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Lightning Kills Truck

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guest

Guest
I was at the Dallas Freightliner shop the other day and there was a fellow all bent out of shape because Houston FL had just replaced a computer component in his truck for like $3,000, and another major unrelated computer component had failed on his way from Houston to Dallas. His theory was that Houston FL had screwed something up in the second component and caused it to fail. I asked almost in jest if he had driven through a lightning storm that might have screwed up the circuit boards in the computers. He stopped ranting for a second and said that the Houston FL guy had asked him the same thing. He said he thought the Houston FL guy was just messing with him and didn't seriously consider the question, but he said that come to think of it he HAD driven through a really bad electrical storm two nights before the first component failed. I told him that the lightning may have done something weird to his truck. Now I know that lightning is not supposed to strike vehicles because of the tire thing, but think about it, some of these new circuits are so tiny that a static electricity shock can cause a short circuit. I think that if lightning even struck nearby it could create enough of a surge in the area that it could do something like this.

Call me crazy, but one day you may see lightning rods on all trucks.

The total bill for the two components that failed in the guy's truck was about $4,500.
 
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RichM

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
This actually happend to my car during one of the Florida hurricanes last year. I was at a supermarket and when I was leaving a bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of my car.
When I went to open the door I had a mild burning sensation. Probably about 300,000 volts but no current. Everything was dead,no ignition ,lights,horn etc. After I opened the hood I saw the battery was in two pieces and had split in half. My theory is that the lighning jumped from the ground to the cars frame,ran up the negative cable and destroyed the battery.

Interesting part is that the battery was still under warranty from K Mart and they gave me a new one. No wonder they went bankrupt. Only side affect is that I can't shut the radio off,can turn the volume down but not off which I can live with.
 
X

X1_SRH

Expert Expediter
In the late 80's I was driving a Chevy Celebrity (I liked it) just outside of Dayton Ohio and got Nailed by a Lightning bolt as I was driving down the road. This really did happen - contrary to the myth that it can't. The majority of the electrical system fried on the spot and the car was totalled - no fixing a fried mess of that proportion. I came out of it with nothing more than a large case of goosebumps - and the guys that I worked with called me "sparky" for a long time after that. This is really a true story..... - Scott
 
G

guest

Guest
So it can happen, I suppose. It has to be a pretty remote risk though. Maybe not worth investing in a lightning rod for the truck.
 
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