Stuck in park in car wash

DMC-Orangeville · Jun 23, 2015

Yes - I have taken my S through a few touchless car washes (yeah, yeah, bad me). There are other posts on car wash issues, but they typically have the driver get out of the car.
Today The S had a brain cramp. It's a "track style" touchless wash. I put it in neutral, put the suspension on highest, and as I leaned over to put the pass code in, I guess I must have come off the seat too much....it went into park. The car would not come out of park. I restarted it several times, rebooted, manually turned it off twice, played with the suspension etc. It wouldn't budge off park -no onscreen warning - just 3 idiot beeps.

I got out of the car via passenger door (Driver door was obstructed by ticket machine) waved away the line behind me (twice). started over - still stayed in park

BTW - called the service hot line and it wouldn't connect (auto voice said Cleveland service, then hung up)

After third time getting out of the car, I sat down, and it started. I still don't know why......

I did not put the car in tow mode (I suppose I should have).
Any ideas what happened?

steve841 · Jun 23, 2015

Best guess... There's a sensor in the seat that puts car in park. If not weighted, no go.

So if you were scooched over too far, maybe your behind wasn't planted in the right spot.

mknox · Jun 24, 2015

I posted this elsewhere, but I did something similar. I was going through one of those washes that pulls you through by the wheels. For some reason, I felt the need to get my cell phone out of my pocket half way through, so I unbuckled my seatbelt and when I lifted my butt off the seat a bit, the car went into Park! The car wash rollers kept going and there was an awful jolt an bang as the roller pushed its way under the now locked wheel. I feared the worst but quickly got the car back in Neutral and the car seemed no worse for wear.

I now use a car wash that takes you through on a giant conveyor belt that is kind of like a moving sidewalk.

- - - Updated - - -

EDIT: I once had a situation where my car would not go into Park, even if I got out of the car. It would just stay in Drive. A re-boot of the system cleared it up, but I did have Tesla Service take a look. They found nothing wrong.

apacheguy · Jun 24, 2015

Perhaps tow mode would have forced it out of Park?

DMC-Orangeville · Jun 24, 2015

mknox said:
The car wash rollers kept going and there was an awful jolt an bang as the roller pushed its way under the now locked wheel. I feared the worst but quickly got the car back in Neutral and the car seemed no worse for wear.

I now use a car wash that takes you through on a giant conveyor belt that is kind of like a moving sidewalk.

I had the same "roller experience"....but it wouldn't go out of park.....
Mike, Where do you go for this car wash? The closest I've seen is in Oakville (I live in Orangeville - work in Mississauga)

steve841 said:
Best guess... There's a sensor in the seat that puts car in park. If not weighted, no go.

So if you were scooched over too far, maybe your behind wasn't planted in the right spot.

I'm sure that's why it originally went into park, but I "reseated" 3 or 4 times and restarted multiple times....(?)

- - - Updated - - -

apacheguy said:
Perhaps tow mode would have forced it out of Park?

Agreed. Will try next time (a dry run ?):wink:

woof · Jun 24, 2015

DMC-Orangeville said:
I'm sure that's why it originally went into park, but I "reseated" 3 or 4 times and restarted multiple times....(?)

Question: after "reseating", did you put on your seat belt?

DMC-Orangeville · Jun 24, 2015

woof said:
Question: after "reseating", did you put on your seat belt?

Now that....is an interesting question. I don't believe I did on the original issue. I'm fairly sure I did after I manually powered the car down, as I repeated a proper start up sequence.....but I know I didn't have it on when I finally got it out of park......
hmmm.....
I'm going to try to recreate this in the driveway this weekend

meloccom · Jun 24, 2015

DMC-Orangeville said:
Yes - I have taken my S through a few touchless car washes (yeah, yeah, bad me). There are other posts on car wash issues, but they typically have the driver get out of the car.
Today The S had a brain cramp. It's a "track style" touchless wash. I put it in neutral, put the suspension on highest, and as I leaned over to put the pass code in, I guess I must have come off the seat too much....it went into park. The car would not come out of park. I restarted it several times, rebooted, manually turned it off twice, played with the suspension etc. It wouldn't budge off park -no onscreen warning - just 3 idiot beeps.

I got out of the car via passenger door (Driver door was obstructed by ticket machine) waved away the line behind me (twice). started over - still stayed in park

BTW - called the service hot line and it wouldn't connect (auto voice said Cleveland service, then hung up)

After third time getting out of the car, I sat down, and it started. I still don't know why......

I did not put the car in tow mode (I suppose I should have).
Any ideas what happened?

What passcode were you leaning over to put in?
I can put my Model S into neutral, apply the park brake manually and raise the suspension, all without a pass code.
I know of no carwashes that use a passcode but neither do I use automated washes. No judgement.:smile:

DMC-Orangeville · Jun 24, 2015

meloccom said:
What passcode were you leaning over to put in?
I can put my Model S into neutral, apply the park brake manually and raise the suspension, all without a pass code.
I know of no carwashes that use a passcode but neither do I use automated washes. No judgement.:smile:

Many car washes, usually those tied into gas stations, have a keypad. When you buy a car wash, the attendant produces a ticket with 4-6 numbers on it. One must enter the correct sequence of numbers to enter the wash. It requires that you open the window, and lean out to enter. Others have bar code scanners, card readers or RFID readers. All require opening the window and leaning out - unless you have really long arms - and I don't.

