Your Car Won’t Save You: Zombies Crawling Under Vehicles in Project Zomboid B42

Project Zomboid’s Build 42 (B42) has changed the game for those who used cars as safe havens or barricades. If you’re a survivor who’s been parking vehicles to block zombies, brace yourself – the undead have learned a new trick. Can zombies go under cars in B42? In short, yes, zombies can crawl under vehicles now, and it has big implications for your survival strategy. Let’s dive into how this works, what the devs and community have said, modding angles, and how you’ll need to adapt your tactics in the apocalypse.

Can Zombies Crawl Under Cars in Build 42?

Absolutely. As of the late Build 41 patches (carried into Build 42), zombies gained the ability to scramble under vehicles to reach you. This wasn’t always the case – originally, only the already-“crawler” zombies (the ones that are normally prone due to injuries) could end up under cars. But now even a standing zombie can drop low and crawl on its belly to squeeze beneath a car and come out the other side. Essentially, a pursuing zombie will temporarily turn into a crawler to get past the obstacle, then stand back up to continue the chase. It’s a terrifying sight the first time it happens – one moment you think you’ve safely barricaded a doorway with a car, the next moment a zed is slithering out from under the chassis!

This change was introduced in a Build 41 update and is fully part of Build 42. According to one community guide, “As of the last Build 41 update/patch, zombies can now crawl under cars to get to you.” This made car-barricading less effective – especially against large hordes. No longer can you assume that parking a car will completely stop a group of zombies; some will find a way through.

How It Works: The Crawling Mechanic

Not every zombie will crawl under a car at every opportunity. In fact, the behavior has a randomized element and is governed by a sandbox setting (more on that below). By default, roughly 50% of zombies that encounter a car will choose to crawl under it. The others might mill around, bump into the car, or try to find another way. This means if you have a line of zombies coming at you and you duck behind a vehicle, about half might drop down and come under, while the rest might still be stuck on the other side or shamble around. The developers deliberately made it a mix, to avoid every single zombie always crawling (which would be too unforgiving).

Zombies will typically only perform the under-car crawl when they are motivated by a target (e.g. chasing the player or hearing a noise on the other side). They “rarely crawl under cars when not ‘motivated’ by player aggro,” as one survivor observed on Reddit. In other words, if a zombie isn’t aware of you, it’s not just randomly sliding under cars on its own. But if you’re hiding or fighting just out of reach beyond a vehicle, don’t be surprised if one or two get clever and start crawling.

Mechanics details: When a zombie decides to crawl under, it will flop down and move under the vehicle (using the same animation as crawlers). While under the car, it’s essentially in crawler mode – moving slower and lower. Once it clears the vehicle, it’ll rise back to its feet (if it still has them!) and resume normal movement. This transition can catch players off guard, as a crawling zombie can be harder to spot until it pops up at your feet. Also note, crawling under a car presumably slows the zombie down for a moment (crawling is slower than walking), so there is a small time cost to them doing this – but it’s far better than being completely stuck.

Importantly, zombies do not damage the vehicle when crawling under (or when blocked by a car in general). Unlike doors or walls which they’ll relentlessly attack and eventually destroy, a car is a durable obstacle. Zombies will usually just gather at a car or push against it rather than try to “destroy” it. So the car will survive the encounter – but so will the zombies. In B42, a car is no longer a foolproof barrier, just a delaying tactic.

Developer Insights & Sandbox Settings

The Project Zomboid devs have acknowledged this new behavior and even give players control over it. In the game’s Sandbox settings, there’s an option called “Crawl Under Vehicle” which lets you adjust which zombies (and how often) can crawl under cars. The available settings are:

• Crawlers Only: Only the already crawling zombies will go under vehicles (essentially disables the new behavior for walking zombies). This mimics the old classic behavior – if you prefer no surprise under-car attacks except from legless crawlers, choose this.
• Extremely Rare: Standing zombies will very rarely crawl under cars.
• Rare: Low chance for standing zombies to crawl under.
• Sometimes: A moderate chance (occasionally) for zombies to do it.
• Often (Default): A high chance – by default, roughly half the zombies will attempt to crawl under given the opportunity.

In the default Survival mode, the setting is in that upper range (Often) which equates to the ~50% behavior noted by the devs. If you find this feature too punishing or annoying, you can tweak the setting or even turn it completely off by selecting “Crawlers Only” (or using a preset that has it off). Likewise, if you want even more zombies to do it, you could set it to Often or ensure it’s enabled.

