Here are some items you shouldn’t keep in your car on a hot day!
Two things are more likely to happen to your vehicle in the summer than in any other season. First, the summer sees more car thefts than any other period of the year, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And when your automobile is stolen, so is anything of value that you may have left inside.
Second, research found that a car parked in direct sunlight on a hot day with an outside temperature of 72 degrees F can reach an interior temperature as boiling as 119 degrees within an hour. So even if your vehicle isn’t stolen, everything you have inside could wind up baking in the awful heat and getting damaged if you’re not careful.
To prevent this from happening, you can just be aware of the items you shouldn’t keep in your car and make sure they aren’t left in there. Read more to find out which things fall into that category!
1. Medicine
As you probably know, many medications need to be kept at room temperature to remain fully effective. According to experts, extreme heat can reduce the potency of most medicines, which is why these are among the items you shouldn’t keep in your car during the summer months.
According to Dr. Skye McKennon, PharmD, pharmaceutical manufacturers recommend most of their products be stored in a place with a controlled temperature of 68 to 77 degrees. So, when you get out of your vehicle, it’s best to take your medications with you rather than leave them.
Also, try to plan your pharmacy pickup as the last thing you do when running errands to ensure you’re going home after that.
2. Phones, tablets, computers, and other tech
If you read the manual for your phone, laptop, tablet, or other cherished (and likely expensive) electronics, you may have noticed the recommendation to avoid exposing the hardware to high temperatures.
You may think that it’s OK to leave your phone in the car for a few minutes while you’re buying something from Starbucks, but it isn’t. All electronic devices are items you shouldn’t keep in your car on a hot day because they can have damaging consequences for the battery. This is especially true if you place your device with a lithium-ion battery in direct sunlight.
According to Apple, temperatures higher than 95 degrees F can irreversibly impair the battery capacity of your iPhone, MacBook, or iPad.
3. Plastic water bottles and food containers
Plastic drink or food containers are also items you shouldn’t keep in your car during the summer. If you leave those in a sweltering vehicle, you could end up ingesting something harmful. That’s because high temperatures can cause plastic to deteriorate, causing the release of toxic chemicals (phthalates and BPA).
Basically, those toxins get into the contents of the containers, which are then passed into your system if you consume what’s inside. The dangerous substances may alter hormones over time and potentially raise your risk of developing certain endocrine disorders.
Though it’s important to stay hydrated in the summer, make sure you don’t drink the water from a plastic bottle that’s been inside your vehicle all day.
4. Sunscreen
Next on our list of items you shouldn’t keep in your car on a hot day is your sunscreen. Sorry to break
it to you, but if you thought you were being extra-responsible by always keeping your sunscreen on hand in your vehicle during the summer months, you have to think again.
Like medication, the product you rely on to protect your skin doesn’t do well when left in a hot car. Extreme temperatures can render the formula less effective, making the product less reliable and stable. According to experts, when it gets hot or is kept above 77 degrees F, the potency of a sunscreen is destroyed, and the formula will degrade.
In other words, these are items you shouldn’t keep in your car during the summer—that is, if you don’t want to use a product that doesn’t protect you from the sun at all.
5. Glasses
No. 5 on our list of items you shouldn’t keep in your car on a hot day: glasses. If you need to wear glasses to see clearly, they will better be on your face when you get out of the vehicle. The same thing is true for the sunglasses. If you wear glasses only when you drive, it does make sense to have them in the car, but stop doing that if you want to keep using them.
If glasses are left in the vehicle for any length of time, they will be too hot to wear, and you run the risk of the hot temperature warping the frames. Moreover, the lenses can act as magnifying glasses and actually ignite a fire.
Read on to discover other items you shouldn’t keep in your car during the summer!
6. Hand sanitizer
According to many stories on the internet, hand sanitizer can explode if left in the car on a hot day. While alcohol-based formulas could ignite or explode when exposed to flames, it’s unlikely to happen due to the high temperatures inside a vehicle.
Several studies have discovered that the maximum temperature in a car left in direct sunlight for an hour would reach about 160 degrees F.
The alcohol in the sanitizer would have to reach 600 degrees F for it to spontaneously catch fire, so it’s quite obvious that a little bottle of hand sanitizer won’t combust. However, similar to other items you shouldn’t keep in your car during the summer, heat can reduce or destroy the product’s effectiveness.
Here’s a small refillable container you can fill with sanitizer and attach to your keys or bag.
7. Canned soda and booze
While leaving a fizzy drink in your vehicle on a hot day may seem harmless, it actually is. In fact, all fizzy drinks are pressurized liquids in thin metal containers, a characteristic that earns them a place among the items you shouldn’t keep in your car during the summer months.
As the can heats up in a hot automobile, the contents will expand, increasing the pressure inside the can. This can lead to damage or cracks in the container, and if there’s any turbulence caused by the car, the contents can even explode.
You can just imagine the sticky mess that results from this. The conclusion? Soft drinks are items you shouldn’t keep in your car on a hot day.
Also, leaving a nice cabernet or a six-pack of your favorite porter in a hot vehicle is a great way to end up with a ruined bottle of wine and six skunked beers. Too much exposure to heat can cause red wine to take on a tangy, astringent character.
As for the beer, the sun’s rays break down the substance the beverage contains, and the compounds that result bind with sulfur proteins, making the drink taste skunked.
8. Aerosol cans
Most aerosol cans should be stored in a ventilated place at temperatures under 120 degrees F. In many parts of the country, the mercury can reach up to 100 degrees F, so internal vehicle temperatures will be even higher.
In other words, all aerosol cans are items you shouldn’t keep in your car on a hot day. The contents of them, such as those containing sunblock, spray paint, or hairspray, are likely to expand in the heat. This creates the risk of an explosion, which can be dangerous or even deadly to anyone in the automobile at the time. It’s basically the same thing as with the soda drinks.
This being said, make sure you clear your vehicle of aerosol cans as soon as you get home.
9. Lighters
Disposable lighters are small but dangerous items you shouldn’t keep in your car during the summer. Most people, especially smokers, wouldn’t think twice about leaving them in their vehicles in hot weather. But they should be very careful with those because they are a real fire hazard if left in the sun.
Similar to other items you shouldn’t keep in your car on a hot day, the pressure and heat can cause lighters to explode. Most lighter labels advise against exposing them to heat greater than 120 degrees F, which is a temperature an automobile can easily reach.
This being said, the car is a very unstable environment to store lighters, so make sure you put yours in your pockets so it leaves the vehicle with you.
10. Chocolate
If you’ve ever tried to clean melted chocolate off of clothing, then you know it’s also recommended to keep the stuff away from upholstery—not to mention the electronic parts of your car.
According to experts, chocolate has a melting point of only about 79 degrees F (which is why candy bars melt in your pocket). It can transform into a real mess of gooey liquid in a hot vehicle.
If you liked our article on items you shouldn’t keep in your car during the summer, you may also want to read Never Wear These 9 Clothing Items When Driving, Safety Experts Warn.
