Five items you need to take out of your car in summer

Motoring

You know you need to keep safe on the road while driving. But what about when you are parked? Discover five items it’s dangerous to leave in your car in summer.

With car interiors capable of hitting 150°F in summer, fire safety and battery experts are warning Americans about the everyday items most likely to ignite when left in a hot vehicle. The temperature inside a parked car can reach more than 150°F (65°C) on a hot day — and the everyday items Americans leave inside their vehicles could turn that heat into a fire.

According to a study by Stanford Medicine, the inside of a closed car can climb 40°F above the outside temperature within just one hour. On an 85°F day, that means an interior temperature of 130°F. On a 95°F day, the inside of a car can exceed 150°F. Dashboards have been recorded at more than 200°F in direct sunlight.

The risk is concentrated in summer driving conditions across Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Florida, and California — states that regularly record summer highs above 100°F. Nationally, the NFPA reports an average of around 117,000 vehicle fires every year in the US, causing more than 560 deaths and over $1.3 billion in property damage.

Fire safety specialists say the picture is getting worse as cars fill with more battery-powered devices than ever before. Research by business insurers QBE found that UK fire brigades are now tackling at least three lithium-ion battery fires a day, following a 93% surge between 2022 and 2024. The CPSC, meanwhile, has recalled more than a million chargers and power banks in the past 12 months alone — almost all for overheating and fire risks.

The five items you need to take out of your car in summer

So what can you do to keep your car – and you – as safe as possible in the hot summer months? Battery safety specialists, including vape retailer Ecigone, which works with lithium-ion technology daily, are now urging Americans to take these five items out of their cars before stepping away in hot weather.

Here are the five items you need to take out of your car in summer:

  1. Vapes and e-cigarettes 
  2. Mobile phones
  3. Portable power banks
  4. Aerosol cans
  5. Lighters

Let’s look at each one in turn and find out why it’s risky leaving them in your car on hot days.

1) Vapes and e-cigarettes 

Disposable vapes contain lithium-ion batteries that can enter thermal runaway — a chain reaction causing overheating, swelling, and ignition — when exposed to sustained heat above 140°F. In one widely reported California case, a woman’s 2014 Chrysler caught fire after she left her vape on the driver’s-side door during a triple-digit afternoon, with the seat, door, and visor engulfed in flames within 15 minutes.

2) Mobile phones

Apple’s official guidance warns against operating or storing iPhones above 95°F — well below the temperatures regularly recorded inside a parked car. Heat damage can cause battery swelling, screen failure, and in severe cases, ignition.

3) Portable power banks

Power banks combine high-density lithium-ion cells with charging circuitry, making them one of the most fire-prone items to leave in a hot car. The CPSC has recalled millions of Anker, Casely, and INIU power banks in the past year over fire risks.

4) Aerosol cans

Deodorants, sunscreen sprays, dry shampoo, and air fresheners contain pressurized propellants that can explode above 120°F. The US Fire Administration has documented cases of aerosol cans rupturing inside parked cars and sending shrapnel through windshields.

5) Lighters

Standard butane lighters can leak or rupture above 122°F. Multiple US fire departments have documented cases of disposable lighters exploding inside hot vehicles, and the risk multiplies when a lighter is stored alongside a vape, phone, or power bank — a single ignition source combined with a damaged lithium-ion battery can turn a small fault into a serious vehicle fire.

If it has a battery, take it with you

The science behind lithium-ion battery safety is straightforward; heat is the single biggest stressor on these batteries. A vape, a phone, or a power bank that’s perfectly safe in a pocket can become a real fire hazard when left baking on a dashboard for a few hours. The advice is simple: if it has a battery, take it with you when you leave the car.