Why did the devs add this? It’s partly a move for realism and challenge. A car is big, but not an absolute wall – it makes sense that zombies could clamber or crawl through gaps (just like in many zombie films where nowhere is truly safe). Prior to this, savvy players could cheese the AI by creating car barricades that zombies wouldn’t get past, making bases nearly invulnerable without expending resources on fortifications. The devs identified that as a balance issue: Build 42 has a big focus on balance and realism, so closing that exploit was on the table. One Indie Stone developer mentioned that having 100% of zombies crawl would be overkill, hence the compromise of a partial chance. They even initially hid this feature during testing – a patch note for an unstable 41.78 build listed “Zombies can crawl under vehicles” but then marked it “content redacted for now”, suggesting they held it back until it was fully ready.

On the technical side, implementing this required the new animation system (introduced in Build 41) to allow zombies to change stances. The game’s pathfinding had to account for an obstacle that is only passable when crawling. Essentially, vehicles have an “under-car clearance” that crawlers can use but walkers can’t. Pre-B41, zombies had no concept of multiple stances or colliding differently when prone vs standing, so it wasn’t feasible. Once crawling zombies became a thing (with the animations and AI to support zombies staying on the ground), the devs could extend that logic to normal zombies when needed. They likely had to fine-tune when the AI chooses to crawl – for example, a zombie might prefer walking around a car if the area is open, but if the car is directly blocking the only route to its target, it might decide to go under. There were also little quirks to iron out: what if a car has no wheels? Does it sit lower? As players quickly discovered, wheel-less cars still don’t stop zombies from crawling under – in game terms, even a car frame without tires has enough clearance for a zombie. As one player joked, “cars without wheels behave like hovercraft” in PZ’s physics. So you can’t lower your car to squash a zombie; they’ll slide under regardless.

The devs also made sure this feature is customizable because they know some players enjoyed the old behavior. If you absolutely hate zombies going under, Sandbox it away. But most of the community has embraced it as an extra layer of difficulty.

Community Reactions and Discussions

The community had a lot to say when this feature first emerged. Many long-term survivors admitted that “my cheese is gone” – the old strategy of lining up cars to blockade an area was a well-known exploit, and B42 effectively nerfed it. On Reddit and the official forums, players were equal parts horrified and impressed the first time they saw a zombie crawling under their car.

• “Zombies crawl under cars now. My cheese ;_;” one player lamented humorously, mourning the loss of their easy base defense.
• “This scared the shit out of me, man,” another said, after a zombie slid under a car and lunged at them unexpectedly. It’s a real jumpscare moment to see a zombie do something you hadn’t seen before.
• Some survivors joked that if zombies can crawl under, then players should be able to vault over! A popular tongue-in-cheek suggestion was: “Now that zombies can officially crawl under cars, we should be able to vault over them too. And vault over furniture while we’re at it.” The idea being, give us more nimble moves as well. (In reality, the devs haven’t enabled players to climb over car hoods or slide across them Duke Nukem-style – though you can stand on a vehicle, which zombies also couldn’t handle before, but that’s another story.)

On The Indie Stone forums, one thread popped up expressing concern that “100% of zombies [might] just straight up crawl under cars.” A dev (or informed community member) clarified that it’s default ~50%, and you can turn it off or adjust it. They also pointed out an interesting nuance: an “Only crawlers” option wouldn’t change much, since originally only crawler-type zombies did go under anyway. This shows how the community and devs were thinking about balance – if you really want to simulate classic Romero shamblers that never figure out crawling (aside from literal crawlers), that option is there.

Another discussion arose about burned-out car wrecks: these seem to act as completely impassable barricades (with no crawl space), so zombies cannot crawl under a burned shell. Players noted zombies won’t crawl under a burnt car, and instead the horde might just respawn on the other side eventually to simulate them going around. So a charred wreck might be a better wall than an intact car (though those can’t be moved easily). It’s a quirky detail, but worth knowing if you’re considering junkyard strategies.

And of course, some in the community asked, “Well, if zombies can do it, why can’t we?” – implying the desire for players to crawl or hide under cars. As of B42, the vanilla game still doesn’t let your character go prone and shimmy under a vehicle. You can crouch (sneak) but not completely crawl on the ground. This led modders to step up (more on mods in the next section). The consensus is that it would be cool for players to hide under cars or slip through low gaps – perhaps something the devs might consider later (they haven’t confirmed anything yet), but for now it’s zombies-only. So if you see a zombie under a car, don’t try to join it under there – run or fight instead!

