drive thru car wash

The Prius is the first car I've encountered that can't be off and in Neutral. If the car wash requires cars to be in Neutral, then with a Prius you have to leave it running.

It's been multiple, multiple decades since I've run a car through one of those contraptions, but I think you typically did it with the car off (and in Neutral).

That's a reason I think.

 

If I may correct one thing in your post that is perhaps peculiar to the Prius. In neutral the Prius engine will shut down and cannot restart so cannot be left running. It can only be left in ready mode.

John (Britprius)

 

Yep, Those are the two posts I remember. "There are other posts where people have claimed to go through Car Washes with low HV batteries and gotten warnings that the vehicle should be put in park, and one that I can remember where the OP claimed the battery was so low that as he went through the car wash the vehicle put itself in park in a self protective move."

People need to know how to handle the reality of their vehicles. But since Prius Chat despite the two above mentioned posts isn't flooded with automated car wash disaster stories, I really feel the scenario you are hypothetically outlining is pretty rare...to the point of almost non-existence.

Basically it's almost...almost as simple as with any other vehicle. Put it in neutral and ride through. The only extra factor you really have to include is making sure the Hybrid Battery isn't low...and perhaps turning off some accessories.
Most car wash ride through scenarios are what? 2 minutes...maybe 3 minutes?

I don't think this is a big problem. Decent Battery Charge...Neutral....Drive Through...Drive Off...

Aren't we talking semantics to an extent here. Since The Prius is BY DESIGN made to turn the engine Off and On as it thinks it is needed.

I would say in Neutral, while the engine will not run and recharge the hybrid battery, it is neither off, nor by strictest definition in "ready mode". If it was OFF it would be in park. If it was in "Ready Mode" you'd have to push the power button to go...and neither is true in neutral.

Neutral is a state with the Prius where the engine will not run to recharge the hybrid battery. You do NOT need to push the power button to leave this state, simply again, like any other vehicle put the Prius into drive when you've exited the conveyor belt.

I don't recommend drive through car washes, but I think you guys are making it all too complicated.

 

With the greatest respect I think your over estimating the number of people that come to PC compared to the number of Prius on the road world wide. Also a large number of PC contributors know a fair amount about there cars.
If you are stuck outside a car wash possibly blocking it and know nothing about the Prius or cars in general you phone the breakdown recovery or the dealer as quickly as you can. You do not start trawling the internet in the hope you can find a magical cure.
What you are repeating is take precautions which I have already agreed with, but I repeat how many drivers out there know they must take those precautions.
I do not know how many Prius there are out there, but a guess would put it at 2 to 3 million, and your saying every driver knows how to go through a pull through car wash making sure the battery is charged first, and to turn everything off.
The other thing I will point out is that the lowest charge bars on the display also represent the smallest percentage of charge per bar compared with the fifth blue bar that represents the largest percentage.

John (Britprius)

 

Au-Toe, the Prius is very different from a normal car in the way that it starts and the way that the 12 volt "normal" battery is charged.
The Prius does not have a conventional starter motor run from the 12 volt battery. It is started by a very powerful electric motor that can also be a generator built into the transmission. This is powered by a high voltage "traction" battery of 201.5 volts and can spin the engine up to around 1500 rpm almost instantly and silently to start the engine if asked to do so by the computer.
The Prius also has no alternator to charge the 12 volt battery. It is charged by a converter fed from the HV battery to bring the voltage down from 201.5 to around 14 volts to charge the 12 volt battery.
The HV battery can be charged by the generator that acts as the starter or by a second motor generator that can be used to propel the car also built into the transmission.
The 12 volt batteries main job is to boot all the Prius computers as it is made ready. You will note I did not say start the car.
Hope this gives you a basic idea of how the Prius starts.

John (Britprius)

 

how can a prius get to cold to start in socal?

 

When the temperature plummets to 70F!

