If you ever wondered what its like to get hit by lightning when inside of a car, just hit the play button below.
[via Spluch]
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What Happens When Lightning Strikes Your Car?
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30 responses
Mar 12, 2007 at 2:08 am
They always give Hammond the fun jobs.
Mar 12, 2007 at 2:16 am
I just read in the paper the other day that they upgraded Hammond’s condition from critical to stable from his last “fun job” on Top Gear
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Mar 12, 2007 at 2:26 am
[...] What Happens When Lightning Strikes Your Car? Amazing (tags: ligthning car faraday box) [...]
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Mar 12, 2007 at 7:32 am
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May 20, 2007 at 8:44 am
I disagree with this testing!!! This maybe true for “Newer” cars but is total false for older cars. I experianced it first hand 20years ago in Miami Florida USA. 1978 Camero with a small CB antenna, with my wife and I driving on a Florida Turnpike. Bolt of lightening hit my antenna, the noise was so loud I couldn’t hear my wife yelling next to me. The cataylic convertor was trashed which chocked out my engine, forcing me to pull over. As it turns out the lightening also blew the steel belting in my tires out through the treads, as the tires went flat, the metal rims soon touched the ground which created a shower of sparks which lasted only a few seconds. My car had become energined by the lightening and wasn’t discharged until the rims tocuhed the ground. If the tires hadn’t gone flat and I got out of the car touch any metal part of that car, the lightening would have gone through me to discharge to ground.So this is test is not proof positive that you are safe in all cars……
Jul 7, 2007 at 12:17 am
I agree, getting hit by lightning was not like what the video portrayed. I was searching for information on this because my 2005 Infiniti G35 was hit by lightning today while I was driving in a thunderstorm. All of the sudden, there was a huge boom and my car was enveloped in a very bright white light. At first I thought a transformer blew out but soon realized that there were no transformers on the highway. Then I noticed that all the lights on my dash were illuminated and I was now coasting without any power from the engine. So there I was, right there on the freeway during rush hour traffic in the middle of a thunderstorm freaked out about getting hit by another vehicle. Upon later inspection of the car I saw that there were small cigarette type burn marks on the car’s roof and trunk, and white streaks on the tires. A rubber piece near the roof and door frame was blown completely off and the car would not restart. Very weird….very surreal experience. I’m now just waiting to see what they’ll (insurance) do with the car. If anyone has had an experience like this please let me know what outcome and/or experience you had. Thanks.
Jul 9, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I agree totally! My family was just on vacation in Taos, NM when we were struck by lightning in my 2006 Nissan Altima. We heard a loud boom, smelled some smokey smell, lost power, and coasted onto the side of the highway. The bolt left a small hole in the roof, a quarter sized hole in the paint and blew out the antennea in the windshield. We had to rent a car to get back to Denver. The car is still at a dealership in Sante Fe (closest shop that could perhaps fix it.) We are waiting for word on it. I have no idea what the shop will be able to do but the insurance will fix it after my $500 decuctible. I was totally bummed. Now we have to go back there to pick it up. We were hit on June 30,2007 , its now July 9 and still no word on what’s exactly wrong with it.
Jul 24, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I was searching for info on this topic because I, too, had something similar happen to my car. However, I was not aware of a lightning strike at the time – we were driving through a storm, and were ultimately pulled over because our taillights were completely out. We made it home. The next day, the car had all sorts of weird lights lit and systems not working, and no one can find the reason why. I also put in a claim under comprehensive. There are things on the car that are lit when the car is off. Very weird.
Aug 4, 2007 at 8:06 pm
i also was hit by lighting at 70mph,my truck was one month old less than five thousand miles,i want to be idemnified by the ins.co,for a new truck,can this be done?
Sep 9, 2007 at 3:26 pm
My car was struck and took out my whole electrical system, boards, everything, car was 5 months old. It was been at the shop for 6 weeks and they still cannot get it to start. So outside shell does not always protect you from everything. It struck my antenna, went through my radio.
