Neutral in Car Wash

We run ours through a car wash every week and have zero problems, there are enough of them here, and similar cars with SKS systems, that they know how to operate them. In fact theres a sign at my carwash that reads "Keyless cars, leave keys in cupholder please!"

 

I have a funny story... I just got my Gen 2 and went to one of those car washes where you put it in Neutral and it rolls you through. Well, halfway through I got messages saying the battery was low and it couldn't charge so I hit the power button....

My car went into park and everything stopped, the water, the brushes, the lights went on while about 10 cars were in the wash. A worker came right up to my car and told me to put the car in neutral. I put the car in neutral and everything started back up again.

I'm sure everyone was wondering what the heck was going on haha.

 

Yeah, that is a bit of a problem. The 12V won't run down quickly if all the electric loads are turned off: lights, fans, A/C, and so forth. That's what I usually do, but that is also the reason I never take it through a car wash on a hot day.

You are also supposed to take the antenna off so it isn't damaged in the wash. But leaving the hole open isn't a good idea as water could drip onto the electronics inside the little stub through that hole if the rubber is cracked. So I have an old antenna where the rubber at the base flaked off and which flops around enough to lie flat, and I screw that one in first.

 

Simplest is to avoid car washes where the car is pulled along; they are designed with the presumption cars can be of off and in neutral. With the Prius that's not possible. If you're stuck with pull-along car washes, best to have the car warmed up, decent charge on the pack, and fully on (aka in "Ready" mode, in toyota parlance).

I think the warning's for the hybrid battery.

 

Sure, but the only load for the pack while the car is in neutral and the A/C is off is to provide power for the 12V systems and charge the 12V battery. If the 12V load is tiny and the 12V battery is already charged, then the car will make it through the car wash. Car washes of that type are pretty short, maybe 5 minutes, so starting with a good pack charge and no load, it will come out the other end still functional.

Conversely, the compressor runs directly off the pack, and it is quite a large load. This is why I don't wash our car on hot days in a car wash. I don't want to be parboiled going through with the A/C off, and running the A/C is likely to drain the pack too much.