C5 mk1 estate Electric shocks

[ej2095]

Every time i get out the car keep getting small electric shock off the door???

All the electrics in car are fine??

Any ideas?

[taffy]

Yea me too lol wat The hell is it!?......

[myglaren]

Has to be static.
Synthetic fibre clothing is a common cause.

[taffy]

Lol I think ur rite! Haha!

[Peter.N.]

It happens when the air is very dry, when its damp the charge leaks away. Its happening to me when I shuffle along the floor to put some fuel on the stove, you can hear the 'crack' as I go to get hold of the door - or touch the cat

Peter

[ej2095]

lol very annoying.... time for a earth stap lol

[ej2095]

It happens when the air is very dry, when its damp the charge leaks away. Its happening to me when I shuffle along the floor to put some fuel on the stove, you can hear the 'crack' as I go to get hold of the door - or touch the cat

Peter

Why did i have the image of that dog that drags its ass along the floor.... corner to corner for maximum wipe

[Mandrake]

Used to happen to me all the time in hot dry weather in NZ... ZAP...

My solution was simple, after opening the door but before swinging my feet out I would grasp the metal of the top corner of the door and keep my hand in contact with the metal as I climbed out and stood up, not letting go until I was standing. This way no charge can develop between your body and the door to zap you when you reach to close the door...

[mooseshaver]

Happens to me in every car and out of habit now I touch door before my feet land.
You used to be able to buy things that dangled down under the car and touched the ground when stationary. Used to always see them on Ford Escorts as a child (80s)

[ej2095]

must be that time of year getting shocked again lol

[rabenson]

Could be your choice of footwear - the car and you build up a static charge while you are driving then when you get out, if your shoe soles are conductive the charge on your body gets grounded when you step out so you are now at a different potential to the car. so now when you touch the car, its charge gets grounded through you - hence the shock. It used to happen to me every time I wore a particular pair of trainers but was fine when wearing other shoes, which presumably had higher electrical resistance soles.

[qprdude]

Plenty anti-static straps on Ebay for a few quid. Cheaper than buying separate clothing and footwear just to drive your car.

[Mandrake]

An anti-static strap from the car to the ground will only stop a static charge building up between the car body and the ground - it won't stop one building up between you and the car due to friction between your clothes/shoes and the seat/carpet. Most of the static charge is generated by rubbing your pants across the seat.

I used to have this problem a lot on my previous Xantia with cloth seats. A workaround is to modify the way you get out of the car - after you open the door and start to swing your legs around to get out, grasp the corner of the door on the metal with one hand BEFORE your feet touch the ground and KEEP that hand grasping the metal frame of the door during the entire time you are climbing out until you are standing with two feet on the ground, then you can let go.

Follow this procedure and you will never be shocked leaving the car. After a while this technique became a force of habit for me because without it I was getting shocked nearly every dry summer day in NZ.

[qprdude]

Not sure I understand why the static strap is of any use in that case. What is it's purpose, if not to earth the static electricity from the car so that there isn't any to transfer to yourself? I've never had this problem in any car. With or without cloth seats, and wearing everything from nylon shorts to a kilt ( No frocks) . The method of getting out of the car by grasping the door frame might be OK for you just now, but wait until you're a pensioner and it's a matter of getting out by the easiest means without falling on your arse, never mind grabbing door frames with your feet hovering in mid air . There just has to be a simpler way.

[Peter.N.]

The static is built up between you and the car as you slide over the seat, so earthing the car doesn't help a lot. The determining factor as to whether you generate static or not depends on the humidity, if the air/your car/your clothing is very dry, that's when it happens.

Peter