Sep 9, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Follow-up to my earlier posting – after three weeks of searching, the dealership found a variety of scorch marks inside the right front wiring harness (1999 Camry). Every computer was fried. The weirdest thing about this was how I was unaware of a strike, and the car, although it lost its taillights, worked until the next day. It was totaled under comprehensive – have a new car now.
Oct 4, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Our experience was in an 88? volkswagon quantumn. heavy storm that i shouldn’t have been in anyway. we heard an extremely loud noise and their was a bright light.Upon inspection later there where burn marks on the hood of the car . It didn’t hurt the car in any other way. I on the other hand had very limited hearing for over two weeks. It didn’t affect my kids at all who just thought it was ‘cool’. it could of been worse since one of my windows was missing at the time! as for the testing…Lightning is unpredictable,all cars are different, and circumstances would also play a roll. Thank God we “ALL” survived! You can’t test chaos theory and nature is that theory in it’s truest form!
Jun 19, 2008 at 2:27 pm
This happened at my office this morning.
http://forums.locogringo.com/forums/tm.asp?m=866181
Jun 19, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Update to my previous posting: The car was not totalled however there was over $7000 in damage. It took a month for the dealer in Santa Fe to get it running. They could not fix the air cond. and we needed the car back–no coverage for rental car–so my husband rented a car to drive back to Santa Fe and pick up the Altima. Then we had it fixed completely (body damage and air cond.) here in Denver. At the time my car was only a year old. It is running fine now, almost a year later but I wish it would have taken less time to fix.
Jun 20, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Update on my Car, it took 5 months to fix, $16,000 and the car has not worked the same. I am currently in a lawsuit with the dealership for the repairs and just had the car back in the shop for the Radio…lesson learned, if you want to buy a used car…CARFAX!!
Jul 17, 2008 at 1:19 am
I was just struck by lightning the other day and car died totally when it happened. My car is a lease car and I’m only half way thru it. Any clue if I will be able to get out of my lease. Pretty sure there are more money in damages to the car then its worth. I also have full covereage on the car.
Aug 3, 2008 at 4:01 am
i want to know more information about ‘ how safety is it when strikes by lightning of a car?? ‘ how its happen’….
if any one got information about this …can send message to me..
thanks
Aug 10, 2008 at 8:00 am
My car, an Acura TL 2005, was struck while parked under a tree. The tree was definitely hit by lightning but I am not sure about the car. However, the day after the storm my car started up fine but the A/C, dash board controls, and beeping noises did not work. The radio and GPS seem to be unharmed. The car is at the dealership and they are still not sure how to fix it. I really hope the car is totalled so that I won’t have to worry about problem later on down the road.
Aug 17, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Mine couldn’t start a day after a stormy night and some wires were burnt when I checked.I could only conclude it was a lightning strike.Still waiting to tow it to a shop.
Nov 13, 2008 at 9:20 pm
My car too was struck by lightning, while on vacation in Alabama. I was unaware of it at the time. I was driving and all of the sudden, all the lights on my dashboard came on and my car died, forcing me to coast to the side of the road. My computer and wiring harness is completely burned up, along with other wires. The dealership swears it was lightning, but my car insurance reports they cannot prove it was from lightning, and they do not want to pay anything. Have any of you had trouble with getting your insurance to pay? Should I contact an attorney?
Paul English
Apr 13, 2009 at 2:28 pm
My car got hit last night in my yard… 2005 Malibu Maxx, won’t start, can’t recharge the battery… ugh…
Apr 15, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I parked my chevy pickup over a weekend and went out the following week and it would not start. The vehcile was parked in the mountains a few hundred miles from home because I use it for work and I left it at the jobsite. I am not sure if a lightning storm occurred over that weekend where it was parked. I towed it home where it sat for a couple of years prior to me taking it in for repairs. I started with a small repair facility and they informed me that they found burnt wires and computers and they thought it was caused by lightning, but it would need to go to a dealership for complete diag. The dealership has found numerous computers and electrical components burnt and shorted out. They think it is possibly lightning, but will not say for sure. They have informed me that it definately had to be caused by a severe surge from a source other than the vehicle itself. There are no burn marks that we have located on the vehicle. I am wondering if burns are always present on the body, and if the lightning could only short out only certain components and wiring and not others. If I can get some definitive data, I may be able to get this covered under my comp insurance. Any accounts of past experiences from people who are certain their vehicle was struck would be greatly appreciated.
