Once, the hardest part to get right was lining up the driver-side wheel with the conveyor track. Nowadays, the difficulties of getting a car cleaned at the local automatic car wash are increasing, varied and of a far more complex -- and sometimes perplexing -- nature.

“When it used to be you pulled the car up, you shifted into neutral and turned the key,” said David Reep, operations manager for Autobell Car Wash Inc., one of the largest car wash chains in the U.S. The same procedure worked for most makes and models, and didn’t require the owner to stay with the car or forfeit the keys to the car wash employee. On exit, the driver simply got back into the car, started it up and shifted back into drive.

But the proliferation of automotive technology features has thrown a wrench into the mix, with push-button ignitions, keyless entry, smart transmissions, active safety systems and anti-theft features causing headaches for an industry more accustomed to trying not to snap off your antenna or mangle your wipers.

According to Eric Wulf, CEO of the Chicago-based International Car Wash Association, the problems seem to fall under one of four broad categories: cars automatically locking when the key fob leaves the vehicle; cars locking up when the exterior keypad is hit; cars shifting into park when shut off or a door is opened; and pre-collision systems engaging the brakes. The issue is made more complicated when you consider that individual models pose their own set of hurdles, and even vary in the approach required based on model year.

New tech is upsetting keyless-ignition equipped cars

The problems started popping up in significant numbers about 18 months ago, says Wulf. “Some of this technology has been around longer than that, but we’re seeing more and more cars on the road every day with it.”

“Our biggest issue right now is that Chrysler came out with an eight-speed transmission in 2012 on the 300 and Dodge Charger,” says Reep. “The transmission does not allow the car to be shut off in any gear except for park, so when our attendants see anything with this eight-speed transmission, they have to request that the customer remain in the vehicle and ride through with it. They’re what we call special-needs vehicles.”

Chrysler has not yet responded to an email inquiry.

Many car wash operators have come up with detailed posters and signage for their employees to follow, too, each focusing on the precise steps to deal with a specific model. For example, here are Autobell’s instructions for dealing with a 2010 Range Rover:

•Hold the “power” button for approximately 3 seconds to turn the vehicle off.

•Shift the vehicle to a neutral position. Note: The Emergency brake will turn on automatically.

•Remove foot from brake pedal and then press “power” button for approximately 1 second.

•With foot on brake pedal, press the emergency brake release located in the center console.

When car wash brushes hit some Lexus models, the car thinks another vehicle is too close

Precollision systems, too, have made their way onto an increasing number of vehicles, but for now, the only one that seems to have caused grief to the car wash industry is that found on Toyota and Lexus vehicles. “When the car is rolling down the conveyor belt and comes into contact with certain types of wraps or cloth that touch the car to clean it, it can lock up the brakes because it thinks it’s close to another vehicle,” says Wulf. “The car will jump the rollers, and it risks having the car behind hit it.” The problem stems from the fact that Toyota’s system seems to be the only one that does not shut down when the car is off.

Ford and Lincoln vehicles offer a unique problem involving their signature Securicode keypads. While the keypad once comprised physical buttons, most now are touch-sensitive and located on the B-pillar, and are invisible until pressed.

“The Fords, with their keyless entry, are locking up,” says Reep. “Our local dealers tell us that when the bottom two numbers are mashed simultaneously, it automatically locks the doors. We’ve started having attendants look for these and ask the customers, do you know your number? Surprisingly, most customers do not know their entry code.”

Detroit-area car-wash chain Mr. C’s is facing the same difficulty with Ford-family vehicles. It instructs its employees thusly: “Look for keyless entry on the side door. For any of these vehicles with the keyless entry, make sure customer takes key fob with them. Keep vehicle running at all times. When we put it on the line, before getting out, MAKE SURE IT IS IN NEUTRAL, NEVER IN DRIVE!”

When reached via email, Ford says it’s well aware of the issue but doesn’t offer any advice to car wash operators. A spokesperson gave Ford’s official statement on the topic: “Ford’s Securicode Keyless Entry Keypad is designed to help our customers gain entry to their vehicles if they lock their keys in the car. If the wrong code is entered seven times, the keypad goes into an anti-scan mode, disabling it for one minute. After that time, customers can enter the correct code and gain entry to the vehicle.”

The statement simply echoes any standard-issue Ford/Lincoln owner’s manual but falls far short of proffering any help. Further, Ford has no plans in the works to provide any sort of override -- an idea that the car wash industry would love to see standardized across auto manufacturers, a sort of “car wash mode” that would tackle the variety of hurdles all these new technologies pose.

“We’ve just begun working with a couple of car wash operators, and we do in fact think that this is something we should be working on collaboratively with the auto manufacturing community,” says Wulf. “As an example, there is a car wash mode that BMW has for some of their vehicles that will allow the car to roll with the engine off. And so some kind of a common engineering solution perhaps, would be something we’d love to talk to the OEM community about.”

“You would want that car wash mode to disengage any precollision systems, fold power mirrors, turn off auto wipers, be able to put that car into neutral with the engine off,” says Reep. “It would be a long list of items, but it would be great if there was a button or something that basically you would disarm all of these systems.”

In the meantime, car wash operators are forced to continue doing their own homework, to determine exactly which cars require what procedures to keep from stopping on the conveyor, locking drivers out or shifting out of neutral into park, and all without help from automakers.

“It’s still a low occurrence issue in terms of problems, but the real challenge for the car wash operator -- and it affects the end consumer, too, the owner of the vehicle -- is there are so many variations, there’s nothing even approaching a standard in how these things are handled,” says Wulf. “So the Chrysler 300 is different than the BMW which is different than the Prius, and those are just transmission issues. And so for all of those, it requires car wash operators to keep a list and say OK, how does this car interface with our car wash, and then what do we have to instruct the customer to do?”

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