How to make sure your vehicle survives the summer heat

With the arrival of summer come quite naturally hotter temperatures that will only have a negative effect on your vehicle. Even if one is inclined to believe that it is mostly winter that is hard on your vehicle, the reality is quite the opposite. Indeed, both the intense heat and the extreme cold can negatively affect your vehicle.

“Often we forget that hot weather forces our vehicle to work as hard as cold weather. In reality, our battery needs to work just as hard or harder in the summer to cool a vehicles’s cockpit than to warm it in the winter. Similarly, the upholstery and a host of other components can also be damaged by the sun and heat. We must therefore take certain precautions,” says a sales representative at Promenade Kia.

Here are the components that we must protect and keep an eye on in summer to ensure that our car is not too affected by the intense heat.

Painting and upholstery

The intense rays of summer can have a negative effect on our vehicle’s paint and its upholstery, especially if it is leather. So be sure not to leave your vehicle in the sun unnecessarily, while also making sure to apply a protective product on your leather to moisturize it. This will prevent the leather from cracking due to intense sunlight exposure.

Battery

Your battery will work as hard in summer that it does in winter, partly due to the air conditioning system that is constantly in action. We must therefore ensure that our battery is in good condition. We can have it checked before the arrival of summer, and visually inspect it from time to time.

Tires

The heat will often accelerate the wear of your tires, especially if they are not properly inflated. So make sure that your tires are properly inflated and that they are able to accept the extra wear that comes with the exposure to warmer temperatures.