How Hot Does Your Car Get?





Hollyoak's Own Techno-Sleuth Investigates

Every year there are reminders that pets locked in cars can die from excessive heat.  Pets cool off by panting and can quickly succumb to heat stress or stroke if confined in a closed space without adequate ventilation when the weather is warm. 

How hot does a car get in our mild to non-existent summers?  Is rolling down a window or two adequate? To find out, we conducted a test in Hollyoak's parking lot and got some surprising results. 

As this is being written it's a nice sunny day in the first few days of June. The predicted temperature is 20C but our thermometer says it’s a pleasant 23.5C in the shade at Hollyoak.  For our test, we selected a medium-sized, white, 4 door Vauxhall Cavalier and positioned it so that there was minimum sunlight coming through  windows.  A dual  thermometer was used to measure  inside and outside temperatures.

We ventilated the car by opening ALL 4 windows 60-70mm, feeling this would be the most a pet owner might do.   Within a short time, the inside temperature had risen to 41C!  That was with ALL 4 windows OPENED!! 

Then we closed two windows, leaving two still open.  The temperature rose to 43C.  Finally we left only one open.  The temperature remained at 43C as it did when all of the windows were shut tight.

What this tells us is surprising: leaving ONE or TWO windows open on a sunny day provides  NO COOLING RELIEF at all!! You get the same inside temperature as when all windows are shut.  Opening all 4 windows only helps marginally because of slightly better air circulation.   

A dog's normal body temperature is 38.3C. A temperature of 41C can be withstood only for a very short time before irreparable brain damage, or even death  occurs.

Temperatures inside a parked car can rapidly reach dangerous levels even on relatively mild days,  and even if the car is in the shade with the windows slightly open. 

Our conclusion: There is no safe way to leave a pet in a parked car even for short periods of time.  















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