Electric shocks

That has not happened to me with the two Prius's I have had.

It did happen to a Cadillac my father had. Turn out that the speaker wire kind of broke (the outside plastic covering wore thin) and the metal was touching the door, so every time you touched the door you got a little shock.

 

get a grounding strap for you and your car!

Amazon.com: Vehicle Ground Strap: Everything Else

 

No this isn't anything specific to the Prius, it can happen with any car and is usually related to the seat (or seat cover) material and is exacerbated by low humidity weather conditions. Are you using any seat covers?

If you can't find any other solution then it's generally possible to minimize the effect by simply adjusting the way you approach or exit the car. Try holding the door as you exit your seat and maintaining firm contact with your hand on a metal part of the door until you have fully exited the car (until you are actually outside are standing beside it). This causes the static charge to equalize and you should find you can close the door without any shock.

If you also find that in dry windy weather you sometimes get a shock when you're returning to the car, typically through the tips of your fingers as you reach for the door handle, then there's a technique to minimize this as well. If you approach and make first contact with a broad part of your body instead of something pointy like your finger, then the electrostatic voltage is greatly reduced. Without wanting to insult anyone by insinuating that they have a broad backside, your bum is the best part of the body to use here. Push your back or bum toward the door before reaching around and touching with your hand. Even in the most severe electrostatic conditions the worst you should get is a very slight prickle type feeling through your cloths.

Personally I've never had any electrostatic problems with my Prius, but I used to get this problem often with a previous car that had nylon seat covers. It was shocking (literally). In the Prius I have good quality lambswool (on lambs hide) seat covers. I'm not sure why this material is as good as it is, but they're just amazingly comfortable. They're warm in winter but don't seem to get hot in summer either, and never any static problems with these.

 

If your car has air bags in the driver and front passenger seatbacks (I believe all the Prius's have them), you cannot use
any seat covers over the seats (the air bags cannot deploy).

 

Clothing materials can also greatly affect this problem. Man made fibres can increase the risk of getting shocks natural fibres cotton, and wool reduce it.

John (Britprius)

 

Not so. Properly made seat covers, such as those from Wet Okole make provisions for airbags.

 

...like i said, you cannot use any seat covers...

 

I agree. I used to get static shocks all the time before I started using fabric softener. I can't remember the last time I had one.

 

Cheap shoes with those weird soles.