Yeah that's what I was thinking except that the bomb triggered on her opening the car door (which has me wondering then why she was on the passenger side... wasn't she?).
I think I agree with DJMacWow, it made for better TV to have Tony cradling her. I do think sometimes they make demands on our abilities to suspend disbelief in favor of 'good TV.' There were so many of those "wait that doesn't make sense!" moments in season 3 that that ended up being my least favorite season.
My husband said she was dead the moment she went out the door of the apartment.