The lengths that manufacturers go to these days to ensure new cars can survive extremes in temperature and conditions are quite extraordinary. From baking them in special ovens to pounding the tarmac in Death Valley and the Australian outback, as well as here in the UAE, to the other extreme, where prototypes are put through punishing development programmes on the frozen tundra of the North Pole, as much as possible is done to ensure your new car will work no matter what.
As worthy as all this is, however, extreme-weather testing is only useful for so much. There’s a world of difference between spending a few days or weeks in the crazy heat of our summers, on road, track or dune, with a car rigged to banks of sensors and data loggers, compared to living here with the same car, year in, year out. No pre-production development test could ever replicate five years or more of hard motoring here.
Our climate has a debilitating effect on all cars, no matter how well-made they are. Even storing them away from direct sunlight isn’t enough to save them, evidenced by the fact that the roof lining in my own Volkswagen has come adrift from its backing, the adhesive long since having given up the ghost thanks to the extreme heat and humidity, even when parked two floors underground.
But a sagging headlining is the least of my, or your, worries during this savage time for our vehicles. So what can we do about it? How can we ensure our cars remain reliable and, above all, safe, when you depend on them most? This five-step guide will help.
Check your tyres
Tyres are the most important things to check on our cars, and usually the most overlooked, but ignorance during the summer can prove deadly. Everyone knows threadbare tyres are lethal, but there’s more to consider when examining your car’s rubber wear than tread depth and condition.
If they’re under- or overinflated, they will wear out quicker and less evenly, and either extreme will increase their temperature. Combine that situation with tarmac that’s on the verge of melting, and you can understand why we see the remains of blown-out tyres along any given motorway during the summer months. So check them visually, all around, and keep the pressures set to the manufacturer’s recommended levels, which are normally listed on a sticker inside your car’s door aperture.
Keep your cool
Can you imagine driving here without air conditioning? If you know anyone whose AC has decided to pack it in during the summer, you will have no doubt heard some serious tales of woe. The air-conditioning systems in our cars are often complex pieces of engineering that require occasional maintenance, servicing and sometimes even replacing.
If you have noticed that your car’s AC isn’t as effective as it once was, get it checked by a certified professional. It might need what is known as a “recharge”, which is a refilling of the refrigerant and the oil used to lubricate the compressor’s moving parts. This isn’t normally part of a car’s service schedule, but it’s said that AC units can leak 10 per cent of their gas each year, so it’s worth checking.
Test your battery
We’re lucky if car batteries last two years here, and many people put that down to the constant drain of energy from the air conditioning. There’s more to it than that, however: high ambient temperatures and humidity put added strain on our batteries, too. Excessive heat can cause quicker evaporation of the battery’s fluid and corrosion of connections and terminals – things that many owners of new cars might not even be aware exist. Loose terminals can cause fires, so even after a mechanic has seen to your battery, it’s worth making sure they’re secure yourself – it takes seconds. If your battery is two years old or more, it’s often worth having it replaced as a matter of course, or at least having it checked at a reputable service station (often free of charge) to see how long it has left. If you end up stranded with a defective or flat battery, a number of mobile outfits exist in the UAE, offering a speedy, efficient replacement service.
Get it serviced
This one might seem obvious, but many independent specialists in the UAE – even for luxury and high-performance brands – report that they periodically have cars in for work that have never been serviced, even after many years of ownership. While cars are built better now than ever before, the need for scheduled maintenance has, similarly, never been higher.
Servicing is more than checking things over – it involves renewing essential fluids and filters, along with replacement of items that wear out over time. Oil is the lifeblood of your car’s engine, keeping the internal parts clean, smooth and cool – you should have it renewed on a frequent basis, along with the filter that collects all the harmful debris that works its way inside. Servicing also involves checking your brakes, tyres and engine diagnostics – it’s rarely cheap, but it definitely saves money (and potentially lives) in the long run.
Be careful what you leave inside
The interior of your car can resemble an oven in no time if parked outside during the summer – The National proved this by baking biscuits on the dashboard of a car a few years ago, and it didn't take long. The reason for this experiment was to show people the reality, to prevent them leaving their offspring inside their cars, which has claimed the lives of countless innocent children in this region in recent years.
The same goes for animals, too. Never leave a child or pet inside a car, even when the engine is running and the AC is cranked up to the max, as you simply can’t guarantee their safety.
Avoid leaving pressurised containers inside your cars – perfume bottles, chemical sprays, anything that could potentially explode because of heat expansion.
All of the above bears repeating, because every summer we see and hear the same things – motorists paying the often heavy price of neglect. Running a car here can be an expensive business because of the extreme climactic conditions, but there are ways of saving money and not skimping on essential maintenance.
Almost all manufacturers are accused of charging top dollar for the work they carry out in official service centres, but individual marque specialists can often undercut their rates while offering equivalent (and sometimes greater) expertise and quality of work. So shop around, ask for referrals from friends or owners of similar vehicles, and you could save yourself thousands.
But far more important than saving money is the matter of saving lives. Any car can become a lethal weapon with the power to wipe out multiple lives in an instant, and that potential threat is amplified in our summers, when driving can be particularly tough on car and driver alike. None of us can afford to take chances, and while making sure our vehicles are ready for the heat might appear to be an inconvenience, there’s never a valid excuse for not doing it.
motoring@thenational.ae