Mods and Experiments

Whenever there’s a new feature or a missing feature, mods aren’t far behind. Before Build 42 officially gave zombies this ability, some players created mods to either enable it early or tweak it. For example, a mod called “Proper Zombies” (and others like Project Zomboid Ultimate settings packs) allowed fine-tuning of zombie behavior even in Build 41, including toggling crawling under cars on/off. These were essentially doing what B42’s sandbox now does by default – so they became less essential once the base game caught up. If you’re running a dedicated server and want to enforce certain settings, these mods or the sandbox presets can help ensure all players experience the same zombie behavior.

On the flip side, since players cannot crawl by default, the modding community delivered a fix: player crawling mods. Notably, modder Tchernobill made a “Crawl” mod that lets players get prone and move under vehicles, giving you the same moves as the zombies. The mod’s cheeky description: “Babies can crawl. Zombies can crawl. Now you can too.. With it, you can press a key near a car and your survivor will slide under to the other side. This opens up new stealth possibilities – for instance, escaping a horde by scooting under a car (whereas normally you’d be trapped if surrounded). It also allows hiding under a car, though you have to crawl back out eventually (and you’re not totally invisible under there). The mod works in Build 42 and even had an older version for Build 41, and it’s been a hit among those who want that extra realism or just the cool factor of crawling.

Another mod idea that circulated was ways to counter the zombie crawl. Some players mused about placing barbed wire or wooden boards under cars, but in practice the game doesn’t support that level of detail (you can’t manually block the gap under a car). However, one creative solution (pre-B42) was to remove a car’s wheels to lower it. As mentioned though, that doesn’t actually stop zombies now – the car’s collision is the same height off the ground regardless of wheels, leading to the “hovercar” jokes. So mods have even poked fun at that. One can imagine a mod that makes wheel-less vehicles un-crawlable, but that’s more of a novelty.

In short, mods allow:

• Enabling/Disabling crawl under for zombies in older versions (now obsolete thanks to sandbox options).
• Player crawling ability, to level the playing field or enhance stealth.
• Various tweaks to zombie behavior if you want a custom experience (frequency of crawling, etc.).

If you’re interested in trying the player crawl mod, it’s available on the Steam Workshop (search for “Crawl” by Tchernobill). Just remember that if you hide under a car, you might come face to face with a zombie doing the same!

Gameplay Impact: New Vehicle Defense Strategies

The introduction of under-car crawling has a significant impact on how you can use vehicles in your survival strategy. Here’s a breakdown of what it means and some tips to adapt:

1. Car Barricades Are Weaker: Using cars as barricades is no longer a surefire defense. Previously, you could block a doorway or gate with a car and zombies would just pile up outside, unable to get through unless they broke the car (which they didn’t). Now, any gap under or around the car is a potential entry point. Zombies will eventually get past a single-car blockade. If a huge horde comes, enough of them will crawl under one by one, making it “extremely ineffective when there are hundreds of zombies after your meaty bod” as one guide put it.

2. Double Layered Defense: To still utilize cars, combine them with other obstacles. For example, fortify the area behind the car. One clever design is to park a car in front of a window or door and build a low fence or wall right behind that opening. Zombies that crawl under the car would then immediately face another obstacle (the fence), giving you extra time or stopping them. Some players suggest using two rows of barriers: one car, then some crates or fence, etc. In fact, a known community trick for an unbreakable “gate” is to place two fences with a wooden crate in between – zombies can’t climb the fences or break the crate, effectively forming a wall. You could park cars to funnel zombies into such a setup.

3. Flush Against Walls: If you park a vehicle bumper-to-wall on both sides, you eliminate side gaps and leave only the under-car route. In that case, zombies have to crawl to get through – which means they’ll come one at a time (bottlenecked) and slowly. This can actually be used to your advantage: it creates a sort of “zombie choke point.” Imagine a narrow alley where only a prone zombie can pass; they’ll have to crawl one by one, which makes them easier to pick off. Just be aware that if even one gets through, they’ll be in your base, so you need to cover that angle. Keeping vehicles tight to walls is tricky (and sometimes they might still wiggle through tiny gaps), but if done right it forces the crawl behavior.

4. Beware of Open Windows in Cars: Zombies can’t get into a closed car (they can’t open doors), but if you’re hiding inside a car and think you’re safe, remember that zombies can crawl under and attack you through an open window. There have been reports of players getting chomped while sitting in a car, likely because a zombie slid under and stood up right next to the driver’s side, reaching in. So when you’re inside a vehicle and there are zombies around, keep those windows closed or better yet, don’t stay put if they start surrounding you. The car will eventually be overrun (even if they can’t technically “break” it, they can still get to you inside it by crawling and clambering around).

