Car Wash Mode

[thorin78]

Hello again,
On page 208 of the manual, it details the procedure for car wash mode while the vehicle is either on or off.
Could you please clarify why the door needs to be open?

Normally, if I'm driving into a car wash, i'm in D (Drive) and then move into the track. Do I then need to open the door and shift into N (Neutral)? It seems the car can shift into N without the door being open.
Does opening the door and then shifting to N tell the car to not shift into P while it's in the car wash on the track?
Once the indicator is in N, should I close the door and let off the brake? Or were the instructions written with the expectation of the driver leaving the car? If so, are the keys expected to be left inside the car or taken with the driver?

Thank you.

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

Hello again,
On page 208 of the manual, it details the procedure for car wash mode while the vehicle is either on or off.
Could you please clarify why the door needs to be open?

Normally, if I'm driving into a car wash, i'm in D (Drive) and then move into the track. Do I then need to open the door and shift into N (Neutral)? It seems the car can shift into N without the door being open.
Does opening the door and then shifting to N tell the car to not shift into P while it's in the car wash on the track?
Once the indicator is in N, should I close the door and let off the brake? Or were the instructions written with the expectation of the driver leaving the car? If so, are the keys expected to be left inside the car or taken with the driver?

Thank you.

Hi thorin78!

I'll reach out to some of my contacts and try to get you more clarification in regards to this mode and your questions. Once I have more information for you, I'll let you know here!

Amber G.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

Good morning thorin78,

As promised, I just wanted to follow up in regards to your inquiry here. According to my internal teams, the only time you need to open the door and press the brake to shift to neutral is if you need to put the car into neutral when the vehicle is off. If you drive into a car wash and remain in the vehicle with the vehicle still on, you can leave it on and put it into neutral as normal and it will be fine. If the car is off, the electronic shift will not go into neutral unless you follow the steps in the owner’s manual.

Let me know if you have additional questions,

Amber G.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[thorin78]

Good morning thorin78,

As promised, I just wanted to follow up in regards to your inquiry here. According to my internal teams, the only time you need to open the door and press the brake to shift to neutral is if you need to put the car into neutral when the vehicle is off. If you drive into a car wash and remain in the vehicle with the vehicle still on, you can leave it on and put it into neutral as normal and it will be fine. If the car is off, the electronic shift will not go into neutral unless you follow the steps in the owner’s manual.

Let me know if you have additional questions,

Amber G.
Chevrolet Customer Care

Thank you for responding so quickly. I do appreciate the clarity. It seems now that the instruction manual states the procedure differently for when the vehicle is on. See the attachment for the procedure for Vehicle On.
Could you please verify if this is the right method for taking the car into an automated car wash with an attendant putting the car on the track.
Vehicle On and on track
1. While pressing the brake, shift to N (Neutral)
2. The indicator should now show N. If it does not, select N (Neutral) again.
3. Open the door, driver may step away from the car and leave Keys in the vehicle.
4. Close the door
5. Open the door and shift into P (Park upon returning to the vehicle.

For step 3, I remember that the dealer showed me that the car will shift to Park and turn on the Parking brake if the door is opened while in motion. Will the car do this if it's following this procedure as written above which is a slight expansion of the procedure for vehicle on stated in the manual?

Thank you.

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

Thank you for responding so quickly. I do appreciate the clarity. It seems now that the instruction manual states the procedure differently for when the vehicle is on. See the attachment for the procedure for Vehicle On.
Could you please verify if this is the right method for taking the car into an automated car wash with an attendant putting the car on the track.
Vehicle On and on track
1. While pressing the brake, shift to N (Neutral)
2. The indicator should now show N. If it does not, select N (Neutral) again.
3. Open the door, driver may step away from the car and leave Keys in the vehicle.
4. Close the door
5. Open the door and shift into P (Park upon returning to the vehicle.

For step 3, I remember that the dealer showed me that the car will shift to Park and turn on the Parking brake if the door is opened while in motion. Will the car do this if it's following this procedure as written above which is a slight expansion of the procedure for vehicle on stated in the manual?

Thank you.

Hi thorin78,

It's my pleasure! I'm happy to help provide whatever clarification I can. If you are remaining in the vehicle through the car wash, just put it into neutral as normal and ride through the car wash, no need to open the door.

