I live in dry southern california. I often get a sizeable shock from touching the metal of my 2002 Honda Civic. This was also a problem with my previous Civic, and is only alieviated by a bit of humidity, or spraying the seat with an anti static spray. It is very annoying and I was wondering what I could do to stop this???
In the past, they use to hang a metal impregnated rubber strap from the bottom of the vehicle. This strap would only touch the ground if the vehicle was moving slowly or was stopped. This strap would then discharge any static charge build-up in the vehicle body to earth ground instead of you.
Tester
Is this when you are getting out of the car or when you walk up to it and touch it?
Oddly enough, this problem is aggravated by the car’s tires. Some tires are apparently more conductive than others and allow the accumulated static charge to bleed off to ground. Others insulate very well. I was skeptical about this, but after replacing all 4 tires on a car I used to own (due to wear), no more zap.