does your car shock you?

Mine does every dang time I get out. so #1 I shut the door using the grab handle on the inside to swing the door closed. OR I screw around and call someone unsuspecting over and hand them anything that will conduct so that they get shocked........well I still get it but it's fun dishing it out.

I think it's related to static cause my wife claims to "never get shocked"...I wore my new jacket the other day and didnt get snapped all day,but I put my heavy jacket on and *POW* got smoked again..I saw the blue bolt....

anyway,has anyone else noticed a trend? :bananadie

It is static, all the chevys (around 94 and up) that I have owned or rode in with cloth seats have done this. You get larger shocks when it is cold out. If you touch something that is grounded while you slide out, you will hardly ever get shocked. I usually leave the window down in my Blazer so I can touch the outside of the door while I get out. Luckily my Impala has leather seats that don't build static.

Any car will do this. It is the same principle as if you are wearing rubber soled shoes. You have no path to ground, and neither does a car that is sitting on 4 rubber tires...until you make one with your body. Then it discharges.

Technically, it is triboelectric charging that builds up the electricity. You rubbing against the seat, shifting around in your coats, etc. It won't happen as often on a damp day, as the electricity doesn't build as much potential. The shock is when it discharges from the car (insulated to the ground) through you because you have now become the path of least resistance.

Any car will do this, so don't worry, it's not just your car or a Chevy problem.

Hell ya i get shocked.....it hurts....sometimes it makes my arm numb for a minute because it's so bad...I'm starting to push the door closed because i know i'm going to get shocked....lol...it's crazy!!!

mike

This due to newer tires have a higher percentage of silicone rubber for longer wear. The silicone has a much higher resistance to electricity and will hold a much higher static charge. What a pain!!!

In my part of the country, the air is very dry and cold in the winter. Static electicity has become somewhat of an issue. There are warnings posted at some gas stations and have been printed in our newspaper, and mentioned on the radio that when you are at a gas station refeuling, you should not re-enter the vehicle during the re-fueling process as static electricity could spark a fire. I have been guilty of doing this , especially when it is way below zero and the wind is howling. Didn't think much about it until I heard about the reccomendation not to do it. They also reccomend when you get out of the vehicle to touch a metal part of the vehicle to discharge any built up charge. This also goes along with the procedure of not filling your plastic gas cans while in the box of a pickup truck or other vehicle, rather it is reccomended to place the gas can on the ground while filling.

this problem is really easy to fix...you just have to get into the habit of keeping contact with the door untill your feet have touched the ground....its a pain but not as painful as that shock

Isn't there a product you can buy and install on ( actually under) the car toeliminate the static shock? I think it's some sort of strip that hangs down to the ground. Ihave seen cars in the past with these on them, but haven't noticed very many lately, so I don't know if they didn't work or were a fad, or some other reason.

Isn't there a product you can buy and install on ( actually under) the car toeliminate the static shock? I think it's some sort of strip that hangs down to the ground. Ihave seen cars in the past with these on them, but haven't noticed very many lately, so I don't know if they didn't work or were a fad, or some other reason.

They were sort of a fad. They are called static strips, or something like that. They were marketed as a way to cut down or eliminate the static buildup by discharging it to the ground, but I never heard of them working very well. After a while I think they became more of a decoration. I suppose the concept is good, as long as you mount them properly and they are indeed made from conductive (or even static dissipative) rubber, but last I checked that stuff was fairly expensive. I would think that they were mostly made from regular rubber, and hence, no different (or more effective) than your tires.

my 04 chevy imapala used to shock me all the time.
Now it happenes to my friends lol.
No other car does that to me.

I just have the problem where when i get out and touch any metal, i get shocked, and it happens everytime, doesnt happen in any other cars we have, just the impala.

I have the same problem lately with my 1990 Ford Tempo. I was wondering if it was an electrical problem, but now I know it's just static. That's one less thing to worry about.

One thing I've wondered was that this car I bought has cloth seats. I was wondering if that had something to do with why I get shocked all the time. I'm getting my seats recovered with leather and hopefully that changes how often I get shocked. (Just to let you know I'm not doing this just to get my car to stop shocking me. I like the looks better with leather and I'm getting my seats added to have heated seats. For all I know, the heater element will add shocks I get now.)

One thing I've wondered was that this car I bought has cloth seats. I was wondering if that had something to do with why I get shocked all the time.
YES! The cloth from your seat against the cloth from your clothing is just like socks on carpet. The charge builds up.
I'm getting my seats recovered with leather and hopefully that changes how often I get shocked... For all I know, the heater element will add shocks I get now.)
The leather will help cut down on the shocks.
No, the heating element (unless it is broken and pumping voltage into your body) will not have anything to do with the static. As a matter of fact, when it is warmer there is more moisture in the air, and the static electricity doesn't build up as much. So if you sweat on that seat because of the heater, you have even less chance of getting shocked. (But..yuck).

YES! The cloth from your seat against the cloth from your clothing is just like socks on carpet. The charge builds up.

