[habanero69]

Friday, my car was parked on asphalt next to 2 palm tress. One was directly hit by a huge bolt of lightening witnesses said; I was not present. When I got in the car, lights were already on without my doing anything, and there were many many errors about failures related to various components, largely transmission and engine displaying in the LCD. Car had to be towed to dealer. They have not yet run any tests, but will be doing over next day or so. I don't know if this car has one ECU or many/multiple. I'm hoping possibly a battery disconnect and ECU reset might fix, but probably not. Hopefully it just suffered some sort of EMP surge and the ECU or whatever can be reset or replaced. I doubt wiring harnesses would be impacted. Other than wait till the dealer comes back to me, anyone had any similar experience?

[InControl]

Start looking for a new car. Chances are some modules were toasted and technicians here will not figure it out. A good european electrician who works on cars may be your best bet.

[graphite]

You're going to need your insurance on this one.

[gerbs]

Originally Posted by graphite

You're going to need your insurance on this one.

Yup, "Act of God" - call them asap if you haven't already.

Hopefully you have rental coverage while they figure it out, or perhaps the dealer can hook you up with a loaner.

[//M]

Yeah try roughly 30 "ECU's". Cars probably toast.

[PBureno]

Ouch...time to buy a lottery ticket!

[Kabrich]

Originally Posted by habanero69

Friday, my car was parked on asphalt next to 2 palm tress. One was directly hit by a huge bolt of lightening witnesses said; I was not present. When I got in the car, lights were already on without my doing anything, and there were many many errors about failures related to various components, largely transmission and engine displaying in the LCD. Car had to be towed to dealer. They have not yet run any tests, but will be doing over next day or so. I don't know if this car has one ECU or many/multiple. I'm hoping possibly a battery disconnect and ECU reset might fix, but probably not. Hopefully it just suffered some sort of EMP surge and the ECU or whatever can be reset or replaced. I doubt wiring harnesses would be impacted. Other than wait till the dealer comes back to me, anyone had any similar experience?

If it hit a Palm Tree, you can probably find a path on side of tree from top to bottom where it blew off the bark....and tree will be dead in 7-10 days.

As others have said, car is toast.

Once lightning gets in electrical system, it will travel on every wire into every system.

[RM7]

Your car was hit by lightning. It's not just in what you see, it travels up from the ground, everything around is "energized", etc.

[Daftasabrush]

If your car was hit by lightning, it should be absolutely fine, the car acts as a faraday cage dissipating the charge around the body, protecting the occupants and should protect the electronics too. Not sure I understand why being parked next to a tree that got hit would make it worse but it probably did. Good luck!

[beanbaguk]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

If your car was hit by lightning, it should be absolutely fine, the car acts as a faraday cage dissipating the charge around the body, protecting the occupants and should protect the electronics too. Not sure I understand why being parked next to a tree that got hit would make it worse but it probably did. Good luck!

I was thinking the same. It sounds very odd but I hope you manage to get it sorted.

[bri1042]

Who knows when your poor car would be now if you had gotten the Flux Capacitor package (ZFC?). 1.21 Gigawatts!

Seriously, though, sorry for your troubles and I hope everything works out.

[Daftasabrush]

According to http://lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/vehicle_strike.html it looks like different cars are affected by lightning in different ways so guessing it's feasible that the car is fried.

[Kabrich]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

If your car was hit by lightning, it should be absolutely fine, the car acts as a faraday cage dissipating the charge around the body, protecting the occupants and should protect the electronics too. Not sure I understand why being parked next to a tree that got hit would make it worse but it probably did. Good luck!

It probably jumped from the tree (highest object) to the car on way to ground.

Ground to car highly unlikely (especially through tires).

[stormlv]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

If your car was hit by lightning, it should be absolutely fine, the car acts as a faraday cage dissipating the charge around the body, protecting the occupants and should protect the electronics too. Not sure I understand why being parked next to a tree that got hit would make it worse but it probably did. Good luck!

Yeah, this is super super strange.
As you said, the electronics should have been protected by the car :|

Even Top Gear did a test once and their car was fine afterwards after a direct strike.

