# Nearby lightning strike opens electric windows



## SLM335 (Jul 6, 2008)

Last night we had a thunderstorm with at least one nearby lightning strike. I woke up this morning to discover a very wet 2007 335i sedan. All windows were completely down and the sunroof was half open. Has anyone ever heard of an electrical storm disturbance causing electric windows and sunroof to open after the car has been locked and closed for the night?


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## Bmwcat (Jul 30, 2004)

Wow!! Thats quite a story. Sounds like enough voltage disturbed the electronics in your car. No permanent damge, I hope!!


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## Fast Bob (Jun 4, 2004)

SLM335 said:


> Last night we had a thunderstorm with at least one nearby lightning strike. I woke up this morning to discover a very wet 2007 335i sedan. All windows were completely down and the sunroof was half open. Has anyone ever heard of an electrical storm disturbance causing electric windows and sunroof to open after the car has been locked and closed for the night?


Where were your keys while this was taking place?


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## dboy11 (Mar 6, 2006)

I've never heard of anything like this...makes for some interesting reading that's for sure


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## SLM335 (Jul 6, 2008)

Both key fobs were in the house.


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## Fast Bob (Jun 4, 2004)

SLM335 said:


> Both key fobs were in the house.


Not what I meant...were they in your pocket, on the dresser, or? The point I`m getting at is that if they were in your pocket, it may be totally unrelated to the storm....


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## SLM335 (Jul 6, 2008)

The possibility that the key fob became depressed while in my pocket is something I can't rule out. On the positive side, if I can rule out lightning as the cause, it will keep me from running outside during future thunderstorms to check on my car


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## KatanaPilot (Mar 25, 2003)

When MINIs first came out, I read about all the windows/sunroofs opening by themselves in heavy rain. It is probably water leakage into some critical grounding junctions, or water leakage into the computer boxes.

Please search the MINI board to see how those are fixed. Hope this helps.


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## vwlighhouse (May 15, 2011)

my bmw electric windows opened during a thunder storm. Has this happened to anyone else ?


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## gtxragtop (Feb 25, 2008)

Bummer sorry about this. I doubt the lighting strike did this. 

I came out one morning to find the sunroof open and all the windows down. I'm certain it was a depression on the key fob in my pocket since all too often, I bend down and suddenly get screamed at by the panic/theft alarm. Went to the dealer, paid $35 and had this feature disabled. I thought.... wow what if it had rained? Besides with the low reliability of window regulators the last thing I want to do is have them going up and down more often than needed.


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## vwlighhouse (May 15, 2011)

Hello gtxragtop ,


Thanks for the reply . I have finally gotten the moisture out of my BMW. It is running and looking perfectly fine.

Thanks again for the reply.


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## phobe (Jan 10, 2012)

SLM335 said:


> Last night we had a thunderstorm with at least one nearby lightning strike. I woke up this morning to discover a very wet 2007 335i sedan. All windows were completely down and the sunroof was half open. Has anyone ever heard of an electrical storm disturbance causing electric windows and sunroof to open after the car has been locked and closed for the night?


SLM335: Did you ever come to a definitive conclusion about what caused your windows & sunroof to open?


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## Spike Holmes (May 29, 2008)

This happened to the son of an acquaintance from work. He went out to his car the morning after a heavy thundershower here in the Big Easy. I don't remember if his insurance covered it or if the dealer had to make good on the CPO warranty


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## Itinj6 (Nov 15, 2011)

Hmmm, I came out to my X6 one afternoon after a mild snow storm. Front PAX side window only was half open and the car interior had accumulated about 2" on the seat, floor, center console and dash. I was convinced that my fiancée left it open, she coulda sworn she didn't... but now I wonder


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## Bob Shiftright (Feb 3, 2006)

SLM335 said:


> Has anyone ever heard of an electrical storm disturbance causing electric windows and sunroof to open after the car has been locked and closed for the night?


I've heard of an electrical malfunction causing the windows and sunroof to open in the rain -- search the E9x forum.

The sunroof and windows of my car have opened by themselves a couple of times -- fortunately not is the rain. I attributed it to poltergeists.


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## phobe (Jan 10, 2012)

*poltergeist*

Dear Philosopher King: Did any of your events where the sunroof and windows of your car opened by themselves appear to have any relation to lightning?


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## Snowboarder2150 (Sep 25, 2018)

This happened to me a little over a year ago with my 2003 Nissan Altima. It was parked under a metal carport with 3 other cars and there was a pretty good lightning/thunder storm in town. I went outside to see the lighting and saw that all the windows were rolled down (not the sunroof though). Key fob was on the staircase ledge, untouched. Rolled up the windows and heard rain again in the middle of the night.... Had to check since what happened earlier was so odd, found them rolled down again! It started becoming more and more frequent until my battery would be drained if I didn't unplug it everywhere I went. So classy and convenient as you can imagine. It got so bad I could hear the doors constantly clicking trying to roll the windows down, even if they were already down, which is why the battery would drain. This lasted for a month, maybe two. Maybe it accumulated extra electricity? It didn't get wet. I'm so thankful it resolved on its own!


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## Doug Huffman (Apr 25, 2015)

*Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence!*



Snowboarder2150 said:


> Maybe it accumulated extra electricity?


Failed STEM? Be sure and wear your helmet.


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## Snowboarder2150 (Sep 25, 2018)

"Failed STEM? Be sure and wear your helmet." 
I can't say I know what a failed STEM is and couldn't find anything car related to that on Google, but it seemed more annoying than dangerous. Thought I'd have to unplug it forever since electrical would have been too expensive for me to fix. The only (albeit ignorant) reasons I can think of was electrical being tweaked somehow, or maybe excess moisture affecting the wires... My ex boyfriend did try to install an automatic start years ago and did a horrific job, wires are exposed. It was a spring-ish storm and summer gets really hot so maybe that helped it to correct. Anyhow, no film evidence of the sort, but a bunch of co-workers could tell you I asked them (it was one of them that suggested I unplug the battery).


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## Snowboarder2150 (Sep 25, 2018)

Also forgot to mention that the doors would unlock. I'm not sure if this happened because it progressed or if it was happening in the beginning and I didn't notice it as a pattern yet. Eventually it got so bad that I'd lock the doors with the car off and they'd unlock right in front of me - it was impossible to keep it locked if the car battery was connected. As soon as I started the car, the issues would stop. I vaguely remember a clicking in the dash on left side as I was driving though.


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