Not exactly.

That last foot for the lightning to jump from the frame to the ground is nothing for something that just traveled a mile from the cloud. A car makes a great Faraday cage. With you in the car, your surrounded by a 'cage' of steel that all conducts better than your body does. It doesn't prevent a lightning from striking, it just caries it around you.

But, attached to that cage is a whole bunch of electronics, that don't like high voltage. (even if there is minimal current) There are thousands of Itty-bitty CMOS gates, that nuke with even a static electricity zap.

It'* a long shot, but since you had a event on your house, this *might* be worth asking if it would be covered under your house insurance. (might save you at least a deductible)

Good Luck.

Yes,....the tires have Nothing to do with keeping the car from being hit,.......but when a car does get hit by lightning it'* the metal frame{cage)of the car,...Faraday Cage effect[ like Freddi has stated]that causes the lightning to distribute it'* energy across the whole surface of the car and down into the ground through the path of least resistence,in microseconds,,and will not affect the person inside the car because they are not a part of the 'closed circuit'(about the same way as like when birds land on a hot electrical wire and nothing at all happens to them).If the car was rolling down a wet road,and got hit by lightning,it would be the same deal(maybe better),...the lightning hits the car'* metal cage,..flows out and into the ground via the wet tires.
I'm really surprised that more of the relatively delicate electronics in the car weren't totally zapped..............

That why its afe for you to be in the car if it'* hit but not so good for the car. I took a near miss EMP from lighting a few years back and it only took out the fuses to the car radio and CB.

Lightning is very powerful and very Strange,.......a couple of years ago(at a State Campsite 10 miles from my house) a guy was walking along side his3 yr old grandaughter(who was riding a tricycle),....a thunderstorm was approaching but was several miles away and it wasn't even very dark or raining where they were,.......a bolt of lightning struck a pine tree adjacent to the blacktop Campsite road........went down through the tree into the roots of the tree(which ran underneath the road)......the bolt ripped up a section of the road....tossed the guy and his grandaughter several feet to the side.........both were not seriously hurt,but when the paramedics got there they noted that his belt buckle was MELTED.

Folow up:

Car is going back to the dealership for a complete diagnonsis. The radio has started to go as well as some of the gauges in the cluster. The compass continaully blinks to be calibrated and I can only imagine what else i'm going to find. The good thing is my insurance (car) will cover it because I have comprehensive insurance on it. Oh well i'll keep everyone posted.

[quote="jayare627"]Folow up:

Car is going back to the dealership for a complete diagnonsis. The radio has started to go as well as some of the gauges in the cluster. The compass continaully blinks to be calibrated and I can only imagine what else i'm going to find. quote]

Unfortunately, this is more of what I expected. This could take a while for *everything* to show up. Don't sign off on this claim with your insurance company right away. I'm gonna bet that 'gremlins' show up for quite some time.

Well with the way the rest of my luck is going i should have figured the insurance company would deny my claim. The adjuster said that he went down to the dealership and spoke to the service manager and the technician that worked on the car. Both of them said that 1/2 of the radio display not working and the seek button on it not working is a "common problem with pontiac radios." He also said that the customer service rep he dealt with was very rude and uncooperative. So they will not cover the new PCM (because it'* below my deductible) and the won't cover the radio either. So now i have to pay the entire bill of $982 out of pocket . I will never EVER go back to that dealership ever again.

Sounds the the whole deal is a real nightmare(gauges and compass snafu'd to top it all off),......You might want to seriously consider trading off the car,.......seems like the car will probably never be totally right after such a Heavy-Duty zapping.......

You're thinking of a term called ESD (Electro Static Discharge) which definitely applies here regarding lightning. EMF = Electro Motive Force, or in other words, voltage. Lightning is basically high voltage discharge (kilovolts), and when it discharges through electrical/electronic devices, things get destroyed.

I know i'm seriously considering it....problem is that I love the car so much!! I can't find another one around for the deal I got on this one and since i'm temporarily laid off (yay teaching jobs!) I don't think I show enough income to approve me on a loan. But maybe come September when I'm rehired I will start looking.