It’s long been known that if you’re in a lightning storm, a car is a safer place to be than standing outside. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not because the tires insulate the car from the ground. A few inches of clearance offered by tires isn’t going to stop an electric discharge taking place between the atmosphere and the ground. However, the big metal cage around the occupants offers the path of least resistance to that electrical discharge, guiding it around them. As long as nobody is touching bare metal, they should emerge unscathed as a family in Illinois recently learned. They walked away unscathed from a lightning strike on their Ford Edge, although the car didn’t come off so well. We can see exactly what the strike did to the car, and it’s not pretty.
An Exploding Car
According to the family, the car was moving when they heard what sounded like a gunshot and smoke started to fill the interior. The three occupants got out of the car to see what had happened, check the damage, and wait for authorities to arrive. We can see the damage that had happened through the images they took, clearly showing where the rear bumper has popped out at the edges, and the lower trim has been blown clean off, along with the number plate and passenger-side taillight.
Related
You’re Not Imagining It, You’re Paying WAY More For Car Insurance Than Ever Before
Car insurance has gone up more in the last three years than ever before.
It’s clear that the initial contact was through the roof-mounted antenna, judging by the fact it doesn’t exist anymore. Instead, there’s a dent, a small hole, and burnt paint. As you would expect, the electrical systems were fried and the car needed to be towed. This one will certainly go down as an “act of God” on the insurance forms.
Lightning Strikes On Cars Are Rare. Ish.
When cars are hit by lightning, this is the general result, although often a tire will also explode as the charge arcs to the ground via the metal belts inside, and if the car has a heated rear windscreen, the element can fry and cause the glass to shatter. There’s also a threat to the fuel system that can lead to a fire. At the time of the incident, the family exited the car which some feel wasn’t the best idea – although the chances of lighting striking the car twice are rare, it still means three people standing around in an electrical storm. The exit strategy could’ve been to avoid trouble if the car caught fire, although that’s less likely than the car catching fire due to being defective.
Related
Lightening Strike Causes Lump Of Road To Smash Through Ford F-150
This is crazy.
The actual chances of being struck by lightning are hard to nail down, but the best estimates we can find suggest somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 cars are hit by lightning annually in the US. Considering there are nearly 300,000,000 cars registered, that makes it a relatively rare occurrence. We can’t find any reports of people being killed by lightning while in their car, but there is a recent report of someone being killed by lightning directly after exiting their vehicle.
#Car #Hit #Lighting
