8 Things You Shouldn’t Leave In Your Car In Malaysia’s Hot Weather
The car can quickly become our mobile storage locker, but not everything has its place in there.
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With most of our time spent commuting to and from work, it’s inevitable that our cars quickly become our second home or mobile lockers.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but there are certain items that we should never leave inside the car due to safety risks.
Here’s a quick checklist to ensure you didn’t leave any of these behind before leaving your vehicle:
1. Baby, children, and pets
Parents are tired and busy, and sometimes, they can accidentally leave children behind while running errands or going about their daily routines on autopilot.
Without air conditioning, a parked car can turn dangerously hot inside in minutes, and cracking the windows open does little to help.
The same goes for pets. If the high heat is lethal to children, the high temperatures can kill your pets, too.
2. Plastic items
Plastic items such as containers, water bottles, credit cards, and even plastic sunglasses shouldn’t be kept in the car. Plastic can warp under high heat, and for plastic water bottles, the extreme heat can cause toxic chemicals like BPA to leach into the water. We have enough microplastics in us as it is. The lens of the eyeglasses can also potentially act as a magnifying glass and start a fire.
3. Pressurised cans
Pressurised items such as aerosol sprays and canned drinks can explode when exposed to heat, and you risk injuring passengers and damaging your car’s interior. An explosion can occur because heat increases pressure inside the can.
4. Electronics
Another item not to leave inside your vehicle includes electronic items like your smartphones and power banks. Heat can cause lithium-ion batteries to overheat, leading to smoking and combustion. The high temperature can also degrade the battery.
5. Medications and sunscreen
Medications and sunscreen shouldn’t be kept in the car because heat can degrade their effectiveness.
6. Flammable items
At high temperatures, flammable items like lighters and fuel can expand and crack, and cause a fire.
7. Cleaning agents
Alcohol-based hand sanitisers are highly flammable, and when left in a hot car, the combination of heat and alcohol vapour can significantly raise the risk of a fire.
The active alcohol content also breaks down at high heat, rendering the sanitiser ineffective.
8. Perishable food
Food items can spoil rapidly under high temperatures and promote bacterial growth. Not to mention the awful smell of spoiled food that will linger in your car. You might be airing out your vehicle for days!
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