When the heat arrives, keeping cool is the priority for most people. There are various tips and tricks that many of us use to avoid the most intense heat, but sometimes it is inescapable, and we must learn the best ways to deal with this unfortunate reality. One of the biggest downsides about the summer is the fact that when driving anywhere, the likelihood of being able to park in a shaded area that will keep our car from overheating too much us slim to none, and while that might change soon thanks to solar panel covered parking structures, for now we all have to suffer under the scorching sun.
There are few worse things in the summer than getting out of an air conditioned place and into a hot car that has been baking in the sun for a few hours. In fact, just opening the doors and feeling the hot air smack you in the face can be enough to make you rethink your life choices. But alas there is no other alternative than to get in and pray that the air conditioning does not take too long to cool the car down.
Since cars are made of mostly metal, they can get really hot under the sun. They can almost double the temperature of the outside in just a few minutes (you can watch plenty of videos online of people trying to last more than 15 minutes in a car parked under the sun in the summer. The results are not for the faint of heart), and so stepping into it can be a challenge.
Cooling the car down after a situation like this is a feat, and while most newer climate control systems are up to the task, if you can manage to bring the temperature down before blasting cool air into the cab you will be saving on gas and on an overwhelming sensation of oppressiveness. But there are good news! There are some ways that you can lower the temperature of the vehicle and at least equalize it with the outside in order to not melt when you get in (this is especially important if you have leather seats, they are especially unforgiving).
Tips and tricks to cool down your hot car in the summer
An instinctive thing we all tend to do is to open as many doors as possible in order to let “the hot air escape” and while that is a good first step and a wonderful idea, the problem with this is that heat rises and it concentrates at the top of the roof, which makes it hard for it to move on its own. If you want this trick to work, you may want to try doing it in a more efficient way.
First, open the car and put down the passenger side window (or the driver’s side, but we assume that it will be easier to do it this way since you are already opening the car). Once this is done, and without getting into the vehicle, open and close the driver’s side door with force, making the widest swing possible without slamming any doors and without hurting yourself. Do this five or six times in order to try to direct the air towards the passenger side window.
This method is surprisingly efficient, but you should be mindful from the beginning to not let the car reach such high temperatures. Use a reflective cover in as many windows as you can when you are leaving the car in the sun and ensure that your climate control system is always in working order so that when the inevitable happens you are able to cool down.
