Dax Shepard reveals lasting impact of car accident that nearly killed him as a teenager

Dax Shepard has opened up about a car accident he was in as a teenager and how it still affects him to this day.

During Monday’s episode of Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, the actor spoke to his co-host Monica Padman and guest Kaley Cuoco about near-death experiences.

When the two co-hosts asked Cuoco if she ever came close to dying, she responded “No,” prompting Shepard to speak about his own experience when he was a teenager in high school.

“No. Is it weird that I kinda wish I did? I want one,” Cuoco said. “Because I wanna see what these people are ... what are they seeing?”

Shepard responded: “I don't know what the definition is. But, I have had the moment, which is among the most unique feelings I've ever had in my life, where I went, ‘Oh, I'm about to die. I'm like seconds away from dying.’”

“I was in the back seat of a car. Like I had folded the seats down in the back of a Ford Probe, in like a hatchback, and my friend was driving. We were coming back from Toledo, back up to Detroit,” he said.

The comedian explained that he decided to sleep in the back seat of the car while his friend had the cruise control set to 85 mph. He was then jolted awake by the sound of gravel hitting the car as he saw his friend slumped over the wheel and was “going 85” off the road.

“I started to go ... to grab the wheel, and there was a moment I just knew it was too far gone. Like we had gone completely sideways. I laid back down and then ... we just launched in the ai,r and we started rolling right down the highway,” Shepard continued.

He recalled waiting to “hit a tree,” thinking he would die upon impact, describing the feeling as “comforting.”

“Then we just rolled like 10 times, ended up upside down. We did not hit a tree,” Shephard said. “The car was flat. We crawled out the windows … He was OK, and I was OK.”

Despite avoiding any major repercussions, the Hit and Run actor admitted he continued to question whether he was still alive for days following the accident.

“It was highly memorable. This may shock you, but I've never been able to fall asleep in a car ever since,” he concluded. “So I can never let the other person take a turn driving. There's no way I could sleep with someone else driving.”