Car Wash Mode

I would recommend against using an automatic car wash, you may not have clearance under the car for the tow.

From page 486 of the manual.
■Automatic car washes
●Before washing the vehicle:
• Fold the mirrors
• Turn off the power back door

 

When the car in in N mode, the 12v battery does not get any charge from the traction battery thru the DC-DC charger in the Inverter. If you are running the AC at full tilt, the 12v battery voltage will go down. May not be a problem, and yet again it could be. Turning off the AC and fan could avert this use of the 12v battery when it is not recieving power from the Hybrid System. Turn off the day-run headlights could also help.

 

The hybrid battery won’t charge in neutral which is the problem.

 

if it's a prime, charge it before going

 

So that would then apply to most cars? The G5 Prius isn't unusually low - indeed it's higher than a lot of previous Priuses. Never seen one of these "move the car" car washes - don't think they exist here in Europe? But I struggle to believe they've invented something unsuitable for most cars. (But then maybe that's why they don't exist here...)

That's all totally wrong. N decouples the engine and motors and hybrid battery from the drivetrain. The 12V system and A/C remain connected to the hybrid battery.

So no real problem in that area for a plug-in Prius, unless you're at "---" on the battery gauge, at which point you have the same issue as a non-plug in, you might manage to deplete the hybrid battery.

 

If you mean with "move the car" washes these up to 50m long streets where you get pulled through while your car is washed and "waxed" in many ways including light shows and giant blowers - we have a lot of these in Germany at leat in urban areas. How else would lazy people like me wash their cars? I never had a car though where not eventually something fell off while using one - small price for convenience.
EDIT: Example Mr. Wash - Germany's fanciest car washing facility - Team-BHP

I never folded mirrors in my cars - they are usually folded by outside force. But the power back door sounds scary. What could happen? The button gets accidentally pressed?

 

I've only ever used and seen the less-fancy "the car stands still while the rig with the brushes and nozzles and blowers moves backwards and forwards" washes.

(I imagine there's a technical/trade name for these types )

 

This style negates the need for the car to be on, in Neutral, etcetera.

still, if practical/possible: an occasional handwash is good, to get in the wheel wells, underbody, all the corners/edges/recesses, and to check and deal with minor damage.

 

It's related to the current door recall. Sealant for an electronic module fails in the field, allowing water intrusion that can cause it to open the door. I believe the first case happened in a car wash.

 

I believe the first case happened while the car was moving.

I'm the source of the misinformed car wash story. I read the recall documents late one night and got some of the details confused when I posted the next morning. (I think it was KMO that caught my mistake.)

Toyota duplicated the issue during testing by using something like a pressure washer wand spraying at the rear door seals. I misremembered that as the original case being caused during a car wash.

SM-S901U ?

 

You're not alone and I've owned a Prius since 2017! We had a new car wash built with those stupid conveyer belts and I, also, cause them to shut it down until I could get it into neutral.
But it's not a brushless wash and would flap my mirrors back and forth even though they were already pulled in so I stopped going. (And their Yelp reviews had numerous folks reporting of mirror damage.)

 

With North America's obsession with SUVs you see a lot more ground clearance on most other cars. The one time that I tried the automatic pull your car car wash one of my mudflaps caught on the track, fortunately it didn't break but that was the first and last time I used an automatic car wash, I wasn't impressed with the job it did either. Now I take it to the bay where wash it yourself but I probably wouldn't be opposed to the "touchless" ones where you drive in and it moves around you if there was one near by.

 

I only use car washes for the under carriage spray. I know some manual bays have a nozzle for that, but haven't seen such for the auto wash that moves around the car.

Regardless, until the car has the recall fix, you want to be sure the steps have been taken to prevent the fault opening the rear doors before going through a car wash.

 

I don't think the fault OPENS then rear door. I think it unlatches the door. Still has to be physicaly opened bu someone something.
Have yoiu ever triedd to push the door open while driving down the highway at 35-55 MPH. It takes much effort. now driving with a rear door unlatched and getting in an crash/accident might causee the door to open.

 

It's called a "Drive through automatic car wash"