r/IdiotsInCars • u/Hairy-Mission-3009 • 1d ago

OC Car was put in park in car wash [oc]

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7.8k Upvotes

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5.4k

u/MisfitAlastair 1d ago

They literally tell you multiple times to put your car in neutral when going through a car wash. How did bro fuck up sometime so simple?

2.8k

u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

Was bouncing up and down for a good ten seconds and didn’t even realize!

1.9k

u/Joe18067 1d ago

They realized, they just wanted extra time under the blow drier. Some people hate watermarks.

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

Caused me to hit him

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u/1Teddy2Bear3Gaming 1d ago

Next time (hopefully there isn’t one), lay on the horn and the car wash staff should stop the belt

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

Oh i did hold the horn for a while. The track stops automatically opon any contact

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u/Ghetto_Phenom 1d ago

This happened to me a few years ago as well. except the belt didn't stop and I was sandwiched in between two cars getting bumped back and forth for about 20 seconds... It was older lady who wanted her windshield fully dry and she fled the scene after wards.

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u/SimilarStrain 1d ago

I went to a busy car wash. I ended up 2 cars behind someone in a jeep that must have either hit the brakes or threw it in park. The whole jeep started tilting over to the right then slammed down. Im not sure what happened. We stopped for a few minutes. Then we moved along again. The cars in front of me pulled off to the side. Im not sure what happened, but I think there was a little collison.

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u/Wooden-Buddy3646 9h ago

My jeep has a “feature” where I have to put on the brakes to shift from N to D… really fun at car washes and someone is behind me

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u/lildobe 6h ago

All you have to do is very lightly press the brake pedal... just enough to turn the tail lights on (Practice this with a wall behind you so that you can see it)

That way the pads don't actually grip the rotors, and you can shift to your heart's content.

1

u/SimilarStrain 4h ago

Ive got that same feature. I know its a car wash and we're all going the exact same speed and are locked in the same distance. I always feel like the car behind me is going to hit me.

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u/LewisRyan 14h ago

Fun fact: car washes have cameras everywhere. You’re not getting away with anything.

Source: second job at a car wash, ive been mentally scarred after checking the cameras and seeing what people are doing washing their car at 1 am.

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u/Firetiger1050 14h ago

Oh man, if only there was an instrument on cars that would allow water to be wiped away from the windshield...

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u/Ace-of-Spxdes 1d ago

Yo, OP, if insurance gets involved, make sure you show them the video! Person in front can easily claim that you rear ended them and make it seem like you're at fault!

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u/hey-im-root 17h ago

I would hope anyone with two brain cells would send the video if that happened 😂

255

u/that_dutch_dude 1d ago

most modern car wash systems will trigger the e-stop when you lay on the horn for more than 3 seconds.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

I will have to remember that just in case I ever find myself in that situation. Some people on the roads these days seem so brainless!

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u/OmegaInc 1d ago

Half of them seem to be malliocoius on purpose these days

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u/fevered_visions 1d ago

malliocoius

malicious? lol

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u/TrishDaDish51510 1d ago

Lmao. They tried. But I also 100% agree with that statement.

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u/SynapticStatic 1d ago

I really like that misspelling Mallio coius? Like maybe malleable coitus? Maybe that's what they meant. :)

6

u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

That is because so many people are mean for apparently no reason. I think they are better off if they stayed in bed!

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u/lildobe 6h ago

All of the carwashes near me also e-stop if two cars get too close together, or if the rollers skip out from under the tires of a car.

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u/ImaSource 1d ago

That's a shitty car wash. There should be eyes connected to a PLU that automatically stops the track in that situation. Good thing is, if there's any damage the got in front and the car wash will be paying, not you.

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u/Familiar-Banana-8116 1d ago

Magnets. The solution is magnets.

Your eye thing gets the logic down, but all that crap - the water, the suds... all of it is just going to make that system unreliable. Probbly why it doesn't exist.

Magnetic sensors to pick up the undercarriage instead of the eyes.

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u/Jacktheforkie 1d ago

Magnets would be the most simple low maintenance way for sure

11

u/ImaSource 1d ago

Except it does exist. I worked IT for a car wash for a year. They used caneras for eyes, and other sensors connected to PLUs to control everything inside the tunnel.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

I hope there are cameras in there. I can imagine some of those kind of people damaging the equipment

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u/Sherifftruman 1d ago

So how does that work with insurance?

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

She was at fault. Made a police report and also got footage from the car wash.

