Whenever you enter and sit in the car and start the engine, you are risking your own health and the health of passengers. This claim is shocking, right? How is this even possible? Well, once you leave the car on the parking lot, you probably keep the windows closed. In case you leave it in a place with good shade, you car will accumulate between 400 and 800 mg of benzene. On the other hand, if you leave it directly exposed to the sun when the temperature is 16 Celsius degrees or higher, your car can accumulate between 2000 and 4000 mg benzene or between 5 and 10 times more. This is also about 45 times more than the safe level.
Whenever you sit in the car and you keep the windows closed, you are actually inhaling the benzene. This gas affects the work of the liver, kidneys and even the properties of bone tissue.
If you take a close look at the car’s manual you will see that the manufacturers advise drivers to keep the car’s windows down before they activate the A/C system, but they don’t explain why or they just point out that this is good for the overall performance of your vehicle.
However, there is a precise medical clarification for this recommendation.
Scientific studies have shown that before the cooling and aeration system starts cooling the air inside the car, it spreads the warm gases including benzene in the car. These gases, especially benzene are known as triggers of many health conditions.
This means that whenever you are inside your car and the A/C is turned on, in case you don’t smell something unusual, keep the windows down for 2-3 minutes and after that close them and relax in the cold air produced by the A/C system. In addition, keep the windows down for additional 2-3 minutes before you turn the engine on.
In case you want to protect your health from harmful gases, you must develop such habit and make this activity part of your routine.