1. The interior of cars in the sun can get awfully hot, even on moderate temperature days.
- The physicians doing the study took readings on days ranging from 72 to 96 degrees.
- The study suggested that it was not unreasonable to assume an ultimate 40 degree rise over ambient temperatures.
2. Cars heat up very quickly.
- Over the first 20 minutes, the temperature in the cars went up an average of 6.25 degrees every five minutes.
- Within the first 30 minutes, the temperature inside the car had already reached 80% of its peak temperature.
- Peak temperature was reached within about 60 minutes.
- Over the entire course of the cars’ heating, the temperature went up an average of about 3.3 degrees per every 5 minutes.
3. Cracking the windows didn’t significantly help.
- With windows cracked 1.5 inches, the temperature rose about 10% slower than the rates in 2a and 2d above.
4. AC didn’t really serve as a preventative measure.
- After the AC was shut off, it took about 5 minutes for the car temperature to equalize with the outside temp, and then things heated up normally.
5. These measurements were taken from a part of the car that was shaded.
