nootch

Why is it that I get shocked almost every time I get out of my car?!? It is really getting annoying and sometimes it hurts. Anyone else have this issue?

02 Aegean CLS

YES! I'm a quick study, tho. I just close the door with my elbow now (also saves getting fingerprints on the car).

Nashua_Night_Hawk

My wife does have this problem. I dont. Go figure. I would say check your cloths.

mrdeeno

i think it has soemthing to do with the tires. the car picks up static while driving from the friction between the tires and the ground. so when you get out, you ground yourself when you touch the ground, but then you touch a metal part on the car and the charge jumps from the car to you and through to the ground.

CO-CL-S

It's probably your shoes.

Bluto

I agree with mrdeeno. What tires you rolling on?
Tires + dry AZ weather =

IntegraVT

iTrader: (1)

I do the elbow thing too...

Try spraying some Static Guard on your floor mats.

charliemike

It's the dry air.

Dunno why though. The above guesses are as good as anything to go on ...

mrdeeno

maybe y ou should get one of those static antennas...you know, the ones that are supposed to dissipate static the car picks up into the air.

and if you like that one, try the tornado fuel saver too!

nootch

I have some yokohama's. but it does it in other people's cars as well. I'm thinking it might be my shoes. It happens at my house with shoes on as well...

kensteele

http://www.startribune.com/stories/435/21169.html
http://www.alldata.com/techtips/1999/19980125b.html


The answer is: "You can avoid this shock by touching something metal on your car before you put your foot on the ground."

clxs

get rid of the double knits

Scorpius

You just have an electric personailty!!!

nootch

I was waiting for one of you jokers to make this comment. :P

Eggplant-EX

There actually is a static strip that you can install. Haven't you ever seen a car with a block rubber strip hanging down to the ground, usually mounted in the back?

mrdeeno

no, but i've seen the cars with the two metal things that point out towards the curb and make a scraping noise when parallel parking...but i think that's so they don't scratch their rims.

HEY! there's an idea to save your rims!

WiLd~CL~TYPS-@SS

try use your nail to push the door..or use elbow....

mrdeeno

or just close it by pushing on the black plastic part around the glass.

4pumpedCL

I've been getting shocked really bad lately too. It's only been happening for the past 6 months or so... Never had the problem in the past.

Eggplant-EX

No. Those are called curb feelers and are metallic.

The static strip is a thick black rubber piece, goes from the car to the ground. Just ask at any car part store.

Don't mess around. Do you know how many drivers actually dies from getting these shocks????

WiLd~CL~TYPS-@SS

yea..that's what i did too..but i always slap it first when i push the black plastic part..i never got shocked after i slap it really quick

sgriffin

sliding your slacks / shirt across the seat when getting out charges you up on a dry day. Wool on vinyl is a real killer.

touching the high capacitance car causes the spark to leap to the car just before you touch the car.

nothing to do with tires / driving, etc.

you can do it sitting in your driveway before driving off.

kensteele

Not entirely true: http://cartalk.cars.com/Columns/Arch...vember/11.html

mrdeeno

i hear a recall coming. maybe even a class action lawsuit.

CO-CL-S

should we take a poll? Shocking experiances we've incountered?

aeon

How would your car build a charge from friction agaist the ground? How would you ground yourself steping out unless you were barefoot?

My theory: The charge either comes from the air passing over the surface of the car (as what happens in airplanes), or your movement insdide the car and the spark is the result of the difference in charge between your body and what the car knows as "ground".

EricL, where are you?

Scorpius

Tom: Yeah. My shock comes when it actually starts!
Yeah... I think alot of Chrysler owners tfeel the same way!!!

acura_service

The cause of car-door sparking is well known: contact-electrification between insulating surfaces, followed by separation of those surfaces. But what does this mean? Well, *YOU* are one surface, and the car seat is the other. When you sit on a plastic car seat in dry weather, the contact between your clothes and the seat's surface causes electrical charges of the material to transfer between the surfaces. This is our old friend "frictional" or "contact" charging. One surface ends up with more negative charges than positive, and has a negative charge-imbalance. The other surface has fewer negatives than positives, so it has a positive imbalance. This is nearly same thing as rubbing a balloon upon your hair: both surfaces become electrically charged.

However, nothing happens as long as you remain seated. Keep your butt in one place. As long as the surfaces remain near each other, no overall "electricity" appears and no sparks are possible. The oppositely-charged surfaces cancel out because they are still close together. But when you open the car door and step outside, you take just one polarity of charge along with you, while the car seat has the opposite polarity. At the same time, the car seat causes the whole car to become charged (by a process called "Faraday's Icepail Effect.") As you step out of the car, the voltage between your body and the car becomes huge, up to 10,000 or even 20,000 volts. Your shoes are probably insulating, so the charge has no opportunity to leak into the earth. You reach out to close the car door and ZAP!, the opposite polarities rejoin by leaping through the air while giving you a tiny, deep burn in the flesh of your finger!


How to prevent this? One possibility: change the surface materials. Identify and avoid the specific clothing which makes the problem worse. These materials are usually wool sweaters and pants, certain manmade fabrics, plastic raincoats, etc. Or, replace your cheap plastic car seatcovers with cloth (stains easily!) or leather (expensive dead animals.) Another method: mix up some anti-static solution and spray your car seats. This solution remains slightly damp for weeks, which halts the contact-charging process. The formula: a teaspoon of fabric softener mixed in one quart of water. This tends to work well at first, but after many days it wears off and needs a re-coating. Another sillier method: always drive barefooted, so the charge will leak away when you step outside the car. Not good in winter! Cover your car seats with a conductor such as aluminum foil, which screws up the contact-charging effect. Have a tailor make some custom clothing out of black conductive carbon cloth? Or you could eliminate the problem by eliminating your clothes. Skin is fairly conductive, so it doesn't create charge-separation when held against plastic. Driving while nude might cure the sparking problem (unless you are a very hairy person!) A less frivilous method: develop the habit of holding your car keys as you leave the car, then grip the keys firmly and touch the door handle with the tip of the key. The spark will still jump, but it will not be painful, since it blasts a little hole in the tip of the key instead of in your finger.

1SICKLEX

My car shocks me when I wear (well no longer) these 1 pair of Nike Hurraches..

mrdeeno

and how does a balloon build charge buy rubbing it on your hair?

same principle.

Scooter

i found a way to keep from getting charged...when u get out of the car, close the door using the black B-pillar...u won't get shocked, u'll close the door, and the charge will dissipate as u walk on the ground.

mrdeeno

uh, yeah, that's what i said.

aeon

Wrong. Not even similar principles. In your example, your head/hair acts as a collector and the balloon as an aggitator and non-conductor. In the previous example, the ground would be the collector and we would be the aggitator though the ground is exactly that, ground and a conductor.

Think before you speak, or just shut up.

aeon

Uh, no. It isn't.

acura_service

any questions: go back one page and read my first reply

mrdeeno

hey aeon, yeah, it is.