Smart Cars Are Really Dumb When It Comes To Automatic Car Washes

Car washes are essential for keeping your vehicle looking great and in excellent condition but owners of new vehicles might want to think twice before visiting an automatic car wash.

According to Car Wash Magazine's spring issue, car wash owners are experiencing a handful of problems with cars equipped with advanced driver assistance systems.

As part of a study conducted on behalf of the International Car Wash Association, 78.9 percent of car wash owners indicated their facility has caused damage to vehicles equipped with rain-sensing wipers. Another 39.2 percent said vehicle engine start/stop systems were activating and 37.8 percent reported problems with collision avoidance systems activating during the wash cycle.

The latter problem is particularly troubling as Derek Kaufman told Wards Auto, “A vehicle’s forward-collision system triggers, stopping the car in the automatic tunnel after it has been through the soap cycle. The rollers on the automatic conveyor are slippery with soap, so they simply slip underneath the tires [and] the vehicle approaching from behind hits the stopped vehicle."

While drivers can typically deactivate these systems before going into a car wash, different manufactures use different deactivation procedures so it's difficult to train employees and customers on how to turn the systems off. As a result, some car wash owners are having their employees ride in customer vehicles to ensure everything goes smoothly.

The report proposes three possible solutions including a rather interesting telematics option which would inform vehicles they are entering a car wash and need to deactivate certain systems temporarily.