Lightning Strikes SUV, Shatters Window in Merritt Island, Florida | The Weather Channel
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A vehicle can offer some protection from lightning, but not always.

ByJon ErdmanAugust 18, 2014




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A lightning strike at a Central Florida car dealership on Friday punched through the windshield of an SUV, setting it on fire.

In the photos below from 65productions.com, you can see the hole punched through the front windshield of a Toyota RAV4 at Mike Erdman Toyota in Merritt Island.

Nobody was in or near the vehicle at the time, according to WKMG-TV in Orlando, when the lightning bolt set the SUV ablaze.

(MORE: Lightning's Scary and Damaging Power)

Are you safe in your vehicle?

Given this, you may now have the jitters about driving in thunderstorms. 

In late June 2014, an Atlanta area woman was struck by lightning in her vehicle driving home. 

(MORE: Top 5 Lightning Prone States | Where You're Most Likely to Get Struck)

If your vehicle is made mainly out of metal parts, a lightning strike's electric current should conduct on the metal frame around you to ground, as long as you're not touching anything metallic in the vehicle, much like Faraday's cage (Watch video from MIT).

Some vehicles are manufactured out of non-metal parts, impeding the electrical current from flowing through to ground. Furthermore, the increasing amount of electronics and components in today's vehicles makes its susceptible to fire.  

A blown-out rear windshield is a casualty of a vehicular lightning strike if the current finds its way into the defrosting wires in the rear windshield.

If you're stuck in your vehicle during a thunderstorm producing close lightning strikes, here's what the National Lightning Safety Institute recommends:

- Pull off to the side of the road.
- Turn off the engine.
- Turn on your hazard lights.
- Put your hands in your lap.
- Do not touch anything else in the vehicle, including the radio, your cell phone (especially if connected to the vehicle) or the steering wheel.
- Wait until the storm has passed.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Lightning Damages SUV


Lightning Strikes SUV: Merritt Island, Florida
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Lightning Strikes SUV: Merritt Island, Florida

View of the dashboard and windshield of an SUV struck by lightning in Merritt Island, Florida on August 15, 2014. (Used with permission from 65productions.com)