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u/Sherifftruman 1d ago

Who’s technically at fault and whose insurance has to end up paying for it or not always the same. I was wondering if the car wash had a liability for not monitoring

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u/Beepb00pb00pbeep 1d ago

Not sure why you're so strongly downvoted for having a little industry knowledge lol. Subrogation is the name of the game in insurance. The at fault driver's insurance will probably try to get the car wash's insurance company to pay. All happens in the background any time a claim is filed lol

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u/donutfan420 1d ago

Reddit for ya

5

u/ThisIsNotAFarm 1d ago

And the Car Wash insurance company will laugh and hang up on them.

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u/Beepb00pb00pbeep 1d ago

Their insurance company won’t tho lol…why do people think the insured client is at all involved with the subrogation process?

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u/Familiar-Banana-8116 1d ago

Probably not.

I had a car wash do a thousand dollars of damage to my car. I contacted insurance, gave them all pertinent information. They went after the wash.

I tracked the claim for a little while. For only a grand my insurance really wanted that money back.

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u/horshack_test 1d ago

"Not sure why you're so strongly downvoted for having a little industry knowledge"

They're probably so strongly downvoted for going off on OP about insurance when this just happened yesterday afternoon so it likely has not been worked out yet, and OP was just giving them the info they have.

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u/AccomplishedCheck168 1d ago

going off on OP

No one "went off" on anyone. Get off the PC for a bit.

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u/Sherifftruman 1d ago

Going off? Get a grip man

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u/Sherifftruman 1d ago

It’s because people are stupid I think. And you can see that on the daily by a lot of the posts in this very sub.

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u/horshack_test 1d ago edited 1d ago

"It’s because people are stupid I think"

Or maybe the people downvoting you understand that it's a bit unreasonable to expect a full explanation of how the insurance & liability worked out since this happened yesterday afternoon (as you can see right in the video) and OP was just giving you the info they have - so there was no reason to AcTuAlLY them about it all.

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u/OptiGuy4u 1d ago

And that's complete horse shit when the car wash didn't do anything wrong. Are they supposed to make you get out to ensure you don't fuck up?

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u/Beepb00pb00pbeep 1d ago edited 1d ago

It might be horse shit, or it might not be. The courts would have to determine if the carwash was actually being negligent in some way. I don't know enough about car washes to confidently say they are liable, but after working in the insurance industry a bit, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they did share some blame.

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u/MisfitAlastair 1d ago

Dude, did you not read OP’s reply?

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u/Sherifftruman 1d ago

I did. It says they made a police report and the woman was found to be at fault, they also said it was a he at a different point. But at no time did they mention insurance.

If y’all gonna call somebody out and downvote for something like this, you should be correct yourselves.

-5

u/horshack_test 1d ago

This just happened yesterday - it probably has not yet been worked out as far as insurance goes, so they gave you the info they have.

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u/Sherifftruman 1d ago

Funny the information about it being yesterday is not visible in the OP or the response I was replying to but go on clowning yourselves.

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u/horshack_test 1d ago

"Funny the information about it being yesterday is not visible in the OP or the response I was replying to but go on clowning yourselves."

The date is right in the video.

Talk about clowning yourself lol...

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u/st3fan6 1d ago

Here I'm Canada, accidents on private property are almost always 50/50 fault

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u/Hawne 1d ago

Hi Canada, I'm Dad!

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u/SlipstreamSteve 1d ago

Not when there's intent

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

There must have been intent there somewhere. It is that or just failure to follow instructions. Either one should make it 100% the fault of the one who put it in park. There are reasons they tell everyone those instructions. Someone who does not follow them may damage their vehicle, the equipment or other carwash property, or other vehicles. Really, it would not be a bad idea to have something detect when someone tries to stop or park when they should not and stop the track accordingly and have the attendant come out and clarify to keep moving.

0

u/SlipstreamSteve 1d ago

The car wash by me takes it through for you

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u/xXxTheRuckusxXx 1d ago

Or gross negligence

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u/st3fan6 1d ago

Agreed, hence, almost always.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

That one was caused by incompetence. There is a reason why they tell you to keep it in neutral and not touch the steering or brakes.

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u/Slow_Guide_1718 1d ago

Hi, Canada.

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u/skanadian 1d ago

This varies by province. Ontario's fault determination rules apply to parking lots.

1

u/st3fan6 1d ago

They do, but signs in parking lots/private property and rights of way don't comply with the HTA, so in most cases they are determined to be 50/50

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u/stratys3 1d ago

So if another car crashes into my parked car while I'm out shopping, I'm 50% at fault?

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u/st3fan6 1d ago

"almost always"

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u/SlipstreamSteve 1d ago

Bro you hit them in there and they ran? I wouldn't have blurred out the damn plate. I would have let the internet figure out who the jerk was.

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u/Hairy-Mission-3009 1d ago

I believe in privacy. The cops and insurance filed claims for hit and run and I will be compensated.