The leather will help cut down on the shocks.
No, the heating element (unless it is broken and pumping voltage into your body) will not have anything to do with the static. As a matter of fact, when it is warmer there is more moisture in the air, and the static electricity doesn't build up as much. So if you sweat on that seat because of the heater, you have even less chance of getting shocked. (But..yuck).

While were on the topic of seat covers, anyone know of some good ones to cover the stock cloth seats... 160k of use and they are really starting to show it, bleh.

katzkin is the one's I'm having put in my car. But they don't go over the existing covering. You have to rip off the existing covering and replace it with these. I'm having mine professionally done. Probably will be a few more weeks though. My brand new car with 2,000 miles on it, I smashed it up a few days ago when a deer plowed into the side of my car. It's in the body shop now. Sad for a car that only has 2000 miles on it :-( My luck. I need to move to the city.

katzkin is the one's I'm having put in my car. But they don't go over the existing covering. You have to rip off the existing covering and replace it with these. I'm having mine professionally done. Probably will be a few more weeks though. My brand new car with 2,000 miles on it, I smashed it up a few days ago when a deer plowed into the side of my car. It's in the body shop now. Sad for a car that only has 2000 miles on it :-( My luck. I need to move to the city.

I live in a city, deer still are abundant... friggin Michigan. :mad:

While were on the topic of seat covers, anyone know of some good ones to cover the stock cloth seats... 160k of use and they are really starting to show it, bleh.

Well, I got my leather seats installed a few days ago. My car originally came with cloth seats. It looks better than a car that came with leather OEM. So I would highly recommend it. It's katzkin leather. I had mine professionally installed though. But it doesn't cover the stock cloth seats. They rip the cloth off and recover it with the leather. It wasn't too expensive. It was only $1,000 for the whole install for both front seats and the back seat. And, on top of that, I used to get shocked everytime I touched my car when getting out. Now I might get a little shock, but you can barely feel it, rather than what it was like where it felt like a bolt of lightning everytime I touched my car getting out. I wouldn't change back to cloth seats in a million years. It looks 1000 times better and the shock factor is pretty much gone.

( My luck. I need to move to the city.

There are plenty of deer in the city also.They need to spray them like mosquitos!!

You should try the method farmers use for static buildup on combines (wouldn't actually reccomend this). On combines, the static builds up and it will accumulate a layer of dust about 10 inches thick. We bolt a short piece of chain to the rear axle and drag it. The dust accumulates much slower. Prolly a bad idea on the highway though. If you want to guarantee a shock, get in my silverado with cloth seats wearing a wool coat. It's fire baby. I'm always scared to pump gas without touching the door first because once or twice I have seen a spark when I touched the gas nozzle.

98 Lumina has really bad static shock from velour-type cloth, its far worse shock than cloth Pontiac GrandPrix seats. The Pontiac has a dense flat weave like a "potatoe sack", the Lumina cloth has a cushiony weave with millions of fibers poking upward giving more rub and shock surface. Leather seats are no problem, rather pay more and get leather next time. Lumina door handle on inside has two exposed screw heads, say away from them - ouch. When I exit car its always foot first and leg touching door frame, walking to gas cap, I'll touch body a couple of times to insure static is discharged.

Driving across Nevada desert, gas station had water flowing over driverway. Clerk said it discharges static from cars... it worked for me. In rainy weather, when everything is wet, no problem with static.

Ever since I had my cloth seats replaced with leather, I haven't been shocked off my car. That's the fix.

Any Feedback on those new Leather seats that were installed?..It sounds like a cool set-up.........Crazy4nitro

I love the leather seats in my car. They look better than factory. They're katskin leather seats. I also had the heated seats added also on both driver and passenger side. Still no shocking on my car either since it's been done.

There is a simple remedy for static, I don't know where you guys get all this money to throw at such simple problems. I had a 86 olds cutlass with cloth seats that shocked me for years and there is a simple fix. There are products in common stores that take static out of clothes. I think the product is called static guard, it is a spray, don't remember who makes it but it will stop static for months before you need to respray again. Use it on the seat.

Come on guys, don't make things so complicated, it just cost a couple of dollars, no need to change seats or hang straps.

'99 Grand AM SE
'02 Impala LS
'02 Trans AM WS6
'71 Cutlass Supreme SX
never been shocked by any of them although I have had cars do this in the distant past..

Yep -- more so when it's cold/dry outside -- but seems like everytime -- only on exit -- and every time I forget :)

* when it's dark, I can actually see the spark as it arcs!

I normally get shocked just looking at a car *ok, slight exaggeration* But I never had a problem with it when I had my Impala. Now if I got out of the taurus, Id get zapped every single time.
I learned to just flick somewhere on the door with the top of my finger nail before trying to close the door, and that worked for me. Or if I touched it with my elbow first it often worked too...though I dont know why that is. I do the same thing at stores with those big freezer doors or Ill get zapped there too.