In previous information published in Moveo we have noticed the danger of carrying loose objects inside the car. No matter how small and light these objects are, their weight can be up to 40 or 50 times greater than their own mass when traveling only at 50 km/h. Thus, in the event of an accident, a 190-gram mobile phone would have an impact force of 3.9 kilos and a full 405-gram baby bottle would weigh 15.5 kilos. The same goes for a simple bottle of water.
The weight of the objects multiplies exponentially the higher the speed. This means that the gadgets that we carry in the passenger compartment without restraint become real projectiles in the event of an accident or sudden braking. The same happens with people who travel in the rear seats and do not use the seat belt or the corresponding child restraint system (CRS) in the case of children. Due to its weight, the consequences of the impact are even greater.
In other situations, the car does not have to be in motion for an apparently harmless object to become a danger. As surprising as it may seem to us, simple glasses placed on the dashboard can start a fire inside the car when temperatures are high. The magnifying effect caused by the sun’s rays when they pass through the glass is the cause of the fire.
This is what happened a few weeks ago in the county of Nottinghamshire, in the United Kingdom, as reported by the Fire and Rescue Service of the region. In a publication on its official Twitter profile, this body reports the serious damage suffered by a car that was parked on a street in Nuthall, a small town of just 6,300 inhabitants, due to the magnifying effect caused by lenses that the driver put on. left forgotten on the dashboard.
High temperatures, unusual for this time of year in the UK, caused a magnifying glass effect which ignited the plastic material on the dashboard. In the image that accompanies the publication, it can be seen how the dashboard, the instrument panel and the steering wheel burned in the fire. The windshield also suffered the effects of the fire, partially melting and opening a hole of considerable dimensions.
Firefighters who put out the blaze advise drivers to make sure to keep reflective objects, such as glasses, out of direct sunlight to prevent the magnifying effect from causing a fire. This magnifying glass effect, which, as we have seen, can have serious consequences, is one of the main causes of forest fires when the sun’s rays hit glass bottles, pieces of glass or other reflective materials.
In episodes of intense heat or in the middle of summer we must bear in mind that a car parked in the sun can reach temperatures of 60 degrees. According to various reports, with an outside temperature of 39ºC, the passenger compartment of a car heats up to more than 60ºC in just 15 minutes.
For this reason, under no circumstances should we leave a child locked in the car, even for a short period of time, since they could be the victim of a heat wave that could even cause death.
