This maybe true for "Newer" cars but is total false for older cars. I experienced 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 catalytic converter 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 energized by the lightening and wasn't discharged until the rims touched 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 can you prove or dis-prove this myth?

Were either of you hurt?

well, this probably was just a lucky time, maybe mistersavage should check this one out, he will love this one.

your car channeled the electric current around you keeping you safe.

Lightning could have done nothing to a catalytic converter.

The idea that your car had somehow become energized by the strike is complete nonsense.

[quote]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 energized by the lightening and wasn't discharged until the rims touched the ground.[/quote]

The sparks were simple mechanical sparks, much as you get when you drag a muffler. Had noting to do with the car being "energized by the lightning."

Seems to me your car kept you pretty safe, since you are here to tell the tale and didn't mention a thing about injuries.

The correct claim, by the way, is NOT that a car can't be *struck* by lightning. Only that the metal body and "frame" will act as an equipotential shell around you and thereby protect you from lethal shocks.

I have never been hit my lightning, but I have had a power line fall onto the car I was in. I felt a little jolt - felt like my heart skipped a beat... But considering the amperage that was going through the line at the time, I would say that what I felt was much, much, much less then if I had been hit directly.

That said, that comes nowhere near to having been struck by lightning. There's plenty of info out there about people who have been stuck by lightning while in their car though.

how can it be true 4 newer model cars & not old model cars both have rubber tire that wont conduct elecricity.I dont beleive u would be hurt or even feel it just scare of knowing u were just stuck by lighting

varia:
The fundamental 'safe in car' is well demonstrated by
Lotsa lab tests. Not subject to debate.
(If in Boston: megavolt van de Graff at the Museum
of Science does relavant demos daily/hourly.
Big Bolts.)

The current stays (mostly) outside, Faraday Cage Effect. Well demonstrated.

Rubber tires are distraction: the bolt just
treavelled some thousands of feet down, tires will not affect it.

All that Said, MB has The Access to the HV Test Facility, so.....

best

dwp

Under what surcumstances,what if your windows are rolled down and the car is still dry.I f a lightening bolt hits near the driver's door with the window rolled up or down,the car wet or dry Ithink would make a difference and yes, the MBs could test this.

[quote]Rubber tires are distraction: the bolt just
treavelled some thousands of feet down, tires will not affect it.[/quote]

Exactly. The deciding factor is arc distance -- not conductivity. With the huge amounts of current in a lightning bolt about a half inch of rubber -- the thickness of rubber in the tire actually touching the ground, is not going to stop it.

I love this.
Testing what people think is a well know "fact'.

It is not a myth, but it IS a fact. recently I saw footage of a small SUV being hit by lightning that was caught by accident. The driver apparently never even realized he got hit. THe guy doing the videotaping almost missed it until he ran the tape back in extreme slomo. A program tested this by driving a small car between two Tesla coil towers repeatedly. The paint job was the only casualty, as the car never even missed a beat.
I have to agree with master. there is no way your car becamse 'energized.' Lighnting just does not hang around.

Learn about lighting safety -- http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/outdoors.ht

I was hit by lightning in my police car some years back.
Hardly noticed a thing. (I think I got an arc off of a nearby parking-lot light pole, actually)
The car died, and could not be re-started. The radio kept playing...

We found a small burn mark on the "visibar" (red light mount) on the roof.
Killed all the computers in the car, and it was in the shop for weeks.

I like the subject matter!

Seems interesting to experiment!