Apr 21, 2009 at 8:25 pm
We have a 2006 Ford truck that got hit by lightning in aug 08 when it happened it went through the CB Radio Antenna it made a lightning bolt jagged rip through the plastic from top to bottom . It took out the computers & electronics it had to be towed . was in the shop at Ford a couple wks they said it was fixed butt we are still having electronic issues that the insurance co says they are not responisble for so we just paid another $1.600.00 today getting it out of the shop we are having all kinds of Radio issues also remote start issues, security system goes off while driving it’s really a nightmare ! Does anyone have any advice Please Help if you can .
May 4, 2009 at 7:08 am
Two weeks ago while in a tropical thunderstorm near Cape Coast, Ghana, the vehicle we were in appeared to be struck by lightening. The flash and bang with simultaneous and the car whited-out, our hair stood on end and we all felt a powerful static charge pass through us. There was no discernible damage to thevehicle and I suspect the ground close by was struck and whatever we experienced was ameliorated in some way. I felt strangely energised!
May 11, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I am an electrical engineer; when lightening strikes a car there is no left over build up of electricity in the car. When the lightening stikes, the current of electrons (the lighting bolt), will continue past the insulated tires back into the air and into the ground. A lightening bolt is a dissipation of electric potential energy in the form of current. Current travels the path of least resistance, so when lightening can jump from the air to the metal car it will; once the current encounter the tires it will jump back to the air. The only charge build up is before the lightening strikes. The reason why Jay Morrison’s rims sparked was due to friction between the road and the bare rims. Also lightening can and will overload electrical compnents in a car when it is struck, this does not effect older cars as much as newer ones.
May 11, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Lightning also travels from the ground up. Also the reason why the tire blew was due to the current traveling through the tire anyway (the air in the tire, the rim, and the metal structure of the tire). When current (lightning bolt) then encounters the rubber it realses large amounts of thermal energy. Thermal energy is relesed when current encounters a resistor, or a change in resistance. That is why the tire exploded.
Jun 26, 2009 at 4:38 pm
I was at work last week and there was a bad storm. Lightning struck the front lawn area which was flooded…burst the new plumbing causing a flood….fried the laptop I was on….two routers….a tv….a poor squirrel on the lawn…,and my car. There were no burn marks anywhere bc everything was soaked due to the rain. The lawn was flooded. well my car wouldn’t start…the batt worked bc the windows worked…the lights turned on perfectly…the car just wouldn’t start..,,the dealer thought it was a deprogrammed key…turns out the computer got burned out! Thank god for insurance…..500 bucks sounds better than a grand or more!
Aug 1, 2009 at 9:51 pm
well we had a really bad storm one night and there was a loud sound of thunder, and really bad lighting the while that happened my lights on my car started flashing on and off all night no way to stop it then the next morning i had to get a jump its stopped for a while but now it started flashing again when when he hit the lock key and it makes the noise and flahes so i dunno what to do but take to dealer had for 3 years anyone know what happened? maybe a wire got messed up
Aug 1, 2009 at 9:53 pm
wow there are alot of typos in my message sorry hope it can be figured out
Aug 25, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I was struck in my 97 Chevy tahoe on 8-11-09 traveling 60mph. It was a very loud boom, I thought a transformer blew up next to me. My antenna turned red hot and melted, my car shut off and now I think that it fried my PCM on my truck, well that is what the Chevy place is saying. It also blew holes in the asphalt where my tires were at and left at pot hole in the back where my trailer hitch was about 1.5′ in diameter and 6″ deep. My boss was behind me and he saw it all happen and he said it looked like a missle hit the asphalt after it left my vehicle. WOW it was scary!!
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