Ultra-Safe New Cars Are Being Hilariously Outwitted By The Humble Car Wash

Car makers have invested billions in autonomous driver assist technologies, but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to failure. Turns out the latest generation of so-called safety aids is being outwitted by the humble automated car wash.

Not that we’re advocating use of your local grit-ridden, paint-destroying machine car wash, but you have to hand it to the bristly little buggers. When certain new car models head into the car wash under their own steam, the forward-looking sensors can’t tell the difference between the brushes and, say, the side of a house. And so, they hit the brakes – hard.

Some 33 cars including the Volvo XC90, BMW 7-series and Chevy Spark are all guilty for one reason or another.

Best Ride is even reporting cases where cars have crashed into others ahead of them because the latter keeps slamming its brakes on.

In other examples, washing stations where the driver has to leave the car in neutral, get out and wait while their car is pulled along are falling foul of automatic handbrakes. Every time the car stops as part of the process the handbrake activates and the house of cards comes crashing down. Hilarious.

With no standard operating system and no common way to turn these systems off, needless to say the International Car Wash Association (no, really) isn’t happy.

Of course, most of the manufacturers have known about this risk all along. Some cars even have a warning buried in small print on page 4789 of the user manual, stating the terms and special measures that you’ve got to take before you run it through a car wash.

Let us be the first to say to you, car owners of the world: maybe you should just wash your car yourself.