I think my car was hit by lightning :(

[Arizona Willie]

Going South on Power in thunderstorm and a super loud crack of lightning / thunder right on top of the car.

Screen went black for a few seconds but then came back on.

Had temp control set to 75 and air on. Noticed it was blowing hot air and the temp was now set to MAX. Adjusted the slider back to 75 and it started cooling again. Hope it lasts.

When I got home I inspected for burn marks but of course the top is glass except for the side rails.
Didn't see anything anywhere on the car but when it dries off I will inspect again.

Damn near pissed myself. Wasn't even sure I was alive for a second or two. Damn that was loud.

 

[Adam3]

Wow! Glad it turned out OK. Does car seem to be working and charging normally?

 

[LoudMusic]

I can't speak specifically for Teslas, but as a sailboat owner I am always concerned about lightning. I've heard a lot of stories about "near misses" that still do a lot of damage to the electronics on board the boat. Nothing is "blown out" but the various communication, navigation, and entertainment, electronics all have intermittent odd faults. I've not experienced it myself and I suspect the vast majority of reports are from people who don't know what they're doing and blaming missconfigured or poorly installed or old and worn out equipment on a lightning strike because they're just dumb. But I also think it's plausible that a nearby lightning strike can cause damage to electronics without actually directly hitting the equipment.

Can Tesla do a full remote diagnostic of the car's electronics?

 

[Silicon Desert]

Did you check your calendar to make sure you did not go back to the year 1955? See Marty McFly?

 

[kavyboy]

It's happened before: So, my car was hit by lightning at the Grove City, OH supercharger...

EDIT: Not that your case isn't interesting, too. I just thought the other instance was pretty informative.

 

[Kimmi]

No path to ground on a car, rubber tires. Probably a near by strike? I was letting my cat out the side door one time during a storm when the lightning hit the transformer on the telephone pole behind the house, the cat never went outside again!

 

[Arizona Willie]

Wow! Glad it turned out OK. Does car seem to be working and charging normally?

I took it out again later and it seemed ok. But when I got home and plugged it in, it said it wasn't plugged in completely so I tried again and then it seemed to be ok. Time will tell. Haven't checked on how much it has charged. Should be full cause it was only down 2% or so from the max 80 charge I keep it set to normally.

 

[Arizona Willie]

No path to ground on a car, rubber tires. Probably a near by strike? I was letting my cat out the side door one time during a storm when the lightning hit the transformer on the telephone pole behind the house, the cat never went outside again!

i was glad i was driving an EV instead of ICE with a tank full of gas.
I know there is no path to ground but that lightning was right on top of me.

But I suspect it might have been an EMP from the lightning that knocked the screen offline and changed the temp setting. I wasn't using the radio.

I've been close to lightning before but never THAT close. I would swear it hit the car but as you say, there is no path to ground unless wet tires in water would work. There was water in the street and all over the car from being splashed on etc. etc.

But it probably was just so close that it seemed like the car was hit.
But SOMETHING knocked the screen offline for about maybe 10 seconds before everything reset. Don't know if the car shut down or not because I instantly took my foot off the accelerator and everything was so noisy no way to tell.

 

[drtimhill]

Going South on Power in thunderstorm and a super loud crack of lightning / thunder right on top of the car.

Screen went black for a few seconds but then came back on.

Had temp control set to 75 and air on. Noticed it was blowing hot air and the temp was now set to MAX. Adjusted the slider back to 75 and it started cooling again. Hope it lasts.

When I got home I inspected for burn marks but of course the top is glass except for the side rails.
Didn't see anything anywhere on the car but when it dries off I will inspect again.

Damn near pissed myself. Wasn't even sure I was alive for a second or two. Damn that was loud.

I very much doubt it was a direct hit .. that would be catastrophic for the car (not you, necessarily, as the car forms a faraday cage around you). At the very least you would expect tires to blow out as the air in them is superheated and the tire compounds vent gases, and as others have noted many of the electrical systems would be fried (not always all of them, it very much depends on where the current goes). It may have been very close by though, and the cars electronics got momentarily zapped by the intense EM fields.