# Lightning strikes pickup. The rubber tires didn't help very much. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 6, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198 "2014-06-06T13:46:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/21 "2014-06-06T21:24:18Z")
Interesting responses. I’d always heard the tires kept you from being grounded in lightning conditions. Didn’t know it wasn’t correct. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/22 "2014-06-06T21:56:06Z")
Absolutely cars can be locked so you cannot open the doors from the inside. They’re called child locks. And should the power fail totally on my Skoda Yeti, the only door that can be opened from the outside is the driver’s door. If you have the key. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/23 "2014-06-06T22:11:40Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > There are some European cars that when locked from the outside with the remote activate a deadbolt function that will not allow the doors to be opened from the inside. > This is an anti-theft feature that prevents a bad guy from using a slim jim or breaking a window and using the inner door handle to steal the car. > This is a perfect example of the engineers thinking nobody could be THAT stupid. > I did once get a call from a panicked lady whose battery was dead. It took a couple of minutes before I understood she was inside her car and thought she could not get out. > The conversation went like this: > You are inside the car? > Yes > In the front seat? > Yes > Pull the inner door handle > But it’s locked! > Humor me pull the door handle > OK > Did it open? > Yes, you are so smart. > > A real blond star moment. I have an old beater VW Jetta with standard electric locks. The passenger side door sometimes won’t open even after unlocking the doors using either the key fob or the button on the driver’s door. The little tab moves up, and there is an audible click, but the door can’t be opened from inside or outside using the door handles. It will eventually open if I keep locking and unlocking it but it sometimes takes so long it’s easier for a passenger to climb over to the driver’s seat and exit through that door. ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/24 "2014-06-06T22:19:56Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Actually, most lightning goes up, not down; we just see it as falling due to our natural bias to see things as falling from the sky and not the reverse. [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NZ7BollRo4) a YouTube clip with some neat extreme slow motion video of lightning demonstrating this. The YouTube clip notwithstanding, I find this highly implausible. Lightning is the movement of electrons from a negatively charged source to a positively charged one. The negative charge is caused by friction, in this case the friction of the particles in the clouds moving past each other. Just as cloud-to-cloud lightning is caused by this, so to would the cloud-to-ground variety. Conceivably, many bolts may converge to strike a single source, if the source were positively charged enough, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s the movement of electrons _from_ the clouds _to_ the earth. Are there any sources that corroborate the assertion that it goes the other way? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/25 "2014-06-06T22:34:37Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > [Original](http://news.sky.com/story/625803/teen-trapped-in-car-dies-from-heat) news article from 2008. I believe it’s been so difficult to find because a few other prominent cases of teens dying in locked cars have come after the fact and obscured the search results of this older story (like a girl who died in a BMW in California recently.) > > Also, [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=479270) is an SDMB thread on the topic from the time this story happened. Well, I’ll be! It did say the car was a “high security” one, so it might have had non-standard configuration. It’s still a stupid one. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/26 "2014-06-06T23:20:32Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > What were they doing at the time the bolt hit them? Might be important. Probably flying a kite while driving. They should have known better. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/27 "2014-06-07T00:04:14Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > I have an old beater VW Jetta with standard electric locks. The passenger side door sometimes won’t open even after unlocking the doors using either the key fob or the button on the driver’s door. The little tab moves up, and there is an audible click, but the door can’t be opened from inside or outside using the door handles. > > It will eventually open if I keep locking and unlocking it but it sometimes takes so long it’s easier for a passenger to climb over to the driver’s seat and exit through that door. If your beater had broken locks that pretty much doesn’t count now, does it? Also child locks are only on the rear doors as there are very few 3 year old drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/28 "2014-06-07T00:08:03Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > If your beater had broken locks that pretty much doesn’t count now, does it? > Also child locks are only on the rear doors as there are very few 3 year old drivers. I’m not sure. It counts as a way that pulling the door handle inside the car doesn’t manually open the door, regardless of lock state. But neither the lock nor the handle nor the mechanical assembly are broken per se - it will all eventually work if I keep locking and unlocking the door. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/29 "2014-06-07T00:58:16Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > I’m not sure. It counts as a way that pulling the door handle inside the car doesn’t manually open the door, regardless of lock state. But neither the lock nor the handle nor the mechanical assembly are broken per se - it will all eventually work if I keep locking and unlocking the door. Let me see if I have this right. The door is unlocked, you pull on the handle, the door doesn’t open, and you are telling me it isn’t broken? You have a rather unique definition of normal operation. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/30 "2014-06-07T01:39:24Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Let me see if I have this right. The door is unlocked, you pull on the handle, the door doesn’t open, and you are telling me it isn’t broken? > You have a rather unique definition of normal operation. It is intermittently broken. As could have been your customer’s, or whoever else mentioned they can’t open the door manually from the inside. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/31 "2014-06-07T01:59:19Z")
What aboot the car insurance policy? Will the company pay up, or are they off the hook due to an ‘act of god?’ ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/32 "2014-06-07T02:17:38Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > It is intermittently broken. As could have been your customer’s, or whoever else mentioned they can’t open the door manually from the inside. Right, it’s broken. It might work sometimes but it is broken, not a very good example. I guess I didn’t make myself clear about the issue with the lady I had on the phone, the problem was the lady on the phone. There was NOTHING wrong with the car, she just thought she was locked in. All she had to do was try the handle and the door would open. Just like this lady [http://youtu.be/qrt2q6Mpeyc](http://youtu.be/qrt2q6Mpeyc) ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/33 "2014-06-07T05:39:38Z")
