What makes a compass work in a car?

[Xster]

Not too performance related but what could make compass work in a car and not another? I always had a compass in my old Corolla. Especially useful when I'm in the middle of nowhere and placed on the dashboard or behind the rear visor, it worked flawlessly. But on the Accent 01, it gets massively distorted by the presence of the hull and the compass never turns while in the car. Is it some fundamental difference between the 2 designs that one's passenger compartment is somehow shielded or is there something I can do about it?

[03-Accent-03]

There may be electrical wiring messing with the magnetic pulls.

[zeroindigo]

not likely an electrical interference, more likely the angle it sits at.

[bh206]

could be both.

read up on how a compass works for aviation if you want a really good idea.

[WanValdez]

I think it's deffinitely the car. I had a compass in my Accent too on the dash and it thought the engine was north. I would take it out of the car and move away from it and it would work fine...near the car...it went back to engine north. I wondered if my engine was polarized somehow...then I just scrapped the whole idea before I went insane.

[Xster]

Ya, it's probably not the chassis. Trying from outside I have to get really close to distort the compass. But I don't know why does the compass work a corolla, the engine's at about the same place and in the accent, the compass's messed up even in the back seat.

[J0eFr0]

<sarcasm>do you happen to live in the Bermuda Triangle?</sarcasm>