everytime i get out of my car and close the door i get a nice shock, at first i thought it was like static or something but its quite a jolt and its doing it alot. whats going on?

 

that happens to me too, i thought it was just my car. i made sure none of my new installed foglight wires had a open wire or something. i have no idea why the dam thing keeps shocking me. that is weird!

 

It is static electricity. The buildup of static electricity has to do with the high carbon content of modern tires, and hence they do not diffuse charge to the ground as well. Did you just get new tires?


I find that on dry days (hot or cold) I get mad static discharge. In fact, it is so bad that EVERYTIME I get out of my car now, I touch the tip of my key to the door to discharge myself before I shut the door. It doesn't always work, but usually does. One winter it got so bad, I had blue electric arcs jumping from my key to the car! The valet at my office garage kept complaining how my car was like a rolling tazer gun. I was filling up on gas and an arc jumped from the fuel nozzle to the filler door and I almost had a heart attack! Now you know why my car is "THE ONE AND ONLY ROLLING TESLA COIL"


So, try the key discharge method. Also, don't wear wool clothing if the shock still occurs. The worst shocks I get is when I am wearing wool pants, sweater, or coat.


The last solution would be to get one of those rubber static grounding strips. They attach to the underside of your car and drag along the ground to discharge static electricity. They really do work, but are ugly as hell.

 

Most of it is due to relative humidity. Static electricity travels more readily through moist air so it is much harder for it to build up. Generally, the problem is prevalent when RH is below 35% or so (right now, here in Portland, I bet it's about 25%) It's dry weather this time of year, so it's easier for the charges to get "trapped."

What happens is as you're seated, there is friction between your body and the seat. It causes an imbalance of positive and negative charges (protons and electrons respectively) and it keeps building up until you get out. The voltage can get pretty high, too -- thousands of volts. Once you get out, the charges re-join / equalize and kaboom you get a shock. The electrons love the protons and vice versa. They want to be equal and peaceful, and you've messed it up with your butt.

(This is the same concept behind the Vandegraff generator we all saw in high school)

 

I used to have this problem in my old Honda. I would try to ground myself before closing the door, but it never worked. The tires were 3 years old--didn't matter. DO yo uhave cloth seats in your car? that always adds to build up of static electricity. If you brush up a lot against the fabric this will increase the static by even more!

HURTS! I feel your pain!

My Max hasn't given me shocks yet.

 

Well im in FL so i dont think that low humidity is the culprit, i have leather seats too. Its jsut really annoying now, it never used to happen but now it seems that every time i get out i get shocked and the voltage seems to be going up!!! i get out of my car and i hesitate before closing my door its like i know its going to happen but i cant prevent it! Is there anything besides static that could do this......i just had a short fixed on my o2 sensor fixed....?

 

Bhawwaaaa! Hey Eric, I bet no coffee was needed that day! hehe.

I can imagine that happening perfectly dude. Holy shizaaatttt!

*people look over thinking "is this guy retarded or something?"* hehe

 

Ya, I hate touching my car. Every single time, and it hurts like hell....

 

so im not alone!! im glad you all feel my pain

 

Actually, you see, that arc from the fuel nozzle to the fuel door did give me heart attack from the scare. But luckily, as I was falling over, I grabbed the car for support, and got another healthy shock, this one started my heart beating again.


Yeah my friends think I'm nuts for grounding myself before touching the car. I always get the last laugh, when I tell them to get out of the car first. Then when they close the door, ZAP! Hehehe.....

 

Low relative humidity is the cause of your static electricity. I bet the RH where you are is fairly low this time of year (<35%).

It has nothing to do with your electrical system or anything else. It's static electricity exacerbated by relatively dry air.

 

Crumple up three or four Bounce clothes dryer fabric softener sheets into a wad and brush the drivers seat seating areas with it.
This is not a long term fix, but stopped the shock on my cloth seat Maxima. Left it smelling good too.
I haven't tried a light spraying of Static Guard for clothes since there isn't any in the house, but that may work too.

 

but relative humidity in a place like FL is ususally way high the air is always saturated

 

thats an interesting idea. Thats a nice picture of an intruder/corsair in your sig pic, arent they discontinuing those ?

 

just constantly touch a metal part of the door until you're on the ground, i guarantee u woulnd't get shocked again.

 

concrete pedistal on display at Camp Dodge Army Base north of Des Moines, Ia. near where I live.
I Photoshopped out the concrete as a road kill joke. I don't know if any are still in service.

 

Anyways...this method has helped me sometimes to discharge static.

When most people get out of the car, they open the door first, get out (withut touching metal) and then touch the door frame to close the door...and thus ZAP!

The way around that is to open the door, and with your hand still touching something metal (side of the door for instance), put one foot on the ground...and bingo...most of the static is discharged...

Worked for me most of the time...

Green

P.S. I've heard that some Hondas are so bad with static electricity, that sometimes toll collectors are reluctant to take money from them!! hehe!

 

Wasn't just me its such a bad shock, ouch, and i just got a new set of kuhmo's too so the shocks are really bad.

 

The air is not always saturated. In fact, to settle this argument, I just went to weather.com and checked. The relative humidity in Orlando right now is 32%.

 

what you have to do is: when getting out of your car with the door open and you still seating in your seat, place your left leg outside the car and on the ground and touch the frame (the driver's side rear door) of your car with you left hand and pat the frame as you get out of the car. What happens is that you are in a closed system and you need to discharge the static before you leave system.

Another example: when you are openning a door that has a metal handle, tap the handle with your keys while holding the key by the metal. This will discharge the static and not shock you as the key is more conductive and has no nerve connections with you.

I do this everytime the weather is dry, when I wear wool, and when I'm in Las Vegas.

 

well i appreciate you checking i feel kinda special now but mabye thats it, since there is usually more humidty here tehn 32.....or so i belive

 

Yeh dude, in a few months you'll be dealin with about 100%. Yuck!!! But hey, at least no shocks!!!

 

close the door by pushing the glass window instead of the metal.

 

This is pretty funny. I thought it only happened to me. I shocked my girlfriend the other day. Went to kiss her and zapped her with my nose. Stung for a while.

 

Lol, I've never had it happen w/ my Max yet.. Heh, must be Nissan's 100% natural anti-theft device. The geniuses at Nissan not only bring us the Max, they make sure we keep it from being stolen. =)