We have a 1996 Subaru Legacy station wagon type thing. I defy anyone to figure out what the locking sequenced on this particular car we have, not what it is supposed to be but what this one is doing. Do this, sometime this happen or maybe that. Which door did you use? Did the back deck unlock? Went for a drive and some of the doors auto locked but today the back hatch did not but the master locke-out switch was on so the only door or window controls should be the drivers but today … Brain esplodes… Always carry 2 keys, have one on your person at all times. Also a window knock out device such as a hammer under the front seat. Love that little thing, goes mostly anywhere that is called a road and some 4 wheeler trails that aren’t. 210,000 & going string. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/34 "2014-06-07T10:27:47Z")
> [@MrKnowItAll](#): > > The YouTube clip notwithstanding, I find this highly implausible. Lightning is the movement of electrons from a negatively charged source to a positively charged one. The negative charge is caused by friction, in this case the friction of the particles in the clouds moving past each other. Just as cloud-to-cloud lightning is caused by this, so to would the cloud-to-ground variety. Conceivably, many bolts may converge to strike a single source, if the source were positively charged enough, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s the movement of electrons _from_ the clouds _to_ the earth. > > Are there any sources that corroborate the assertion that it goes the other way? I found this. > [@](#): > > **Does lightning strike from the sky down, or the ground up?** > The answer is both. Cloud-to-ground lightning comes from the sky down, but the part you see comes from the ground up. A typical cloud-to-ground flash lowers a path of negative electricity (that we cannot see) towards the ground in a series of spurts. Objects on the ground generally have a positive charge. Since opposites attract, an upward streamer is sent out from the object about to be struck. When these two paths meet, a return stroke zips back up to the sky. It is the return stroke that produces the visible flash, but it all happens so fast - in about one-millionth of a second - so the human eye doesn’t see the actual formation of the stroke. > **[Lightning FAQ](https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/faq/)** > > Frequently asked questions about severe thunderstorm forecasting, models and methodology, from the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/35 "2014-06-07T11:46:08Z")
> [@MrKnowItAll](#): > > The YouTube clip notwithstanding, I find this highly implausible. Lightning is the movement of electrons from a negatively charged source to a positively charged one. The negative charge is caused by friction, in this case the friction of the particles in the clouds moving past each other. Just as cloud-to-cloud lightning is caused by this, so to would the cloud-to-ground variety. Conceivably, many bolts may converge to strike a single source, if the source were positively charged enough, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s the movement of electrons _from_ the clouds _to_ the earth. > > Are there any sources that corroborate the assertion that it goes the other way? The previous poster covered this, but FYI the wiki on lightning is also pretty good. [Lightning - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning) The scientific difference between upward & downward lighting is significant. The practical difference is negligible. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/36 "2014-06-07T11:54:32Z")
The [CTV article](http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/moment-lightning-strikes-albertans-truck-caught-on-camera-1.1856292) (it was CTV coverage that went viral) notes that parts of the Chevy melted. I expect that linkages in the door opening mechanism might have melted and either broke or fused. I hypothesize that although there were both mechanical and electrical failures, it was the mechanical and not the electrical failures that prevented the doors from opening. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/37 "2014-06-07T16:39:14Z")
I suspect various plastic parts melted before any steel did. Lighting strikes are strange. On this car it blew all the airbags. I personally saw a car that got hit by lighting and no bags deployed, the only visual damage were some pinholes and burnt paint on the roof. It did take out all the onboard electronics. I have seen pictures where the strike set fire to the interior. On one of my science feeds on Facebook the other day they had a video of a guy that got struck while standing next to his car. His arm didn’t work for a bit and he has some wild bruises on his arm. Strange stuff lighting. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/38 "2014-06-07T17:26:06Z")
lightning can also cause damage by induction, i.e. nearby metal gets current in it not from the bolt itself. a bolt also splits and goes many places. once a high voltage high current charge is in something by whatever method it can go lots of places and not others. strange indeed. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/39 "2014-06-07T19:35:42Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > (ETA: And I always said I would _never_ ride in a car, neither as driver nor passenger, which had those gawd-awful robotic seat belts, which I considered to be an abomination. As it happened, I only once had occasion to, at which time I, uh… capitulated. Lots of people must have objected – they seem to have disappeared mostly.) The automatic seatbelt was a method to provide a “passive restraint” as an alternative if the carmaker was unable or unwilling to install airbags; for a time in the USA the requirement was to have either. But once airbags became more perfected, and mandatory across the board, the automatic seatbelts became redundant and went away. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198/40 "2014-06-07T21:56:57Z")
I just asked a friend in the auto body repair business about lightning strikes on cars. He’s worked on 4 and the damage was always different. Two of the cars were parked and not running. One of them only had cosmetic damage, and the other one had a totally ruined electrical system as well as cosmetic damage. Of the 2 cars that were running, one of the drivers crashed into an embankment and the car was a total so he didn’t really diagnose the problems. The other car was also a total because the electronic system didn’t just fry, it fried everything it was connected to. Lightning is weird stuff. As a biker I’m terrified of lightning. It wouldn’t have to hit me to kill me, just a close strike would be enough to fling me off my bike. I’m one of those people you see hiding under overpasses during electrical storms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-strikes-pickup-the-rubber-tires-didnt-help-very-much/690198.md?page=3)