How to Cool Down a Hot Car in Summer

Summer is great for heading to the many beaches in Orange County or for hanging out by the pool in your own backyard. The heat makes summer the perfect time to spend more time outdoors but also the perfect time to stay as cool as possible. What the heat is not good for is your car and there are few things worse than getting into a car that has been heated by the sun. When you want to know how to cool down a hot car in summer you need to look no further than the tools that are already a part of your car.

How to Cool Down a Hot Car in Summer

Know how to cool down a hot car in summer so you can get in and on your way without waiting for the air conditioning to fully cool your vehicle. People who want to know how to cool down a hot car in summer have usually tried the air conditioning method. Air conditioning is great but it won’t do its job unless the car is moving, at least not efficiently. The air conditioning in most cars requires air to move over the condenser so an idle car won’t cool down as fast. Roll down the passenger side window and stand on the driver side of the car. Open the driver side door and fan out the inside by swinging the door closed but stop just before the door actually closes. Swing the door about six or seven times to help get the air circulating and to remove some of that hot, still air.

Blast The AC

After you’ve fanned out the hot air as much as possible and created circulation in the air, you can turn on the air conditioning. It is best if you don’t turn on the air conditioning until the car has been moving for a minute or two. While this may not sound like the best how to cool down a hot car in summer way, it is the most efficient. When you do turn on the air conditioning, turn it on so that it’s at its coldest setting and highest fan setting.

More Settings

Every car comes with a couple of different air flow settings for the air conditioner. The first and base setting is the fresh air setting. The fresh air setting brings in the air from outside and cools it down before blasting it through your vents. The other setting is the recirculation setting which just recirculates the air that’s already inside your car. The best setting at first is to use the fresh air setting while you have your windows down. This setting will help blast out the hot air that’s already in your air system and the windows being open will circulate the air even more. Once the car gets to a comfortable temperature, roll up your windows and turn the air conditioning to recirculation settings.

Preventive Measures

Knowing how to cool a hot car down in summer is important but knowing how to stop the car from getting hot in the first place is even better. If your car needs to be parked outside, try to find shade. If you can’t find any shade to park under, create shade by using a sunshade insert. A sunshade is stretched out under your windshield and prevents the heat from getting in from it’s biggest possible way, the windshield. Another thing you can do to prevent the heat from getting too bad is by using fabric covers over your dashboard and steering wheel. These fabric covers will help make sure you don’t need to touch any hot vinyl surfaces and the heat won’t feel as bad.