I’m a mechanic… here’s how to stay safe during a thunderstorm – cars have a hidden feature that will save your life
AN expert mechanic has revealed how to stay safe in your car during a thunderstorm – there’s a hidden feature that could save your life.
Scotty Kilmer took to YouTube to share the handy safety tip with viewers as rocky weather is set to roll in.
Scotty, who has worked in the motors industry for more than 50 years, said: “One of the safest places you can be in a thunderstorm is inside your car.
“It’s very safe inside a car for humans.”
He claimed that this is because cars sit on rubber tyres so, despite having numerous metal components, are insulated from electricity.
This supposedly means that if lightning strikes anywhere nearby, the current can’t be carried into the car through the ground.
Scotty explained that he wears rubber-soled shoes for the same reason and that a recent lightning strike fried his car’s solar panel charger but not the vehicle’s electrical system.
However, while Scotty has come to the right conclusion, the science behind it is actually a little more complicated than that.
Rubber wheels do not provide adequate protection from lightning and you should never touch the metal parts of your car during a strike.
The National Lightning Safety Insitute in America said: “Rubber tyres provide no safety from lightning.
“After all, lightning has travelled for miles through the sky: four or five inches of rubber is no insulation whatsoever.”
Yet it is still completely safe to be in your car during a thunderstorm.
This is because of the way electricity is conducted through objects, with the frame of the car acting as a Farraday cage.
Named after Michael Faraday, a groundbreaking physicist in the field of electromagnetism, the term refers to the fact that current is mostly conducted through the outside of metal structures.
In this way, the external frame of the car bears the brunt of a lightning strike, with the conductive components on the inside receiving very little voltage.
This was even put to the test in series four of Top Gear, when Richard Hammond emerged unharmed from a car after it was struck by an artificially-produced lightning bolt.
Just make sure not to touch any of the metal parts and do not use the doors, windows, radio or steering wheel.
Official advice is to pull over, turn on your hazards, turn off the engine and wait until the storm passes.
There are also a couple of notable exceptions, with convertibles and fibreglass body cars not protected.
And the advice is particularly timely, as Storm Agnes brought 79mph winds and floods to the UK last night.
The Met Office has announced a collection of yellow weather warnings, with more stormy weather on the way.
It comes after two major car brand recalled millions of motors over a fire risk.
Meanwhile, Scotty told viewers why he feels EVs are a disaster and could even be deadly.