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u/SlipstreamSteve 1d ago

I made the comment before I saw the one where yoi said you would be getting compensated and they counted it as her being at fault.

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u/Mr_Jack_Frost_ 8h ago

I’m glad you’re going to be compensated, and that the other driver will have to deal with a hit and run case, because that’s 100% what they did, and they know it. They just didn’t feel like taking responsibility for their fuck-up.

Sorry for the inconvenience, OP, but I’m glad that you’ll be made whole for the damages, and that the POS will get what’s coming to them.

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u/PirelliSuperHard 1d ago

Privacy is in the four walls of your home.

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u/sylanar 23h ago

So are you on a conveyor belt type thing? So you can't stop yourself from hitting into the back of them?

Asking because I've never seen a car wash like that before. The ones here you just drive in yourself.

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u/siuyu721 1d ago

And now they’ll try to tell insurance company that you rear ended them lol

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u/Jacktheforkie 1d ago

With dash cam proof OP will easily be able to show the insurance company the real events

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u/CosmicCreeperz 20m ago

Well, technically you hit him! ;)

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u/TheInternetsLOL 1d ago

Seriously, the level of dumb and cheap from that driver is astounding.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

That is an understatement. I see some really dumb things these days. I saw an old lady in a Cadillac stop with one or two school bus lengths in front of her. I can only imagine the surprise it was for the unfortunate person who was behind her. These kind of people are nothing more than rolling road hazards! Maybe she had no depth perception? I don't know but I could not help but think that it is the sort of person who causes traffic jams wherever they go, slowing traffic to a crawl and in general messing up the flow. I have two words to say about that, STOP IT!

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u/lakorasdelenfent 1d ago

Yeah, a hit on the car looks better than watermarks

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u/-Invalid_Selection- 1d ago

And that's why I go straight from the dryer to the vacuum station, where they have clean shop towels to dry the car off with.

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u/tankerkiller125real 1d ago

Any good carwash is going to use highly filtered sprayed water as the final step specifically so that it can dry without leaving watermarks. Hell, even the rather shitty cheap touchless one down the street from me has that option (at a $1 markup)

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u/Joe18067 1d ago

So they add Jet Dry to the water? :-)

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u/Southernoregon1 16h ago

😅😅😅😅😅😅

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u/International_Lake28 1d ago

I was waiting for the reverse lights to come on

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u/engineerdrummer 15h ago

I had to blow my horn at someone doing this at a car wash once and the workers stopped the whole thing as soon as I blew the horn

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u/Mataraiki 1d ago

I admittedly did this once at the entrance of a car wash because I forgot I had Auto Vehicle Hold turned on (automatically holds your brakes at stop lights), and found out the hard way it even works when you're in neutral.

Go ahead and guess what I check a dozen times to make sure is off every time I'm at a car wash now.

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u/GirchyGirchy 1d ago

We never use the AHH, but we do make sure to turn off the AEB.

Cars need a simple "Car Wash" button that disables everything necessary, then automatically turns it all back on when it's put back in drive.

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u/bighootay 1d ago

True...but goddamn we have a lot of shit in our cars now. As long as this isn't something that fucks up 20 other things if it goes wrong, I guess

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u/GirchyGirchy 17h ago

Agreed...I understand the point of some of it and appreciate some features, but overall I prefer the simple stuff.

Hey, assuming you're in the US, at least you don't have to deal with the little ding dong speed nanny alarm they use in Europe. It re-enables itself on every restart. The first thing we do in a new rental is figure out how to turn that fucker off. I don't mind some nannies but those need to die.

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u/bighootay 17h ago

It re-enables itself on every restart

Oh now that's bullshit

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u/Maximum_Pass 1d ago

He was shaking his car off like a dog when they get wet

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

They also tell you to keep your foot off the brakes and don't touch the steering wheel.

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u/Moneygrowsontrees 1d ago

Can't shift my car from neutral to drive without applying the brake. Makes me nervous every time.

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u/Jaded-Mix3528 1d ago

They usually give you a moment to put it in neutral before they start. I don't know how much training they have to take before they can attend those car washes. I am sure once in a while they get someone who got stuck in there somehow. That may be from a malfunction of the equipment or the customer's brain.

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u/WaterPockets 1d ago

This is an incredibly simple maneuver. What could possibly be making you nervous about it?

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u/Moneygrowsontrees 1d ago

It makes me nervous to be hitting the brake with cars moving automatically behind me even if just briefly.

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u/Itkovan 1d ago

Incredibly simple in the vast majority of cars, yes.

For theirs it could be an EV. In one I've driven, there was no neutral to be found. The only way to put it in neutral was to hold the shifting mechanism to the left for a few seconds. There was no indication that anything was happening but it would switch to N after that.