If the car needs to be in neutral and no one will be in the vehicle, like in the case of an attendant, you need to do the following steps to make sure that the car does not force “Park” when you exit the vehicle.

1) You need to open the door before putting it into neutral
2) Shift into neutral
3) You can now exit and it will remain in neutral.

Hope this helps!

Amber G.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[bill565]

But surely it's the attendant who will be driving the car at this point (from the interior clean section to the car wash itself) and it seems a stretch to expect the attendant to consult the manual. If they don't follow the correct procedure then it sounds as though the car could shift from neutral to park in the middle of the wash. That sounds bad.

 

[bill565]

Is there any Chevy reply to this last point? The full service car washes I'm familiar with require the car to be left at a station where the interior is cleaned. An attendant then drives the car to the automated car wash and exits the car leaving it in N. The car wash then moves the car through the car wash. The attendant obviously isn't going to read the manual. They will just assume that if the car is in N when they exit the car then it will stay in N through the car wash. It sounds as though there's some sort of door/gear shift sequence which, if performed incorrectly, might lead to the car to shift back from N to P. Is that right? If so it sounds bad. Could you let me know if my understanding is correct? If so I think that means I can't use a full service car wash where an attendant drives the car to the wash section. Not the worst thing in the world but I'd just like to know whether this is something I should be concerned about or not. Thanks.

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

Is there any Chevy reply to this last point? The full service car washes I'm familiar with require the car to be left at a station where the interior is cleaned. An attendant then drives the car to the automated car wash and exits the car leaving it in N. The car wash then moves the car through the car wash. The attendant obviously isn't going to read the manual. They will just assume that if the car is in N when they exit the car then it will stay in N through the car wash. It sounds as though there's some sort of door/gear shift sequence which, if performed incorrectly, might lead to the car to shift back from N to P. Is that right? If so it sounds bad. Could you let me know if my understanding is correct? If so I think that means I can't use a full service car wash where an attendant drives the car to the wash section. Not the worst thing in the world but I'd just like to know whether this is something I should be concerned about or not. Thanks.

Hi bill565,

Please accept my apologies for the delayed response. I reached out to one of my internal contacts late last week in regards to your inquiry, and am still waiting on that response/information. I'll post again within this thread, once I have more information for you!

Best,

Amber G.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[bobpenn]

I, too am very confused by the instructions in the user's manual, because they don't seem to reflect the real world.

Here is the step by step which happens at the car washes I have gone to with a ICE car:

1) I drive the car up a station and put the car in park (normally) and turn the engine off, Leave the keys in the car.
2) Attendent opens the door and vaccums the car.
3) Attendant starts the car and drives it to the car wash tracks.
4) They put the car in neutral and (I assume) turn off the engine (but maybe not?), and get out of the car
5) At the end, they jump back into the car and drive it off to dry the car by hand.

So with the instructions in the manual, the process would appear to fall apart between steps 1) and 2)? Or certainly at step 3).

 

[thorin78]

I, too am very confused by the instructions in the user's manual, because they don't seem to reflect the real world.

Here is the step by step which happens at the car washes I have gone to with a ICE car:

1) I drive the car up a station and put the car in park (normally) and turn the engine off, Leave the keys in the car.
2) Attendent opens the door and vaccums the car.
3) Attendant starts the car and drives it to the car wash tracks.
4) They put the car in neutral and (I assume) turn off the engine (but maybe not?), and get out of the car
5) At the end, they jump back into the car and drive it off to dry the car by hand.

So with the instructions in the manual, the process would appear to fall apart between steps 1) and 2)? Or certainly at step 3).

1. Yes, but generally you're talking to an attendant about what type of car wash you'd like.
2. Yup, same
3. Yup, same. but I've seen them drive the car w/ the door open so that they can get out of the vehicle quicker. This is where it falls apart kind of.
4. Depending on the station, the engine may or may not be turned off. And depending on if the attendant had the door open at the time the car is driven onto the track and put it into neutral. So you either have to be watching or whatever.
5. Yup, same.

So in my view, I either need to tell the attendant the procedure before he gets out of the car, or offer to drive the car onto the track.

Ya, it's more of an inconvenience because of the safety feature of the car putting itself into Park if the doors are open but I think safety is important.

It certainly would have been more helpful for the manual to clarify this particular procedure because much like the fine print, no one reads the manual. There should be a PSA on NPR as much as those ads about NPR brought to you by the new Chevy Bolt. Even my service manager didn't know there was this procedure.

