said by westom:
Very unusual to have such damage. Most surges pass through the truck body to earth without damage. For some reason, that current needed to pass through electronics to connect to earth. More often a struck vehicle does not suffer electronics damage.
I would have to strongly disagree with this. Every vehicle that I have ever encountered that was on the receiving end of a lightning strike has taken significant damage, and in most cases, not all of the problems are immediately detected.
The current absolutely *does not* have to pass through the electronics, as it is the strength of the magnetic energy field (EMF) associated with such a hit which is phenomenal, and is more than enough to thoroughly disrupt vehicle system electronics. This is also why the occupants of vehicle hit by lightning are relatively safe, since the body of the vehicle shunts the actual current around them. The effect of the EMF on humans is minimal, and, interestingly, has little effect on older cars before the days of multiple on-board electronic devices.
The most recent case I have experience with resulted in the vehicle ultimately being declared a total loss by the insurance company, as the initial "obvious" failures were followed by a series of other component failures, including internal shift modules, ABS motor failure, and two door control modules. Rarely will there be much visual evidence like "burned and melted wires" though, again, since it is EMF, not actual electrical current that caused the damage which makes advance diagnosis of a failure next to impossible.
My opinion without actually seeing the vehicle myself is that the hole in the earth is in fact where the strike departed the vehicle body, and if you examine the paint finish closely, you will find an area on the upper portion where the strike was taken as a deflection from the tree.
Basically, these cases are a real nightmare, and are rarely repaired completely the first try.