[SILVER04TB]

I have a question:
I have a 2004 Trailblazer and it has 1 really annoying thing occurring ever since I bought it this past November. :x :x Whenever either the driver or passenger starts to get out of it and touches the metal part of the door.....you get shocked!! :evil: :evil: :evil: I have to quickly tap the door and brace for the shock, cause if I forget, the shock seems to hurt more.
This has gotten so much of a habit now, that whenever I am in anyone's vehicle, I automatically tap their door. :x :x
Any suggestions what could be the problem here?? :?: :?: At first I thought of static electricity (during the winter), but come on...winter is over with!!

 

[ChevyFan]

Well, I was shocked to read your question. In fact, I got quite a charge out of it.

What part of the country are you in? Do you wear a lot of sweaters and other knit material? Do you maybe juggle magnets while driving down the road?

All kidding aside, most of the time this happens to be an issue of static electricity. It's possible that you've got some extra juice going though you from a cell phone, a Pocket PC, or some other electrical gadget. If you go to most gas stations now they have the "don't talk on the cell phone while pumping gas" stickers up now becuase a few vehicles have burst into flames because of cell phone static charges.

 

[officegem]

I also have this problem and live in a part of the country where we do not have cold weather and the air is very rarely dry. I have thought it might be linked to the other electrical problem I seem to be having.

 

[CkVin]

This is SO bad here in CT...every time I open my door, I just put my forearm up to the door and touch it to get the shock out of the way! LOL I know it's coming...sometimes at night, you can just about see the little spark jump from the door. It's really annoying, but I don't think it means anything is wrong or out of the ordinary.

 

[rooshie31]

Is this a common problem of all Trailblazers? I live in Maine, and everytime I exit the vehicle I too get shocked........

 

[ChevyFan]

I got shocked the other day.

It was Saturday morning. I was driving around town to get some supplies for my Saturday "honey-do" list. I went to Lowes, Home Depot and Taget.

Maybe it was the fact that I was getting in and out every 20 minuntes for 2 hours. Maybe it was the charged electricity in the air (we've been having storms). Maybe I was just unlucky. But, I got shocked getting out the the Trailblazer!

As far as I know, this was the first time that I remember getting shocked! Maybe it was a fluke. I was getting out and I had to watch out for some stuff in the parking lot before I closed my door. So I sort of slid out of a half-opened door and when my foot hit the ground, my right elbow hit the metal part of the rear-door. >SMACK< it hit me.

Now, I've had that TB for 9 months and this is the first time that I remember getting shocked by it. I hope that it's the last for another 9 months too!

 

[SILVER04TB]

Steve,
You asked me where I live and if the seats are cloth. I live in KY and yes the seats are cloth. That does not really qualify an acceptable reason, since we own 2 other vehichles with cloth seats, as do my several of our family and neighbors do and we don't get shocked in any of them....ever. I do not (and would not) own a cell phone, nor do I use any other electrical gadget in the TB. It has done it since the day I test drove it....and it was raining that day and I marked it off as such. But it has never stopped!!! We are thinking it may be a wire grounding issue somewhere. Will bring this to the dealers attention when we take it in for our recall repair. Just thought I would run it by you guys to see if it was us, or someone else is experiencing this. Thanks!!

 

[ChevyFan]

Well, perhaps you are getting a bit more of a shock than just is produced from simple static friction. I'm not certain what could cause this because if you think though using a view of electrical theory, your battery would short out if it were contantly looking for another path from positive to negative. If you got out of the car holding the door and touched something metal, you would get shocked over and over and over again when you touched and let go and touched and let go.

There are probably a whole slough of possibilities, but if you think that you are having a problem like this than either the dealership or an auto electrician/technician would be a good place to turn to for some answers and diagnostics.

 

[bmm354]

Try spraying Static Guard (I think that's what it's called) on the seats. It's meant for clothes so I'm sure it'd be safe on automotive fabric, which is very durable. I tried this trick in the winter on other vehicles I've owned and it worked.

The other thing you can do is hold onto the metal door frame as you slide off the seat. The charge will dissipate through the door and you won't get a shock. This does work but doesn't really fix the underlying cause.

Also, if you're getting shocked like this never get back in your TB when you're filling up with gas. Always stay outside. If you get back in and then out, when you go to put the nozzle away you could get a shock from the nozzle. That tiny spark is enough to cause the gas vapors to ignite. There was a string of fires like these a couple years ago here in St. Paul, Minnesota during the winter (the air is drier and shocks are MUCH more common). The Fire Dept. even did a demonstration of what can happen. They showed it on the news and it's not something I'd ever want to witness or have happen to me. Be safe.

 

[SILVER04TB]

Thanks bmm...will try that!!

 

[ChevyFan]

Yeah, they caught some of those fires on the secutiry cameras at various gas stations across the country.

What gets me is the people who smoke when they are filling up their tanks. That's like just unbelieve when I see that.