A nightmarish scene unfolded in the US when a two-year-old girl in a car seat fell out of a moving vehicle — and the horrifying moment was captured in a dashcam video.

Chad Cheddar Mock turned on a curvy road in Mankato, Minnesota, about a one-and-half-hour drive southwest of Minneapolis, when he saw the toddler fall out from the rear driver’s side door, Fox News reports.

In the footage of the incident, which has been shared widely on social media, the little girl in a pink jacket and grey pants falls from the rear left door of the car. The car appears to brake briefly before continuing on down the road.

As the surreal video shows, Mr Mock stopped his car and got out to save the little girl, who appeared unhurt.

Mankato police responded to the scene around 11:45am, and said that the mother was driving the car at the time, Fox 9 reported.

Though the toddler was properly strapped into the seat, it wasn’t fastened to the vehicle, police said, according to the station.

It’s unclear how or why the rear door opened.

“The young girl was very aware. She wasn’t crying when I picked her up. When more strangers were approaching she was a little more fidgetty,” Mock told The Mankato Times, saying on Facebook that the parents came back and that “the child was OK.”

Police have asked local authorities to consider charging the mother with child endangerment and not fastening a child restraint system.