Of all the places you could be in the event of a lightning strike, your car isn’t a bad one. A car’s metal shell acts as a Faraday cage, guiding electrical energy around the body, through the tires, and into the ground. As long as you keep your hands to yourself and don’t touch anything that contains metal and is connected to the outside of the vehicle, you should be safe. Unfortunately, that’s not exactly true for your car; a powerful strike can obliterate its electrical systems, explode rubber, and break glass, among other things. A family in Illinois discovered this the hard way when lightning hit their Ford Edge last week.
The car was on the move when it was struck, according to the family, which caused “a loud gunshot type noise” and smoke to fill the interior, per the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office
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