Coffee Break- Leave Your Car Running?
I’m working in the local Starbucks this afternoon, where I’m enjoying beating the 100-degree heat we’re having here in Houston. Once thing that I’ve noticed since the heat wave has grown so unbearable is that cars take forever to cool down using air conditioning and heat back up quickly when parked. This fact of life has resulted in something I’m seeing almost every day that befuddles me every time.
When I got to the coffee shop today, while walking from my car to the store I realized that a car parked by the front door was sitting there empty. There was no one in it; apparently the owner figured he/she wouldn’t be gone very long and left it running. This was done no doubt to keep the interior nice and cool in the summer heat, but come on. Leaving the keys in a car is bad enough, but leaving it running?
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Many people have “remote start” wherein they can start the car without the keys in it – so that the heater or A/C can get the car interior up to the desired temp. They need the key in the ignition before the car will shift into Drive or Reverse to go.
Not good for the car or for the environment. It would be better to park in the shade or use shades and/or tinted windows.
Gotta keep your computer from over-heating LOL
Some places it is illegal to leave an unattended vehicle
idling.
Plus, leaving your car idling with the A/C can
cause your engine to overheat,
causing more problems than a just a stolen car…
Prolly an environmentalist and global warming advocate that was just trying to save some energy and reduce his/her carbon footprint. As you know turning your A/C on and off in a short time frame creates tremendous current surges and hence wastes energy not to mention the strain on auto components. I bet it gets really hot down south and I would do the same in the name of energy conservation.
Haven’t seen that in the summer, but in the tundra of Minnesota, it’s common in the winter time. I’ve done it, but carry a spare lock “fob” so I can lock it while it’s running.
The 2010 Prius has this sorted pretty well – it runs the fan in the A/C via solar panels in the roof, so it keeps air circulating even when the car is off. Great idea if you ask me.
Same here in Austin and I am with you….Turn off the car wimps. Almost everywhere I went today there was at least one car idling with no one in sight. And one woman left her kids alone at Target!!!!
Another one was a nice new BMW M3 and I was tempted to go for a spin till I saw the mountain I mean guy walking out that owned it. I am still not sure how he fit into it.
I’ve been known to start mine via my remote starter to cool it off before I leave work for the day. It’s locked and the keys are with me. So I might be tempted to leave the a/c going via the remote starter when running in to the SBUX for a nice steaming latte. ;)
Just hit he lock button and close the door… keep it cool for the busy person :)
I remember seeing a govt. funded commercial about this before, I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that people are doing it, or that my tax dollars are going towards reminding them not too!
to, sorry for the poor grammar.
I’ll remote start 5 minutes before I go to the car (thanks to the long range). I don’t think I’d ever want to leave the car running longer than 10 minutes unattended.
As for the engine overheating – I don’t think modern cars overhead that quickly, and unless you are driving a mid 80′s junker I doubt it’ll be an issue.