Hello all...just wanted to know if anyone else experiences this: after driving and parking my R56, I get out and grab the door handle to close it. For some odd reason, the door handle shocks me with that 'static cling'-type of shock. Anyone else have this happen to them?:impatient

 

Not with the mini, but one of my previous rides did it all the time.

 

I thought that shock (and amazed) feeling was normal after driving the Mini!

Do you have rubber or carpet floor mats? Cloth or leather seats? Wear a suit or jeans?

Carpet mats, cloth seats, and a suit (or any synthetic fabrics) may create a static charge that is discharged when you touch the metal handle. After you exit the car try touching something else (metal) before touching the outside door handle. See if you still get the shock.

Good luck!

 

It's just saying it loves you!!!

 

No surprise here. We all know each MINI has an electric personality.

 

I used to get an awful shock from my old Thunderbird, years ago. I just chalked it up to the fact that we had a mutual dislike for each other.

If my MINI shocks me, well, I'm just going to assume it's disappointed that we're parked and not driving.

 

Same here. I had an 85 Plymouth Horizon back in the early 90s that shocked me every single time.

 

Very normal. The car builds a static charge, but can't discharge it due to the insulation provided by the rubber tires. Modern low-resistance tires are especially bad for this.

When your foot hits the ground and your hand touches the door handle, the charge can go to ground and you get zapped.

 

On our trip through the desert Southwest, we got shocked at every stop. It stopped after we crossed the I 35 corridor in Austin. I guess the humidity was finally high enough.
Bad news is cool air holds less humidity. With winter coming, your mild shocks are get bigger but not better. Thank goodnes for global warming!

 

My MCS with leatherette seats never does it, but the MC loaner with cloth seats I drove for two weeks did it every time. The static dissipates pretty quickly though, so if you wait a few seconds to close the door, it's not nearly as bad.

 

It's just the cost of having cloth seats. Every single car that I have owned with cloth seats did this. Even holding onto the door frame or other part of metal sometimes would shock me.

I never have this issue with leather seats.

 

can't say that this has happned to me...

 

My previous cars with cloth seats did that but not my MINI or other cars with leatherette or leather don't.

 

It can be pretty painful sometimes...can even see a spark. I try to grab some other part of the car to discharge before I touch the handle. The shock doesn't seem to hurt as bad when touching elsewhere on the car.

 

You can pretty much eliminate it when getting out of the car by holding onto the door handle before you put your foot on the ground.

Getting in, there's not much you can do.

 

Wear sneakers!

 

Since you have your keys in hand when exiting your MINI, another option is to avoid touching the exterior of the door/handle, hold one of your all metal keys on your keychain, and tap an exposed piece of metal like the door latch (preferably not your painted surfaces to avoid a scratch) and allow the static to discharge from the key to the car while you're holding it. You sometimes have to tap two or three times to get rid of all of the static. If you hold onto the fat, plastic part of the MINI key it probably won't work.

It's kind of fun and even a little addicting because you can still feel the static discharge in your finger and thumb but since it's spread out it's not painful or unexpected...

 

I get a small shock fairly often. I have cloth/leather seats.

 

There are products that are designed to help you with that problem. I have seen other cars with a strip thingy hanging under the car in the rear touching the ground when the car has stopped.

 

I get shocked all the time when I wear my dress shoes.

 

I have seen this too! It's also supposed to protect you at the gas station from becoming one of those flaming ***** of fire we have all seen on the news magazine shows. You know - someone is pumping gas when it's cold out and decides to wait in the car, then when they reach for the handle, the little spark ignites the gas fumes. This is why in some areas they disable the 'hands free' feature on the gas pumps.

 

It's the cloth seats. Drive nekkid and you'll be fine.