electric shock when opening door...

If you have cloth seats then it is static. I get this during the cold, dry winter season.

Be sure to touch the metal frame of the car before sliding out of the seat. I normally put my hand on top of the car as I slide out. This will stop the static discharge.

 

A lot of fires at gas pumps have started from static sparks. So be careful and ground yourself to the metal part of your car before gassing up.

 

I didn't know putting a hand on painted body panels would work.
I just always grabbed the door striker as I get out, its bare metal and pretty clean and easy to grab as it is a loop.

 

Bare metal is always better than painted metal. The top of the car has always worked for me.

 

It's static electricity, and it has nothing to do with the batteries in the Prius.

Tom

 

All my cars have done this at some point. My GF's Rav4 has been especially painful this winter. lol

 

If you rub your passenger's thighs very slowly you won't get an electrical shock, but your liable to get something else depending on the sex of the passenger, and how well you know them.


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The material you are wearing also makes a big difference man made fibres make for more static eg nylon and polyesters, cotton and wool or natural fibres produce less static.

 

Easy solution. Use fabric softener sheets in the dryer. All your clothes are extremely charged. The cheaper your clothes the more charge they'll store.

Bounce sheets are the best. Might have to use more than neccessary in the dryer for a while till you kill the charge thats in the dryer bin.

If I don't have Bounce on my clothes I can electrocute myself on the racks at work. Nice long blue spark.

 

This explains why static used to be a problem for me years ago when I wore my gore tex skiing jacket all winter. Now that its old I only wear it for skiing so I've worn a wool jacket the past few years and have had no problem with static ever since.

I'll file this away in my memory banks and hopefully it'll come up in conversation some day and I'll get to give a smart answer.

thanks Brit, you're very smart for someone who only knows two facts about ducks, both of them being wrong.

 

More importantly, stay at the pump with your hand on the handle to prevent this from happening:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3x-8tj49ac&list=FLLaHDvf3SVA4D3GZvyHC_bA&index=41&feature=plpp_video]Gas Pump Fire - YouTube[/ame]

 

where I come from, if a gas station attendant sees you get back in your car they stop your pump immediately.

years ago Mythbusters busted the myth that cell phones can cause gas station fires, but perhaps gas pumps should have a bare metal grounding "handle" that you grab before grabbing the nozzle??

 

Aircraft refueling stations have these. They have a grounding wire that you clip to the airframe before fueling.

Tom

 

Both type A jet fuel & Low Lead 100 aviation fuel both have fairly low flash point, however it takes nothing to ignite their fumes. So an airplane with its wings full of fuel is much much much less likely to explode than one that's running on empty.

Mayday (repeated 3 times) means emergency as everyone knows, but there is another phrase: Pan-Pan (repeated 3 times) that means urgency. Most airmen are too proud to admit to miscalculating and not having enough fuel (probably usually due to an unexpected headwind), so you'll never hear Pan-Pan used over the airwaves, instead the pilot tries all manner of other phrases to receive preferential treatment, most commonly "Low Fuel".

A pilot once kept telling me he couldn't make his alternate air field, I couldn't figure out why he was telling me this as we were in VFR sky clear conditions (visibility 10+ miles). I finally figured out he was low on fuel because he kept asking for direct approach to a non advertised runway six as opposed to joining the pattern for runway two eight. I obliged and cleared him for direct approach to runway six, I of course added, "At own risk, wind one three zero at six, gust one seven" so if anything happens while landing with a crosswind my nice person would be covered. Unfortunately he was a skilled pilot so that day was uneventful

 

I forgot to mention that I like to have a little fun with pilots, when they say low fuel I ask if they want to declare an emergency. this makes them sweat as they will fear that I will only give them top priority if they declare an emergey.

they always respond no, but i'm not an a-hole so I always give them a direct route and let them land first. I once extended an airliner 5 miles downwind to allow a low fuel cessna to land without delay, needless to say big planes burn a lot of fuel trying to stay airborne at low altitude and low speeds so I got my ear cheered out by an airline representative. ironically, the airline pilot didn't complain a peep, and I think they get bonuses for the less fuel they are able to use. NOTAM: airmen stick together!!