Car wash mode during strong rain storms?

[hgpilot]

Recently read a post about an owner bricked their CT after washing at a manual car wash. Maybe they should have activated car wash mode, but if driving in a torrential downpour (rain / Mother Nature) - which seems to be stronger than a car wash - should we activate car wash mode? thought part of what this did was create a positive pressure inside the battery compartment?

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[mongo]

Recently read a post about an owner bricked their CT after washing at a manual car wash. Maybe they should have activated car wash mode, but if driving in a torrential downpour (rain / Mother Nature) - which seems to be stronger than a car wash - should we activate car wash mode? Maybe the CT detects this event and does it behind the scenes?

Car wash mode isn't needed in a rain storm as none of its behaviors apply when driving (either redundant or contradicted).

Car Wash

If taking Cybertruck to an automatic car wash is necessary, Car Wash Mode closes all windows, locks the charge port, and disables windshield wipers, Sentry Mode, and walk-away door locking. To enable, touch Controls > Car Wash. Your vehicle must be stationary and not actively charging.

If using an automatic car wash, Enable Free Roll keeps your vehicle in Neutral and activates free roll for the duration of the wash, while preventing Cybertruck from applying the Parking brake if you leave the driver's seat. To enable, press on the brake pedal and touch Enable Free Roll; or shift into Neutral.

Car Wash Mode disables if the vehicle's speed exceeds 9 mph (15 km/h) or by touching Exit on the touchscreen.

 

[eswimm]

That is not what car wash mode does. It rolls the windows up, folds the mirrors, locks the charge port, turns off wipers and disables some locking. None of which makes any sense while driving the vehicle. You don't need to do anything in the rain with a Tesla that you don't do with any other vehicle.

 

[igs]

Recently read a post about an owner bricked their CT after washing at a manual car wash. Maybe they should have activated car wash mode, but if driving in a torrential downpour (rain / Mother Nature) - which seems to be stronger than a car wash - should we activate car wash mode? thought part of what this did was create a positive pressure inside the battery compartment?

Stop reading and spreading FUD.

 

[tmeyer3]

There is one truck that I know of that had an error while going through a carwash. This is not behavior you need to worry about. The truck is just fine in rain and were you to be the tiny percent that have had a defective truck, that's what warranties are for and why they exist. New cars are just like this, they're complex products and things go wrong in manufacturing.

This reminds me of FUD when the model 3 came out and everyone was in a panic about it not being able to drive in dirt after a single reported error on a brand new model...

 

[no%X#XMVk65v#cq]

Recently read a post about an owner bricked their CT after washing at a manual car wash.

Didn't happen. Or at least not the way presented here. Tesla has a long legacy of millions of electric vehicles, all of which get wet.

 

[Woodrick]

Recently read a post about an owner bricked their CT after washing at a manual car wash. Maybe they should have activated car wash mode, but if driving in a torrential downpour (rain / Mother Nature) - which seems to be stronger than a car wash - should we activate car wash mode? thought part of what this did was create a positive pressure inside the battery compartment?

Read what car wash mode does. It pretty much does everything that you don't want in a downpour, like disable the wipers.

The stupid article about an owner bricking their vehicle during a car wash wasn't related to the car wash. Just the early FUD that came with the Cybertruck. (You do know that the Cybertruck only gets 100 miles per charge don't you? That was early crap being posted from Influencer that couldn't count to 100!)

No, just don't do it and please lock and kill this thread!

 

[Bill906]

- should we activate car wash mode? thought part of what this did was create a positive pressure inside the battery compartment?

The mode that pressurizes the battery is WADE mode. Not Car Wash mode. Unless it's raining so hard that you are driving in standing water (i.e. wading) I would say you shouldn't need to activate wade mode when it's raining.

 

[CyberGus]

Recently read a post about an owner bricked their CT after washing at a manual car wash.

There's been a handful of CTs that bricked just driving down the road, mostly caused by early component defects. If one failed after a car wash, it was a coincidence. There's nothing inherently risky about "car wash mode" and I've used it many times without ill effect.

The biggest hazard of driving in the rain is all the other drivers.

 

[TwiztOG43]

Recently read a post about an owner bricked their CT after washing at a manual car wash. Maybe they should have activated car wash mode, but if driving in a torrential downpour (rain / Mother Nature) - which seems to be stronger than a car wash - should we activate car wash mode? thought part of what this did was create a positive pressure inside the battery compartment?

Seriously? Next thing you’re going to say is a wife mode, to prevent the wife from crashing the cybertruck, thus bricking the truck.

These trucks are new. It’s always the first model year where owners are “beta” testers no matter what brand. It is your choice to buy or wait a couple years.

With that said there will be problems here and there. But one person saying they have an issue doesn’t mean all trucks have that issue.

I take my cybertruck to the automatic wash every other week. It’s a non-issue. Even with car wash mode, with the truck being too wide the bristles were still able to break my charge port door with car wash mode enabled. I guess it’s payback for the sail panels taking a couple bristles out of the rollers every time.

 

[rtfitch]

That is not what car wash mode does. It rolls the windows up, folds the mirrors, locks the charge port, turns off wipers and disables some locking. None of which makes any sense while driving the vehicle. You don't need to do anything in the rain with a Tesla that you don't do with any other vehicle.

It also deactivates after you hit 10 mph.

 

[hgpilot]

Stop reading and spreading FUD.

wow - you're a pretty angry guy. In the CT Offroad guide it clearly states "....and pressurizes the battery pack to protect from water and debris..." - referring to Wade mode. Since Car Wash mode isn't defined very well in the documentation and some owners have reported issues after going through a car wash, the fact that the CT has the ability to pressurize the battery pack makes my question a fair one. Was only looking for clarification to a perfectly reasonable question. With such a short fuse, maybe this forum isn't for you.

 

[Woodrick]

wow - you're a pretty angry guy. In the CT Offroad guide it clearly states "....and pressurizes the battery pack to protect from water and debris..." - referring to Wade mode. Since Car Wash mode isn't defined very well in the documentation and some owners have reported issues after going through a car wash, the fact that the CT has the ability to pressurize the battery pack makes my question a fair one. Was only looking for clarification to a perfectly reasonable question. With such a short fuse, maybe this forum isn't for you.

Car wash mode is EXTREMELY well defined, as well as I can remember when you enable it.

Car wash mode, FYI, isn't a Cybertruck thing, it's been on Teslas for years.

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