Potential commercial carwash issues

[Ken7]

The Clarity is not totally unlike my Tesla when it comes to putting the car in neutral. In both cars, when the driver exits, the car automatically goes back into park. I've found that a bit annoying since it makes life at the commercial carwash more problematic. In the Tesla, you must go into 'tow mode'. Good luck with that at the carwash and explaining to attendants how to enter and exit 'tow mode'. Instead I simply tell them I must sit in the car.

Yesterday, while at the carwash with the Clarity, the attendant responded when I told him I had to sit in the car, "Oh we've had these cars before and you just need to insert the seatbelt when leaving the car to keep the car in neutral". I told him the car only came out a few weeks ago and he's probably never had one at the carwash. I told him he was probably not correct about the seatbelt, and to the best of my knowledge I needed to stay in the car, which I did. I actually tested this out later and found that with my wife sitting in the passenger seat, the car did stay in neutral if I fastened my seatbelt upon exiting and closing the door. However later, with nobody else in the car, I could not replicate that and the car refused to stay in neutral, seatbelt attached or not, upon exiting the car.

Now yes, you can keep the car in neutral by keeping the neutral button depressed for a couple of seconds, but in a carwash that's still fraught with things that could go wrong. The attendant first needs to realize that he MUST press the neutral button for a few seconds after driving it on to the belt. If he doesn't, I'd assume there could be possible damage to the drivetrain.

Then, at the end of the belt upon exiting the car wash, the attendant at the other end, must press the brake before switching to drive.

You just need to keep these things in mind if you use a commercial carwash. In N.Y. winters, I most certainly don't wash the car myself and a commercial carwash is a necessity to get the crap off from the roadway dirt & salt.

 

[Viking79]

Car washes in my area you sit in the car through the process so it isn't an issue. I notice the car specifically has a mode for car washes that allows it to stay in neutral, but as you say, those attendants figure out what works and will go with it, if using the seatbelt lets them do it they probably won't bother with anything else. I guess you could print the page from the manual and put it on the steering wheel or something if you wanted them to do it the "proper" way.

My guess is "We have had these cars before" means any new Honda with the push button shifter, Accord, Odyssey, etc will all behave the same I am sure.

 

[Ken7]

My concern is that it's very easy to not do it the proper way. If that happens (as in buckling the seatbelt with nobody in the car, which doesn't work), you could incur significant damage to the car. The car could potentially get dragged along the carwash while in park. Not good.

 

[bfd]

Yesterday, I had a chance to try this. The speedometer screen gave abbreviated directions when I first pressed N. (Press and hold for 2 sec to remain in N if exiting the vehicle - or some such language). It may be the Clarity equivalent of Tow Mode. Of course this assumes the attendants are English readers (this is often a toss-up in Cali).

 

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

Hopefully we will soon see it become an industry standard for all PEVs to have a "tow mode", and for car wash attendants to use that function.

The car wash we usually use tells drivers they must exit the car and watch from the observation room, "for insurance purposes". I dunno what would happen if we tried to insist we must remain inside the car.

There is a quote that I unfortunately did not write down when I saw it, and Mr. Google can't seem to find it, but it goes something like this: ~"Technological revolutions take longer than we expect, but cause changes far more wide-reaching than we anticipate."~

It's going to be many years before people become familiar with the idiosyncrasies of PEVs; before they are as familiar with them as most people are now with gasmobiles! It's also going to be many years before the technology of PEVs settles down into predictable patterns followed by most auto makers. We're still in the early phase, when many different approaches will be tried by different auto makers. That's great for innovation and for competition, but it's not so great for those trying to operate a PEV which they are not familiar with.

 

[Ken7]

Yesterday, I had a chance to try this. The speedometer screen gave abbreviated directions when I first pressed N. (Press and hold for 2 sec to remain in N if exiting the vehicle - or some such language). It may be the Clarity equivalent of Tow Mode. Of course this assumes the attendants are English readers (this is often a toss-up in Cali).

And that’s the problem in NY, many of the attendants don’t speak English and likely don’t read it either. So I’m extremely hesitant to leave the car with them. I was insistent enough with the guy at the start of the car wash, that he relented and let me stay.