If a transmission line falls on your car, is it safe to touch metal inside the car?

[NascentOxygen]

The shell of a vehicle is only an approximation to a Faraday shield. A few mm of plastic is next to useless as a barrier to electrocution when dealing with tens of thousands of volts. Vehicle tyres incorporate carbon in sufficient quantity as to make the rubber conductive so it leaks away static buildup (a cause for car sickness in some people). Even if the rubber didn't breakdown and become conductive, tens of kV across it would cause sufficient I²R heating to melt the tyre. Tyres incorporate steel wire and reinforcing, so really don't present many cm of insulation at the best of times.

You'll find that at high transmission voltages, soil is not an insulator; fallen lines strike sparks as they sweep over bare ground.

 

[pgardn]

You'll find that at high transmission voltages, soil is not an insulator; fallen lines strike sparks as they sweep over bare ground.

Especially if its wet.

And high winds, lightning and rain... they often accompany each other.

 

[DragonPetter]

If the car is metal and is connected to the ground I think that is a faraday cage. If it was me i would touch the inside for a bet and I would win.

I hope this is a joke. No one should be making bets on safety when there are many unknown variables, no matter how informed someone is. That would be the dunning-kreuger effect in the worst light.

 

[Dale]

If a transmission line falls on a car in the middle of a forest with no one around to see, does it make a spark?