The Automobile Club of Luxembourg has issued advice on keeping cool in the car in the midst of summer.
The association says the internal temperature of a a standing car can reach as high as 60°C in current weather conditions, which can strain nerves and stamina.
Thus, they say, drivers can do a couple of things to help cool things down:
- To quickly refresh the interior of the vehicle, start with the windows wide open, then turn on the air conditioning.
- Try to avoid an interior and exterior temperature differential of more than 6°C as too cool a setting can cause circulatory problems. To avoid catching cold, they say drivers should not direct the air nozzles directly onto the body.
- When stationary, if the vehicle is parked in direct sunlight, provide an interior sun visor to allow for the dashboard. Cover the child seats with a clear cloth so that they do not heat up too much. They add that it shouldn’t need to be said that you should never leave children or animals in the car.
- Departures for holidays should be done either early in the morning or in the evening. The ideal in great heat is to take a break between 12:00 and 15:00. Allow for stops approximately every two hours.
- Drink plenty of water or moderate juices or herbal teas and avoid heavy or spicy meals.
Finally, the heat generated inside a vehicle depends on its colour. Tests showed that on a white car, the outside temperature on the roof passed from 25°C to 55°C in 25 minutes on a black car it reached 70°C degrees during the same period of time. The temperature rose less rapidly then, but after one hour it still reached 60°C degrees on the white vehicle and 80°C on the black.
