By Jamie Barrie W e have all read through our car’s owner manual right? Well it was recently brought to my attention that we should especially the Safety Warnings. I remember being told by my dealership a long time ago to open the windows on a hot day before start the car’s AC, and in my old Honda Accord the windows even had a auto down to release the hot air from the car as I made my way over to it in the driveway which I thought was just to cool it down before getting in, little did I know that it was for my health. As my current dealer told me on a recent trip to the dealer- ship for some regular maintenance on an extremely hot day in July, yes we do get one of those every now and again in Eastern Canada, He asked if I put the window down when starting the car on hot days like this, I of coarse respond- ed, “No, but I open the sunroof.” What he said next will change how I start my car in the summer moving forward. The service tech went on to tell me that manufacture rec- ommends opening the car’s window before turning on the air conditioning and that there is even a section in the car’s
owner manual in Safety Warnings that gives a brief warning about the situation.
As I found out and later read, when you start your car on an extremely hot day that the heat our cars can release potentially harmful chemical, benzene which comes from the breakdown of plastics in many of our car’s working systems and interior. Believe it or not, It is partly responsible for the “new car smell”, but may end up causing serious harm in large amounts as it is known to cause cancer of the lungs, liver, bone, and kidneys if you have consistent overexposure. However, an easy way to prevent exposure to this danger- ous chemical is as simple as opening the car’s windows, or as I found out sunroof, before turning on the car’s air con- ditioner, as this allows the hot air ejected by the system to escape through the window or sunroof rather than to remain in the car.
So remember windows down, roof open and then AC up for that next road trip on a hot day.
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AUGUST 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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