Automobile group shares tips on dealing with heat to car owners

With several parts of the country facing possible “dangerous” levels of heat index, the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP) over the weekend shared tips for car owners to combat the hot weather.

According to AAP board of trustee Robby Consunji, car owners should ensure that their vehicles are well ventilated especially with the prevailing weather conditions across the Philippines.

“The motorist should first open the doors, open the windows and ventilate it, bring down the windows, so that the hot air will rise and you can exit the car,” he said in a report on GMA’s 24 Oras Weekend on Sunday.

“You can also put on the aircon much stronger in terms of the fan. You can also circulate the air to bring in the outside air into the car so that pumasok ‘yung mas malamig na hangin (the colder air enters),” he added.

This comes as a study by the University of Florida found that temperatures inside vehicles could reach 37 degrees Celsius even if the outside temperature is only 24 degrees.

The AAP noted, however, that motorists should refrain from abruptly placing their air conditioning units to the maximum level, as this could cause shocks and could be detrimental to health.

It also cautioned the public from staying inside vehicles for prolonged periods of time just for air conditioning, as this could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.

The state weather bureau over the weekend said seven areas across the country could experience a dangerous level of heat in the coming days.—Jon Viktor Cabuenas/RF, GMA Integrated News