i'm sure its safe, as i'm sure the dealers do it all the time. i leased a prius back in 2010 and turned it in, in 2013. but now picked up a plug in at the end of 2013. i was getting gas one time at a gas station, and it has a drive thru car wash on its premises. as i was waiting for my fill up to finish, i was reading a sign on the fuel pump, mentioning about how much the car wash was, etc... then there was a side note saying, toyota prius should not use the car wash. it made me wonder why, but didn't put much thought after my car was filled up and i left. now that i'm back into a prius again, any explainable reason why that 'safety' note was up there for the prius, which i'm also assuming for all hybrid/electric cars?
I would return to the same place and ask the store manager for an explanation of the posted sign. It doesn't sound logical
it's because your 12v battery can go dead if the car wash won't let you keep the car in ready. there are a bunch of threads here from people it's happened to. come out the end of the car wash and car won't start. if you put it in neutral, it doesn't keep the battery charged. a new healthy battery is probably fine, but there are many comprimised ones as we know, that are unknown to the owner because they work fine in normal situations, and don't die until undue stress is put on them. congrats on the plug in, all the best!
Yep, you have to be in Neutral (I never recommend you ever be in Neutral) and in Neutral the HV Battery can't recharge, so there is a risk your Prius will not start. Even once towed to the dealer, the dealer does not have a HV Battery charger, so one would need to be borrowed from Toyota's regional office which will take days. No one wants to go through all that.
The HV traction battery can also be discharged doing this as JP above points out, particularly if the AC is left running. This is far more difficult to recover from than the 12 volt failure. John (Britprius)
Ok, conflicting explanations here: dead 12v versus dead traction battery. Plus, in the short time the car is in neutral in the car wash, how much discharging is actually going to happen to either battery? My Toyota dealer puts my Prius through an automatic car wash with every service visit. (They certainly don't hand wash it.) So why not? I think the car wash likely has the sign for one of two reasons: - Low clearance underneath - Most owners don't know how to put their Prius in neutral.
and they live all available accessories on ( headlights, radio, and blasting A/C) that will prematurely waste the 12VDC Aux battery. We haven't mention the incompetence of Car Wash attendants yet.........
Not conflicting. Both true. In neutral the engine cannot start, but the HV battery is still charging the 12 volt battery and this is running all the Prius systems. The traction battery also powers the AC, this can draw 3 kw from the battery. Without the engine running no charging of the HV battery is taking place and it can be discharged very quickly "it may not be at or near full when you arrive at the wash" running it down to a point where it cannot turn the engine once you either put it in park, drive, or reverse the only conditions where the engine can start. The 12 volt if marginal will not be charged because the HV battery is low and will quickly give up trying to run all the systems. John (Britprius)
My guess is that particular Car Wash has had some problems with Prius trying to use it. They have the right to apply any policy or warning they wish. If the Hybrid Battery is well charged, and the vehicle is put into neutral, there really is no reason a Prius can't ride through a car wash. This would be aside from any arguments against using a automated car wash as a whole. But there are some extra caveats with a Prius. One as simple as to put it into neutral (On my Gen 3) you have to hold the shifter at neutral for a extra beat or two. My guess is someone in the past tried to go through the car wash in a Prius with a low Hybrid Battery, or a low 12 volt and many accessories running and had problems. Or someone got in line and then had trouble getting into neutral. But with well charged batteries, and knowing how to get your Prius into neutral, an automated car wash is doable, if not particularly advisable. If you are going through a car wash in Neutral, your vehicle is not "off". Once through, like any vehicle, you simply then choose "D" and drive off. Since your vehicle is never "Off" there is no worry or risk it won't start. True the HV battery won't recharge in neutral, so you probably want to make sure you have a decent charge entering the Car Wash, but The Prius CAN survive nicely in neutral, and go through an automated car wash. I will admit that during the coldest spots of winter I've rolled the dice. It's MOSTLY for finish protection that I avoid automated car washes, which I think are hard on any vehicles finish. But I can tell you from experience, an automated Car Wash...and "Neutral" in a Prius are both perfectly doable.
With the great majority of other cars "auto or manual" you can select neutral and turn the engine off. With the Prius if you do this the car automatically selects park and locks the transmission so you have to leave the car in ready mode and neutral. This is of course if we are talking about pull through type of car washes. John (Britprius)
it's interesting that the accessories can run down the hv below a safety minimum, and yet, when i ran out of gas and kept driving on ev until the car stopped and the Christmas tree lit up, it started no problem after aaa put gas in. i wonder if this is a glitch in the software, or if toy felt there is a safety reason to power the acc until the hv is completely drained?
In Neutral the Prius is NOT "Off"... This is evident because if The Prius is turned "off" it automatically goes into "Park". If you are on a belt being pulled through a car wash and The Prius is "off"...and thus automatically in park? You're going to know it, and it won't be subtle. In Neutral The Prius is in a state where the HV battery will not be charged. But it's otherwise operational. 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. But I'll say it again. If your batteries are decently charged...putting the Prius in neutral and going through a car wash is perfectly doable.
I would recommend avoiding it MORE based on the fact that I think it's risky to the finish of the vehicle. Horror stories of automated car wash damage to paint finish and body parts are far more prevalent than Prius specific related stories of automated car wash sudden battery failure.
Shifted into Park in Automatic Car Wash | PriusChat Low Traction Battery Problem w/ Prius at my Car Wash | PriusChat
As I said in my earlier if you take precautions it should be ok, but how many people that own a Prius are aware of the facts. Perfectly reasonable scenario. Customer joins queue at wash on warm day. Sits in the car with AC on car in ready and park. HV battery discharges down to two pink bars and recharges to three blue, the car keeps doing this till it is the customers turn. Pulls onto conveyer customer selects neutral and exits car. Thinks car will be nice and cool for when I get back in. What happens next? Do not say this cannot happen. There are people out there that do not know how where or when to check there oil, blow up there tyres, or check there lights let alone know about the complexities of the Prius charging sytems. John (Britprius)
Personally, I only use an automatic carwash during the winter - and then when the temp is above the mid-20s to avoid serious icing. If the temp is about 40, I hand wash my cars. I run all my daily drivers through an automatic car wash with an underbody flush at the end of every winter to try to flush out the salt.