5. Use Cars as Decoys, Not Walls: One strategy shift is to use cars more as noise-makers and decoys rather than physical barricades. For example, setting off a car alarm or honking the horn, then slipping away, can draw zombies to the car while you escape. Some will crawl under or swarm around it, buying you time. If you did the same thing in B41, the zombies would just cluster around it endlessly. In B42, some might crawl through and come out the other side – which means if you circle back around, don’t assume that cluster is all stuck; a few could have passed through. The key is that cars now delay zombies but don’t completely stop them. So they’re still useful for kiting and distracting, just not permanent solutions.

6. Repair and Relocate: If you built a base relying on car barricades in an older save and are now updating to B42, rethink your perimeter. You might need to add real walls or at least change the configuration. Sometimes just spreading cars out a bit can help: a zombie that crawls under one car might still have another car or object in front of it before it actually reaches your safehouse. Think of it like creating a maze or zig-zag of cars – they’ll navigate it, but slowly. Meanwhile, you can set up kill zones or traps for them as they emerge. Just don’t rely on any single line of cars to hold back the dead.

Table: Old Tactics vs New Tactics

As shown above, some classic moves need tweaking. Cars are still extremely useful – they’re just not magic shields anymore.

Real-World Analogies: Picture This

To understand the new mechanic, imagine a real-life scenario: You’re cornered in a parking lot by a pack of shambling zombies. You scramble under a truck to hide. In many movies, the undead might stupidly bang on the sides of the truck, unable to find you. But in Project Zomboid’s Build 42 world, picture a more nightmarish outcome – the zombies, driven by the scent of warm flesh, drop to the ground and start clawing their way under the truck. You see their rotten heads and grasping hands emerging in the dim light beneath the chassis. There’s only so much space under there, so maybe one or two come at a time, but nothing stops the rest from following. Much like a determined bloodhound, the zombies in PZ B42 won’t be stymied by a mere car frame. It’s reminiscent of scenes in The Walking Dead or World War Z (albeit those had zombies climbing on top of vehicles – in Zomboid they go low instead of high!).

Think of a car as a big table – if a zombie is like a crawling baby (albeit a very hungry one), it’ll naturally try to go under the table to get to the food (you) on the other side. We survivors used to count on the zombie being more like a Roomba vacuum that just bonks into the table legs endlessly. Now, however, the zombie is willing to get on hands and knees and slither under. Your “safe” car fortress can become a trojan horse, delivering zombies right into your lap if you’re not careful.

So next time you’re fortifying a base with vehicles, picture a real zombie apocalypse: you wouldn’t trust a single car to keep you safe overnight without boarding up the gaps, would you? Project Zomboid now asks you to approach it with that same logic.

Conclusion & Survival Tips

In summary, Project Zomboid Build 42 makes zombies smarter (or at least more relentless) when it comes to vehicles:

• Zombies can and will crawl under cars, roughly half the time by default, to reach you. This behavior is now part of the base game’s challenge.
• Sandbox options allow you to fine-tune or disable this feature – useful for those who want a classic Romero experience or an extra-hard mode. Adjust the “Crawl Under Vehicle” setting to your liking in the sandbox presets.
• Developer notes indicate this was a planned balance change – no more super easy car exploits. It required the animation update of Build 41 to implement, and now it’s here to stay as a core mechanic.
• Community feedback has been mixed but generally positive – it makes the game scarier and more realistic. Just be aware of it and change your strategies accordingly.
• Mods are available to enhance your experience: a player crawling mod lets you do what zombies do, and other mods can tweak zombie lore if you want crawling only in specific cases. Check the Steam Workshop for mods like “Crawl” by Tchernobill if you want to shimmy under cars yourself.
• Gameplay strategy: Don’t rely solely on cars for defense in B42. Reinforce car barricades with fences or walls, use them to delay and divert rather than completely block, and always have a plan B if zombies breach. If you park a car as a barrier, consider it a speed bump for the horde, not an impregnable wall.

Finally, stay adaptable. Project Zomboid is all about improvising and overcoming, and this change is a perfect example. The zombies found a way in – so find a new way to keep them out! If you want to read more from fellow players on this topic, check out the discussions on the Indie Stone forums where devs confirmed the 50% default behavior, or community guides like “New and Improved Car-Barricades” which emerged after this update. These resources are full of survival ideas and firsthand accounts of what works and what doesn’t in the new build. Good luck out there, and don’t forget to check under the car before you think you’re safe!