So - no pass code for the S - only for the wash
Thanks for not judging:smile:

sandpiper · Jun 25, 2015

DMC-Orangeville said:
Yes - I have taken my S through a few touchless car washes (yeah, yeah, bad me). There are other posts on car wash issues, but they typically have the driver get out of the car.
Today The S had a brain cramp. It's a "track style" touchless wash. I put it in neutral, put the suspension on highest, and as I leaned over to put the pass code in, I guess I must have come off the seat too much....it went into park. The car would not come out of park. I restarted it several times, rebooted, manually turned it off twice, played with the suspension etc. It wouldn't budge off park -no onscreen warning - just 3 idiot beeps.

I got out of the car via passenger door (Driver door was obstructed by ticket machine) waved away the line behind me (twice). started over - still stayed in park

BTW - called the service hot line and it wouldn't connect (auto voice said Cleveland service, then hung up)

After third time getting out of the car, I sat down, and it started. I still don't know why......

I did not put the car in tow mode (I suppose I should have).
Any ideas what happened?

First, I go through touchless washes all the time. I can't see the harm. Unlike some of the retired owners I don't have the time to handwash or get it handwashed the car every few days.

As you your problem... I've had something similar happen a few times in my garage. The electronics fired up, but the car steadfastly refused to go into drive, reverse or anything else. I resolved the problem by getting out of the car, locking it, unlocking it and getting back in. And then it fired up without issue. Bizarre.

mknox · Jun 25, 2015

DMC-Orangeville said:
Mike, Where do you go for this car wash? The closest I've seen is in Oakville (I live in Orangeville - work in Mississauga)

The one I most commonly use is in Mississauga at Derry & McLaughlin.

Ugliest1 · Jun 25, 2015

sandpiper said:
And then it fired up without issue.

I see what you did there

DMC-Orangeville · Jun 25, 2015

sandpiper said:
First, I go through touchless washes all the time. I can't see the harm. Unlike some of the retired owners I don't have the time to handwash or get it handwashed the car every few days.

As you your problem... I've had something similar happen a few times in my garage. The electronics fired up, but the car steadfastly refused to go into drive, reverse or anything else. I resolved the problem by getting out of the car, locking it, unlocking it and getting back in. And then it fired up without issue. Bizarre.

Re washes - I take customers out regularly, and don't have enough hours to hand wash - except weekends

RE Bizarre - Thanks, it's nice to know someone else has indeed experienced this...

Also: perhaps "sparked up"?

- - - Updated - - -

mknox said:
The one I most commonly use is in Mississauga at Derry & McLaughlin.

Thanks - I didn't see that one on the Petro-Canada page as being a Glide. I'll try it out

Khatsalano · Jun 25, 2015

I think your car is telling you it doesn't want to go into a touchless tracked car wash. Just get it hand washed instead by a detail professional. Your car deserves it!

It doesn't take hours.

- K

ra-san · Jun 25, 2015

Sorry for your experience. I do hope that data related to incidents like these gets properly tracked and analyzed up through the tesla service infrastructure and all the way back into engineering rather than getting tossed out with a "we can't find anything wrong" response early on. It's understandable for service to be able to go no further on a given incident after checking logs and checking the car itself if possible, but I hope they at least generate a incident report that gets out into a system that's looked at by engineering.

mknox · Jun 25, 2015

Khatsalano said:
I think your car is telling you it doesn't want to go into a touchless tracked car wash. Just get it hand washed instead by a detail professional. Your car deserves it! It doesn't take hours.

You California guys crack me up! Here in the north, especially in winter, you may have to wash your car a couple of times a week just to clear the salt grime off the windows so you can see out! (BTW, my brother lives in SoCal and a lot of the time, I wish I did too).

green1 · Jun 25, 2015

mknox said:
You California guys crack me up! Here in the north, especially in winter, you may have to wash your car a couple of times a week just to clear the salt grime off the windows so you can see out! (BTW, my brother lives in SoCal and a lot of the time, I wish I did too).

Not only that, I have a touchless wash near my house, Car will be a little dirty when I get home, but acceptable. A detailer? I'd have to drive far enough that by the time I got home again you'd never know I'd washed it!

(this same reasoning is why I'm second guessing my love of TACC and the rear view camera... I know they'll only be useful half the year or less...)

mknox · Jun 25, 2015

green1 said:
Not only that, I have a touchless wash near my house, Car will be a little dirty when I get home, but acceptable. A detailer? I'd have to drive far enough that by the time I got home again you'd never know I'd washed it!

My Tesla Service Center is about 5 miles / 8 km from where I live (lucky me) and they always detail my car inside and out whenever it's in. I've asked them not to bother in the winter because it seems like such a waste of their time. They told me it is their policy to have the cars looking like brand new when they leave, but by the time I drive 8 km home, you'd never know it was even washed. It's actually kinda heartbreaking to get back out of my car at home and see it all covered in road salt and slush.

TomServo · Jun 25, 2015

mknox said:
You California guys crack me up! Here in the north, especially in winter, you may have to wash your car a couple of times a week just to clear the salt grime off the windows so you can see out! (BTW, my brother lives in SoCal and a lot of the time, I wish I did too).

And they don't have any water to do all this hand washing.

smilepak · Jun 25, 2015

Oh man...

If you drop off your car to a place for car wash and the person driving the car don't know how to drive a tesla to put it in N...so screwed!

Stuck in park in car wash

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