In your case, I would guess that everything is linked to the fin on the roof.
The antenna needs to be outside the faraday cage (duh), so it may have been partially impacted by the lightning strike.

I would still have tried a battery disconnect before sending it to the dealer...

[kadify]

I hope you get everything figured out. Just think if you'd had a Tesla it would have been fully charged!

[habanero69]

Just got call from insurance appraiser. 7 computer command modules for sure were destroyed. Parts alone are estimated to be $15,000. They said they were recommending a total loss to their higher ups. Under the car they could see where he said a bolt of +50,000 volts or so entered the car. I'm sad. I don't want the car back with any problems, so I guess I wont have to worry. Hope my GAP insurance covers this. Insurance only covers book value and not lease payoff. I leased from BMW and have for many years. They always include GAP. I assume they did this time. Their website says they do. I see that the 2017 440i are not out yet. Guess I will rent for a few months... Never would have thought.... Yikes. FLorida aint capital of lightening for nuttin...,

[habanero69]

Originally Posted by kadify

I hope you get everything figured out. Just think if you'd had a Tesla it would have been fully charged!

I'm actually considering leasing a model S60. About the same leasing as what I had. The miles range limitation is not too big a deal for me 99% of the time. My work commute is only 4 miles ROUND trip. It's the weekends where I put the miles on...

[kadify]

I'm sorry its a loss =( At least it's better than getting the car repaired but then having to deal with issues later on if anything is missed. If you do need another car, there are some incredible lease deals on BMWs at the moment or you can get that TeslaxD You might have to worry about the autopilot trying to kill you but that's a whole other discussion, in and of itself.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

If your car was hit by lightning, it should be absolutely fine, the car acts as a faraday cage dissipating the charge around the body, protecting the occupants and should protect the electronics too.

True. Airplanes are hit by lightning all the time and it barely affects them. However, their electronics are protected against it, because they know it's going to happen. Cars seldom get hit, so their electronics aren't protected. It doesn't take much to fry a CPU. If you work on computers you know that even the static charge you acquire from walking across a rug can zap a CPU if you touch it, so you have to ground your body to the work bench with grounding straps to bleed off the static charge.

[habanero69]

As a EE engineer, although have always been really in an I.T. computer career, I knew that in all likelihood it had probably been fried by an EMP rather than direct hit. But I never dreamed the number of command modules the car had NOR their insane price. I know BMW parts are up their, but somebody said around 30 modules? Makes me wonder how it works 99% of the time. It's for sure Windows 7 is NOT the OS. What if it was not a lease but I owned outright? Even with insurance there is definite risk. Do I act mature (for my age) and get a entry level Volvo? THanks for all those who replied.

[scrape1]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

If your car was hit by lightning, it should be absolutely fine, the car acts as a faraday cage dissipating the charge around the body, protecting the occupants and should protect the electronics too. Not sure I understand why being parked next to a tree that got hit would make it worse but it probably did. Good luck!

When it comes to vehicle damage, as with the age old question of whether an electric shock will hurt or kill you, it really all depends on what path the current takes, which is fairly unpredictable. But being that automotive wiring is always bonded to the chassis (the chassis serves as the ground), it is not at all inconceivable that if a car is struck finds a path into all sorts of wiring, and with the voltage and current involved in a lightning strike, it can potentially fry all wiring and electronic modules.

The car chassis does do a good job of protecting an occupant during a lightning strike. Assuming the occupant isn't bonded to part of the chassis carrying current ...

[jd_perspective]

Originally Posted by habanero69

Just got call from insurance appraiser. 7 computer command modules for sure were destroyed. Parts alone are estimated to be $15,000. They said they were recommending a total loss to their higher ups. Under the car they could see where he said a bolt of +50,000 volts or so entered the car. I'm sad. I don't want the car back with any problems, so I guess I wont have to worry. Hope my GAP insurance covers this. Insurance only covers book value and not lease payoff. I leased from BMW and have for many years. They always include GAP. I assume they did this time. Their website says they do. I see that the 2017 440i are not out yet. Guess I will rent for a few months... Never would have thought.... Yikes. FLorida aint capital of lightening for nuttin...,

i have never heard of any leasing agreement not including gap...