When summer time reaches Britain that means some sunny days and potentially some epic road trips will ensue. When it is hot and sunny though, it can potentially make driving an uncomfortable experience as the conditions can heat up a car’s cabin to intense levels.
Here are our top tips for how to keep your car cool in summer days and answer other related questions motorists may have.
How hot does a car get in the sun?
A car can get incredibly hot from within if it is exposed to sunlight for a prolonged period of time.
Past research has found that on a sunny day where the temperature is 21 degrees Celsius (or 70 degrees Fahrenheit), the inside of a car can reach 40 degrees Celsius after just half an hour of exposure to sunlight. After an hour under sunlight, the temperature inside a car can climb to 45 degrees Celsius.
After more extensive time periods exposed to sunlight, the inside of a car can be anywhere between 54 and 78 degrees Celsius.
When a car’s interior is exposed to the sun on a summer’s day, just half an hour can be enough to make the inside uncomfortably or even dangerous hot, especially to children and pets such as dogs.
How to keep your car cool
If you have concerns about keeping your car cool during the hot summer days, then you try out the following things if you haven’t done so already:
· Get a sunshade or window visor to cover your car’s windscreen or other windows.
· Get a fabric or upholstered dashboard cover to protect your interior parts from the heat. Similarly, use a towel to cover your steering wheel so this won’t get intensely hot.
· Park in shady areas when possible. If you have a garage then the summer is a good time to make use of it and if you go to a public car park, see if there’s a shaded spot you can leave your car in.
· If you leave any precious possessions in your car, keep them out of direct sunlight. Instead put them in the boot or one of the cabin’s storage compartments in your car if possible, or alternatively put a blanket or similar type of cover above them.
· If you haven’t done so for a while, check your car's air conditioning to be sure it’s running in good condition.
How to keep a car seat cool in the summer
The seats are the largest components found in a car’s cabin so they can be considered the most challenging parts to keep cool during a hot summer day.
Of course, you want what you’re sitting on to be a comfortable temperature for you and other passengers, so what can you do to keep car seats cool?
As we mention earlier, getting a sunshade or window visors can make a big difference in keeping your car cool and they can prove very effective in protecting the seats from sunlight exposure.
Covering the car’s seats in something like a towel can possibly help too when you’re not using the car.
Does window tint keep a car cooler?
Window tint can indeed keep a car cooler. Compared to an ‘ordinary’ car window, a tinted window is far less affected by thermal rays, which is a main contributor to building heat inside, say, a vehicle’s cabin.
The films or dye applied to a tinted window is specifically designed to suppress UV and heat rays. A tinted car window won’t literally block out all the heat coming from the sun, but they do certainly make a difference next to regular car windows.
Do car sun shades work?
Depending on just hot it gets outside, a sun shade is not a guarantee that you’ll enter a super cool cabin after it has been used, but they can make a big difference to your vehicle’s cabin temperature.
The internal temperature in your car can end up being as much as 40 degrees less than it would have been otherwise on summer days when you opt to use a sun shade. At the very least, they can be useful in making sure that parts like the steering wheel and seats aren’t painfully hot upon contact when you want to drive your car.