Posted by Lou on November 30, 00 at 05:43:12:
In Reply to: Re: Static Elec. shocks with cloth upholstery...has this been covered? posted by ALAN on November 29, 00 at 08:00:51:
Everyone who gets out of this truck in the winter and grabs the door reacts the same way: "YeeeOUCH!"
My other cars don't seem to do it. I have always thought that this particular upholstery is just more "static generating." Its fuzzier than any other that I have had.
If you sit still in the truck and grab the door or touch the metal screws, there is no spark. It only occurs after scootsching your posterior across the SEAT that it happens. I got in and out of my Suburban one day about 20 times just to duplicate/eliminate the symptom. (lifting the feet, touching this, touching that...). I found that consistantly, you can avoid the spark altogether is you either
1) LIFT your a$$ off the seat and make your way, crab-like, out the vehicle or
2) grab hold of something metal (ground) on the truck while perforing the regular "scoootsch across the seat" exiting maneuver. You gotta have firm contact, tho:
Those lil screws in the door handle are convenient for that, but there have been several times that my finger has slipped off the screw in mid-scootsch, and when I made new contact.. "ZAPPO! YeeeOUCH!" hehe.
This is why I propose to expand the metal area within the door handle fingerwell for better contact while scootsching.
In fact, whenever I have a Suburban full of passengers, as I am parking, I announce "Exiting Instructions" to the passengers, as if I was a flight attendant:
"Please familiarize yourselves with the little screw heads within the fingerwell of your door handle. When you exit the vehicle, it will be in your BEST INTEREST to ensure that one of your fingers is firmly pressing on one of those as you remove yourself, especially those of you who felt compelled to wear woolen clohting or coats. If you do not believe me, you can take your chances and I'll be only too happy to laugh after I hear your yelp "YeeeOUCH!" :-)
Regards,
Lou