Anyone ever had their Vette hit by lightning and if so, what was the damage done to the car???

 

I started a thread on lightning safety about two weeks ago, and someone else has a thread about a nearby strike on his car.

The Search feature is your friend!

 

With the crazy number of computers and wiring I would think a direct hit could and probably would create an electrical nightmare. Not as bad as a flooded car but bad enough to drive even the most savy auto-electrically skilled person

Two purchases/repairs I would stay away from; flood cars and one that was hit with a huge electrical surge/spike.

 

My house was hit yesterday morning by a strike. Lost all but one telephone in the house yet none are connected to the outside world. They're connected via a cable modem which is connected outside of couse but by buried cable. Also lost my brand new HP Printer which had the phone line in it too.

Considering a direct strike is millions of volts of static electricity, a direct hit to just about anything electronic is going to wipe things out and our cars are no different.

 

wow that would be a nightmare on a Corvette as advanced and computerized as the C6. I would be calling insurance to total it out! not that they would accept....

 

I'm no electrical engineer, but I've been struck by lightening flying the airbus.

I can still see that slow motion ball of fire come right at the nose of the plane and the noise it made. It left a pretty good burn mark on the nose, and on the tail where it exited. The plane must go through an inspection, but they usually are fine except for some cosmetic damage.

BTW, the airbus is ALL electric.

 

Yup, but the Airbus is ABSOLUTELY not "Grounded". Cars ride on tires which are rubber. Rubber is a very good insulator, thus not a good conductor. If lightning hits a car, it is at such a level the tire is still the easiest path to "ground", which is the path electricity takes no matter what. I can see a plane being hit with lightning with little effect as the lightning is the "positive" source, looking for that path to ground to "flow" to and the plane has none. I would bet if a car gets hit a tire would blow out due to the force that the electricity hits the "ground", on the tire with the easiest path for it to flow. (I am no electirical engineer either, I just understand basic electricity) My .02c

 

Just a little bit of small knowledge that really blows my mind. It takes 35,000 volts of static electricity to move through 1 inch of air visibly. So anyone want to figure up what kind of numbers lightning are putting down? Thats what I was thinking. Cars usually suffer electronics damage from such a rare incident while the occupants are fine.

 

The tires don't provide a conduction path but they don't provide any protection. From another web site (http://www.weatherimagery.com/blog/r...ect-lightning/) :
Most people believe the rubber tires on a car are what protect a passenger during a lightning strike. Ironically, it’s not the rubber tires of the car, but the conductive metal framing which protects the vehicle occupants.


The truth is, the rubber tires don’t deter lightning in the least bit. By the time a lightning bolt reaches your car, it has been traveling for miles and miles through the air which is many orders of magnitude more resistant than a few inches of rubber. So if the lightning bolt can overcome the resistance of air, it can easily overcome the resistance of a rubber tire. The video on the left shows a car being struck by lightning. If the rubber tires were truly responsible for insulating a car, then lightning would never have struck this car.
As mentioned earlier, the one thing that does protect you from a lightning strike while in your car is the conductive metal framing. If your car happens to be struck, chances are the metal framing will direct the electric current around the passenger compartment at which point it will arc to the ground. Sometimes this electric arc will jump from the the lower chassis of the car directly to the ground below or other times the electric current will pass right through the tires by way of the metal wheel rims (blowing them out of course). Sometimes the car will suffer little or no damage at all. Other times, the car can suffer an immense amount of damage.
If the lightning happens to pass through the car by way of wires and other conductive surfaces, a lot of damage can ensue. Here are some pictures of a van that had a majority of its insides destroyed by a lightning strike. By looking at the outside of the van, you can hardly see any damage at all. Because a lightning bolt is on average 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun (50,000°F), it instantly vaporizes and super heats any moisture no matter how little there is. This steam explosion can blow up concrete, trees and as was the case with this van, melt plastic. It doesn’t take that much moisture to do a lot of damage when it is instantly heated to 50,000°F.
Unfortunately for a passenger, there is no way of knowing what paths the electric current might take once your car has been struck by lightning. It could go through electrical wires, the metal steering wheel, the car antenna, or it may never enter your car at all. Nevertheless, if you find yourself caught in a thunderstorm it is much safer to be inside your car than outside it, under a picnic table, or in a tent.

Despite being covered in plastic the Vette has an extensive metal frame that goes around the passenger compartment. Either the B pillar and roof hoop or the the windshield A pillars provide the path because together with the frame they form what is called a Faraday Cage.

Bill

 

Had the same thing happen on a GIV some years ago...at night really made for a great light show...took a change of pants once on the ground..

 

The truth is, the rubber tires don’t deter lightning in the least bit. By the time a lightning bolt reaches your car, it has been traveling for miles and miles through the air which is many orders of magnitude more resistant than a few inches of rubber. So if the lightning bolt can overcome the resistance of air, it can easily overcome the resistance of a rubber tire. The video on the left shows a car being struck by lightning. If the rubber tires were truly responsible for insulating a car, then lightning would never have struck this car.
As mentioned earlier, the one thing that does protect you from a lightning strike while in your car is the conductive metal framing. If your car happens to be struck, chances are the metal framing will direct the electric current around the passenger compartment at which point it will arc to the ground. Sometimes this electric arc will jump from the the lower chassis of the car directly to the ground below or other times the electric current will pass right through the tires by way of the metal wheel rims (blowing them out of course). Sometimes the car will suffer little or no damage at all. Other times, the car can suffer an immense amount of damage.
If the lightning happens to pass through the car by way of wires and other conductive surfaces, a lot of damage can ensue. Here are some pictures of a van that had a majority of its insides destroyed by a lightning strike. By looking at the outside of the van, you can hardly see any damage at all. Because a lightning bolt is on average 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun (50,000°F), it instantly vaporizes and super heats any moisture no matter how little there is. This steam explosion can blow up concrete, trees and as was the case with this van, melt plastic. It doesn’t take that much moisture to do a lot of damage when it is instantly heated to 50,000°F.
Unfortunately for a passenger, there is no way of knowing what paths the electric current might take once your car has been struck by lightning. It could go through electrical wires, the metal steering wheel, the car antenna, or it may never enter your car at all. Nevertheless, if you find yourself caught in a thunderstorm it is much safer to be inside your car than outside it, under a picnic table, or in a tent.

Despite being covered in plastic the Vette has an extensive metal frame that goes around the passenger compartment. Either the B pillar and roof hoop or the the windshield A pillars provide the path because together with the frame they form what is called a Faraday Cage.

Bill[/QUOTE]



The metal frame of the vehicle provides the easiest path to ground through the tires. The human bodies resistance is greater than the frame so most of the electrical energy will travel through the frame. It makes me wonder how much would pass through your body? hmmm..