 

I use an automated car wash similar to what you describe. I just put my car in park and leave it on. Never had a problem. The engine will restart in Park, if needed, to recharge the battery.

Although Memphis winters are mild compared to the northeast where I came from, I'm sure they are colder than SoCal winters. You should be fine.

 

But the engine cannot continue to run without electrical power for the fuel and ignition systems, so severe battery discharge will stop the engine. It's not like "any vehicle" where the engine drives a 12v alternator directly.

 

So what?

Yes, The Prius doesn't have an alternator.

The debate, is what state is the Prius in, when it's placed in Neutral. The vehicle is NOT off.

Yes, it's not good to be in neutral in a Prius with the HV battery or the 12 vlt battery low. Yes in neutral the HV battery is not charged.

Doesn't change the fact that in neutral the vehicle is not off.

Basically it's REALLY simple. You can go through a conveyor belt driven automated car wash with a Prius just like with any other vehicle. The process is exactly the same.

The only additional factor to consider because it's a hybrid is the state of charge of your HV battery when entering the car wash. It's very advisable NOT to be at a low state of charge.

Given the other example threads, evidently a few people have somehow gotten themselves into a car wash right as their HV battery has reached a point of discharge that demands it be removed from neutral. Therefore I can't say a "bad" situation cannot happen.

But the OP's question was is an automated car wash dangerous or undoable....no...as long as your HV battery has a decent charge and the capability of keeping a decent charge, then a Prius is perfectly capable of using a conveyor belt driven automated car wash.

My Prius is relatively new, so the HV battery is new. But I've ridden through at about a visible 1/2 charge of the HV battery and even kept the radio and AC running, without issue.

So my opinion is....Neutral is not "Off" in a Prius, and as long as you have a decent charge on your HV battery, a automated car wash is doable...if not also IMO very advisable.

Automated car wash's with spinning brushes are demons on your paint finish. That's the primary reason I would avoid them with a Prius or otherwise.

 

Park? What kind of car wash is this?

 

Another issue some Gen2 Prii had with car washes, a few had problems with water getting into trunk, apparently it got blown up the battery vent located by the rear right wheel. I am thinking Gen3 might not have the same vent design.

I never use the automated car washes, but our county seems to ban the DIY drive-in bays. Not sure if that's Chesapeake bay protection or politics (suspecting the latter). So we use driveway method and we don't always have the cleanest Prius on the road.

 

dupe

 

And then there's this.
It Is Illegal to Wash Your Car In Your Driveway In New York

 

This is not "New York"; it's one little high-rent village on Long Island, not far from where I live. The Long Island paper, Newsday, included this note in its December 20th story on the incident, which happened last November.

"A spokesperson for Garden City police did not return requests for comment, but Village Clerk Brian Ridgway said the ordinance only prohibits car washing on public streets, not private driveways."

YouTube video of Garden City cop threatening to ticket man for washing car in driveway goes viral

 

I wouldn't take my car through the tunnel wash for the sake of my paint job!

 

I pay at a machine located outside and drive my car to the point indicated inside. A light comes on and tells me to stop when I reach that point. Then the process starts with spraying soap/water/wax/rise. The machine moves around my stationary car from the front to the back. The spraying nozzles are located on both sides of the track I drive onto. They spray low pressure and high pressure. No brushes. At end of the process I get an alert that tells me to drive forward so the drying process can begin. It's just a 30-45 seconds of slowly driving through a dryer located at the exit. The whole thing probably only takes about 5 minutes or so. Car comes out looking pretty good.

 

Ok, it's something different than the car washes I'm used to. Putting the car in Park in the ones here makes some interesting noises.

 

Nice info, I never thought about taking these kinds of precautions before since I use a touchless/brushless drive through...

Haa, I was in SoCal a year or so ago, during their winter for a short time, I was just comfortable in my coat with 45F and a night breeze.
Everyone else dressed like they were in Antarctica.
I got up early one winter morning and took a picture of the sunrise: