Q: My 2006 PT Cruiser got struck head on by a bolt of lightning on May 19, 2008. I had the car towed to the largest certified Chrysler dealer in Pensacola, Fl. It is now July 5, and it is not ready. I call every two to three days and am told that they are waiting for parts. They replace one part, and find another problem. I am concerned that a problem or two could exist after I pick up the car. Of particular interest to me are the airbags. How can they be tested? Please advise what I can do. Many thanks.John MesserliA: Wow! When lightning strikes a vehicle the results can vary widely. Considerable damage will likely occur to electronic modules and devices, in addition to wiring, as the bolt of lightning can contain up to 2 billion volts. What s surprising is that occupants inside a struck vehicle are relatively safe as long as they re not touching door handles or other metal parts. Many folks believe it s because of the rubber tires but it s actually due to the metal vehicle body directing the charge across its surface, similar to a Faraday cage (a conductive shield surrounding a protected area from static charge or lightning), and to the ground below through the tires. Corvette, Cadillac XLR and Saturn (pre-2008 and except Saturn Relay) owners are not afforded the same level of protection due to the use of composite body panels in their vehicles. Component damage can be readily apparent and sometimes take time to rear its head perhaps in a month or longer. My hope is your insurance company is familiar with this concern and will step up should future problems develop. It may be impossible to say for certain if a future failed component may fall under Chrysler s warranty or was due to this incident. Hopefully you won t be inconvenienced while the decision is juggled. I can appreciate your concern about the SRS (airbag) system. It does have self-diagnostic capability, which checks for general controller competency, complete and non-shorted circuits and installed components. It s difficult to know if the diagnostics are good enough to detect all possible faults in the controller, as the system doesn t become truly active until the instant it s needed. My hunch is the airbags could be trusted, as well as system wiring, as long as the SRS malfunction indicator stays off. It s the controller I d wonder about. Perhaps with enough persuasion this part could be renewed, if it hasn t been already. I m sorry to not be of more help. This is an unusual and iffy situation that I thought would be of interest to other readers. Please stay in touch so we can all learn from your experience. News source: Mercury News