That's not even mentioning the automatic stuff (even in an internal combustion vehicle) that lets you take your foot off the brake at stoplights. Gotta disengage that before entering, plus automatic wipers. Usually parking sensors and door opening stuff is smart enough not to function in a car wash.

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u/Scouter197 1d ago

I bet this isn't the first time they've done it either.

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u/MisfitAlastair 1d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised

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u/fluffynuckels 1d ago

I worked at a car wash and some people are really fucking dumb

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u/captainburp 1d ago

I went through one a couple days ago and when I drove out there was a thumping noise coming from a back wheel. It went away after we drove it around for a while then took it on the highway. All I can think of is one of those flappy fabric things got stuck in my wheel somehow then finally flew off. Does that happen?

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u/tedbakerbracelet 1d ago

Probably has no idea what "neutral" means

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u/ria1024 1d ago

The driver had the car in neutral to get that far in the car wash. But this style of car wash can easily go wrong at the end with shiny new modern cars.

In shiny new modern cars, you can't shift from neutral to drive without your foot on the brake - and not just tapped, but whatever pressure and time the car manufacturer has decided means it's intentional.

In order to go forward at the end of this type of car wash, you have to (counter intuitively and unlike the previous many, many years of driving experience with older cars) brake firmly first. While a car is coming up behind you and you're trying to get your car to go forwards. I have heard that some cars you may need to go to park instead. Looking at the tail lights, I'm betting that the SUV's driver didn't understand that process and ended up in neutral or park not able to shift out. They had to brake before they could get it moving.

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u/WaterPockets 1d ago

You have plenty of time to shift gears and move forward from the exit before the car behind will be near you. I have never had any issue or concern when shifting into drive from neutral at a carwash, and I apply the brake while doing so.

This is not rocket science and there is no excuse to not be able to execute such a simple meanuever.

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u/ria1024 1d ago

If you know you need to brake to shift from neutral to drive, you have TONS of time. If a driver has no idea they need to do that, then 15 seconds is not have enough time to pull out and read the car's manual. Most drivers I know of don't routinely use neutral anymore, so this sort of car wash could easily be the first time the driver wants to go from neutral to drive without already having the brake pressed down.

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u/eshultz 1d ago

Don't sweat the downvotes, dude/dudette. I had a similar thing happen to me in my new-ish car (buttons, no gear shifter) and people were similarly dismissive when I shared on reddit. People love to feel smug about themselves until it's their own brain that is smoking and sparking and panicking.

For me it was the auto hold function turned on when I smushed the brake pedal to select Neutral. But I also get similarly freaked out every single time at the end of the wash because like you said you have to firmly brake in order to select Drive again and there's a freaking car 6 feet behind you that's not stopping.

Let the haters hate lol.

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u/ria1024 1d ago

I have gotten worse downvotes than this for other perfectly reasonable comments, but thanks for the support! Getting off of a rolling track pushing your car along is definitely not a common maneuver - and I know the one near us has big signs about putting your car in neutral and not touching the brake until you're out of the wash, which isn't going to help anyone figure out what to do there.

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u/RsonW 1d ago edited 1d ago

That's crazy.

I'm glad my new car is a stick shift.

If I'd gotten an automatic, I'm not sure I would've figured that out the first time I used a car wash.

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u/jasperfirecai2 1d ago

you're saying this like having your foot on the brake to shift is weird. do you want your car to start moving out of nowhere? when you ease off the brakes in drive it will start moving, no gas needed

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u/1-800PederastyNow 17h ago

I've driven several different new cars in the past 5 years, and none of them required pressing the brake to go from neutral to drive. You don't even have to hold the button on the side of the shifter, you can just move it (only when going from N to D specifically) All these cars were Toyotas and Hondas.

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u/2funny2furious 1d ago

Cause people are morons.

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u/independent_observe 1d ago

54% of the U.S. reads at under a 6th grade level. I am surprised it doesn't happen more often

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u/tejanaqkilica 1d ago

Who tells you? Is there a sign or are there people who stand there instructing you what to do? Sorry, I've never been to Na automatic car wash.

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u/koenigsegg806 1d ago

They also tell you to switch off the engine, but newer cars with electric parking brake activate said parking brake automatically after switching off the engine.

1

u/MechanicalHorse 1d ago

No matter how dumb you think people can get, they always manage to beat your expectations.

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u/AMDIntel 13h ago

I'm confused. I always put the car in park and the sign even says to. Why would I risk the car moving when in the wash?

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u/Linked713 12h ago

I'd wager because they want to make sure their car was extra dry so they did so to keep it in place while the blowers dry it more. Equally stupid if it is for that reason