Heat on the way: these are the seven most common driving mistakes | Car

1. Do not ventilate
Especially on cheaper cars, it takes forever for the air conditioning to cool down an unventilated car. That is why the heat has to be removed first: briefly open the doors and/or all windows while driving away, then the system has an easier time. Then close the windows and, if necessary, set the ventilation to recirculate for a few minutes. Then the system only cools the air in the car, which is faster than with hot outside air. Owners of a plug-in hybrid or electric car can usually cool their car remotely via an app.

1. Put air conditioning too cold
The difference between outside and inside air should ideally be no more than about 8 degrees Celsius. An air conditioning setting of around 20 to 22 degrees is ideal. People who have circulatory problems may even faint if the transition between hot and cold is too great. As a rule, a maximum difference of five degrees between inside and outside is sufficient. It is also better for fuel consumption. Switch off the air conditioning just before getting out. This helps to reduce the transition from cold to warm.

2. Direct cooling airflow to your body
Cold has been proven to help cold viruses cause the common cold. As good as it feels at first, don’t aim the cooling airflow from the air conditioning system directly at your body. This can cause muscle complaints, such as a stiff neck, but also increases the chance of a cold. Because although cold alone does not cause colds, the colder the body surface is, the more likely it is.

3. Leaving living things in your car
Whether it’s a small child or a dog: if the outside temperature is high, you should never leave a living creature in the car. Not even for five minutes and in the shade (it gets very hot even without sun). Cars are like greenhouses, in the sun the temperature inside quickly rises to 60 to 80 degrees. A foil behind the window or a slightly open window does not change that much.

4. Riding barefoot or flip flops
You may drive barefoot in a car, but you must be in control at all times – and braking barefoot will not help. Wearing slippers or high heels can also cause a crash because often too little braking pressure can be exerted. In some European countries you can be fined if you wear slippers, in the Netherlands it can lead to problems with your insurer if something happens.

5. Ignoring Dead Bugs on Your Paint
Cleaning the windscreen of insect residue after a long drive on the highway provides an exemplary clear view – if only because otherwise a haze is created in the rain due to the cleaning additives in the wiper fluid. But the paint is also happy with a wash, otherwise the summer sun will burn the insect remains until a kind of crater landscape is created that can only be restored at great expense.

6. Adjusting your tire pressure
If you check your tire pressure after driving in the heat, you should not be alarmed by the high values ​​and you must not let air escape: the pressure rises by 0.1 bar per ten degrees and with warm tires even by 0.2 to 0 .4 bar. If you let air escape now and choose the standard pressure, you will often have too low a tire pressure later on with cold tires and cooler weather.

7. Leave a water bottle in your car
Taking water in the car is very sensible, but it is better not to leave empty water bottles in the car. At tropical temperatures, a water bottle heats up, after which it can start to work as a magnifying glass. The (red-hot) rays of the sun are then bundled, causing the temperature in the focal point to become so high that holes can burn in the seat. In 2018, the fire brigade in Roermond also warned of this danger. Less likely, but not impossible, a water bottle could even start a fire in your car. That happened in 2017, for example, in the American Idaho.