 

[bill565]

Amber, do you have an update on this yet? I'd like to know whether it is safe to use a full service car wash or not. What happens when an attendant doesn't correctly follow the precise sequence of steps necessary to safely put the car in N.

 

[gpsman]

Simple-

Explain this is a one of a kind car and stay with it.
Stay in the driver's seat. Stay in Control.

That is what I have done two times.
Once in N.Calif and once in S. Calif.

No special procedure since your butt stays on the weight sensor and your driver door does not open.

Easy peazy. Just shift into N at the approprite time.
Behaves like any other car.

-John

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

Amber, do you have an update on this yet? I'd like to know whether it is safe to use a full service car wash or not. What happens when an attendant doesn't correctly follow the precise sequence of steps necessary to safely put the car in N.

Apologies for the delay, bill565. We did receive an update from our internal resources today. They've stated that in order for the car to remain in Neutral without someone in the driver’s seat, the driver will need to have the door open when shifting to Neutral. You can then get out and close the door, but the car must remain on. You will have to explain this to the attendant if you believe they are unfamiliar with this.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to let us know.

Have a great weekend,
Lauren E.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[ChevyCustomerCare]

I, too am very confused by the instructions in the user's manual, because they don't seem to reflect the real world.

Here is the step by step which happens at the car washes I have gone to with a ICE car:

1) I drive the car up a station and put the car in park (normally) and turn the engine off, Leave the keys in the car.
2) Attendent opens the door and vaccums the car.
3) Attendant starts the car and drives it to the car wash tracks.
4) They put the car in neutral and (I assume) turn off the engine (but maybe not?), and get out of the car
5) At the end, they jump back into the car and drive it off to dry the car by hand.

So with the instructions in the manual, the process would appear to fall apart between steps 1) and 2)? Or certainly at step 3).

Hi bobpenn,

We just replied at the end of this thread with some additional insight from our internal resources. Please feel free to review this at your convenience, and follow up with us if you have any questions.

Kindly,
Lauren E.
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[flamaest]

Agreed, either STAY in your car, in control, or DO NOT go to a full service car wash; or just take it to the dealer.

My dealer will wash and detail my Bolt for free for the first 2 years; too bad they are 60 miles away.

 

[bobpenn]

I agree. The practical option is to go to a 100% manual car wash. Or, dare I say it .. wash it oneself (I am too lazy!).

 

[kofther]

Glad I saw this article. The car wash I go to in SoCal does not let you stay in the car and there is no way the attendant will follow these steps.

I found a high-rated mobile wash company that will come to me. Folks loved them on Yelp and just a few dollars more.

This forum is a great source of info. Thanks.

-kof

 

[thorin78]

From what I've observed, most of the attendants that drive the car into the car wash essentially have the car door open while driving. So maybe we'll get lucky and the car will be switched to N while the door is already open after the attendant drives it onto the belt.
fingers crossed.

 

[bill565]

Lauren,

Thanks for clarifying this. For me this means I can't use my usual local full service car wash. Annoying but not a disaster.

But for the wider Bolt customer community this doesn't sound so good. There probably aren't too many customers who read the manual in enough detail (if at all) to catch this subtlety. As a result I would imagine there will be plenty of customers who assume they can drop off the Bolt at the car wash just the same as they have done with all their previous cars. I'm not sure what the implications are if (or rather when) an attendant doesn't follow the proper procedure but if there is damage involved you may have some very unhappy customers. I guess you can argue that the customer should have studied the manual and you might be correct legally but this kind of issue isn't likely to foster customer satisfaction or loyalty.

Might be worth checking with the appropriate design folk to see if this should be fixed at some point (preferably soon).

 

[thorin78]

So this morning, I had the car washed and I will just say that while the instructions were confusing as written, the procedure is very very easy for the attendant to NOT screw up.

I put the car into neutral from Drive with doors closed. Then I opened the door. At this point I still had the brakes pressed. As soon as I let off the brakes, the car put itself into Park and you can definitely feel that with the car and the notification from the instrument cluster. Then with the door open, I put the car back into neutral and it stayed in neutral.

I explained the procedure to the attendant that was vacuuming and was going to move my car onto the track and he also performed it without any issue.

So I think for GM, the solution is to write the procedure more clearly on the manual (no recall necessary) and make sure people can easily understand what would happen.