Leaving your laptop in a hot car is never a good idea, but it’s especially bad if you’re using it as a laptop. Laptops are designed to work best when they’re kept at room temperature and they can’t handle the heat.
The heat of summer can be deadly for your electronic devices. Whether you’re on vacation and forgot to take your device with you, or if you’ve just come back from the beach and accidentally left your phone in the car, leaving electronics in the sun for too long can have serious consequences.
If you think your device might have gotten too hot in the sun, there is still hope! It may be possible for us to recover some data from it if you act fast enough. We recommend putting the device in a bag of ice immediately after it gets out of the sun and taking it into an air-conditioned environment as soon as possible.
What happens to your laptop when you do this?
When you leave a laptop in a hot car, the heat causes the inside of the laptop to get warm. If you leave it in there too long, this heat can damage some important parts of your computer, like the battery and motherboard.
This means that it may not be able to start up when you want to use it again. In some cases, if the heat has been on for too long, the laptop will never turn on again.
Make sure that when you park your car outside in the summertime, especially if there’s sunlight beaming down from above, put something over your windows so no light gets inside.
You can also turn off any fans or vents that might be blowing air around inside so that everything stays as cool as possible. Try not to leave anything behind when going into stores or restaurants that way nothing will get too hot while waiting for you.
What’s the Problem?
The problem is that when laptops get hot, they can start to malfunction. This can lead to data loss or even physical damage to your laptop. In some cases, the computer itself may be beyond repair.
What to do if you accidentally leave your laptop in a hot car?
Laptops are designed to withstand high temperatures, but any gadget will be damaged if it’s in a hot car for too long. The first thing to do is go get it out of the heat as soon as possible. If you’re not going to be able to retrieve it immediately, try to turn it off and close the lid so that the inside doesn’t continue to get hotter.
If the laptop is still on when you get back to it, immediately shut it down and disconnect it from its power source. Then wait for an hour before turning it back on again. This will give any internal components time to cool off.
What are the dangers of leaving your laptop in a hot car?
The most common danger of leaving a laptop in a hot car is that the battery will explode. This happens because batteries contain lithium-ion cells and when they get too hot, they can overheat and catch fire.
If this happens while you’re driving, it can be dangerous because it could cause a fire in your engine compartment or even start an explosion that could hurt or kill people nearby.
The next most common danger is that electronics will stop working properly due to heat damage. Laptops use many small devices like processors and hard drives that operate at high temperatures and leaving them out in the heat for too long can cause these small devices to break down and stop working properly.
How do you prevent it?
Never use your laptop in a car that’s parked in direct sunlight, especially if it’s a convertible. Even if you have tinted windows and shades down, the heat can still get in and damage your computer.
Try not to leave your laptop in the car for too long. If you’re going to be gone for more than an hour or two, take it out of the car with you.
If you’re going to be away longer than that but don’t want to risk damaging your computer by leaving it in the car, consider investing in an external hard drive or another storage device that can keep your data safe while you’re away from home.
Conclusion
It’s important to remember that leaving a laptop in a hot car is a bad idea. If you have to leave your laptop in a car, make sure you keep it out of direct sunlight and don’t leave anything else in the car that could increase the heat. If you think your laptop is overheating, take it out of the car immediately and give it a rest before using it again.
