok direct message. We'll update this if she responds.