Car seats can get very hot in the summer or in hot weather, but especially if they are black in colour!
Here Is The Problem With The Heat On Black Leather Car Seats:
The colour black is hotter than any other colours in the car because it absorbs heat and light, it also can be faulty heaters and it’s actual colour are factors to consider.
We will be discussing why black seats are hotter in further detail, and some ways you can make the black seat cooler with some easy steps.
Main Problems With Black Leather Car Seats
It Absorbs Heat
Leather and cloth are the two most popular materials used for car interiors, but leather absorbs far more heat than cloth does.
This issue has been widely researched, with results suggesting that a car left out in full sunlight could potentially see its leather interior get as hot as 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and any area of skin that touches a surface that exceeds 150 degrees Fahrenheit would be badly burned in an instant.
Leather is excellent at absorbing both heat and cold, but it is only hot leather that has the potential to injure you.
Another reason why leather absorbs so much heat is because leather car interior isn’t very breathable, so the heat that has been absorbed cannot be released from within the material as your body will be blocking it in every place that it touches the seat.
Furthermore, if you sweat while sitting on a leather car seat, the moisture will also remain on the leather and be unable to evaporate due to your body blocking it. This serves to make your leather seats even hotter and more uncomfortable, especially as the moisture could cause your legs to chafe against the leather material.
Lots of manufacturers choose perforated leather over other types of leather when designing cars because perforated leather is covered with tiny little holes that help the material to breathe.
However, plenty of cars don’t have interiors made with perforated leather, so this cooling effect is lost on them.
You can open a window to circulate cool air into the vehicle, but if the heat is trapped within the seat and is blocked by your body, the leather will likely remain quite hot, even if the heat dissipates a little bit.
It Absorbs Light
Black materials absorb so much heat due to the fact that they absorb so much light.
In fact, these black materials absorb all the wavelengths of light that approach them without reflecting any, which causes that light energy to transform into heat energy and insulate the object and its surroundings.
Black leather is no exception to this, especially as the material itself already struggles to breathe in cooler conditions.
As well as making it hot, sunlight can also damage the look of your leather interior because of how UV rays penetrate the surface of the material and cause it to get dry and faded.
The hotter your leather seats become, the more likely it is that the sunny weather conditions are damaging them, as well as causing you discomfort as you drive the car or ride in another seat.
So, you should try to position your car in shaded areas if you can because too much light means extra heat and unnecessary damage.
Closed Windows And Doors
Cars are like metal boxes when all their windows and doors are closed, which, unfortunately, means that they trap hot air inside, especially if they’ve been parked up under the sun for a few hours.
Lots of people drive with their car windows down during summer to introduce some cooler air into the vehicle, but this isn’t an option for everyone. When driving on fast roads, for example, the wind can be too sharp and loud, and if you suffer from hay fever, you’ll need your windows fully closed to keep pollen out of your eyes and nose.
If you are parked up somewhere, you could prop your doors open for a few minutes to release some hot air from the car. When driving on regular roads, even winding your window down a crack will improve air circulation, especially as the car’s metal and black leather interior will be attracting more sunlight and heat as you drive.
If having the windows down is not an option for you, you’ll need a fully operating air conditioning system, otherwise you’ll be trapped inside a moving metal box with stagnant hot air that won’t go anywhere.
Faulty Heaters
When we think of faulty heaters, we usually imagine them breaking during winter and leaving us freezing in our cars.
However, some faulty heaters can cause hot air to be pumped out into the car, which is something you don’t want during summer. If you do notice that your car seems to be excessively hot, you should check that your heaters are in proper working order.
Black leather car interior will only suck in this excess hot air and then heat the seat beneath you. This extra heat coupled with all the heat that the interior is already attracting from the external sunlight will only make your journey more uncomfortable and cause you to sweat more.
Faulty heaters pumping out heat in summer might not be the most common problem, but they can speed up the heating process inside a car which is already overheated due to black leather interior.
It Is The Darkest Colour
Dark colours are known for being very insulating and, as the darkest colour, black is the most insulating.
This makes black leather car interior an excellent choice for the winter months when your car will be freezing cold the moment you get inside it as you will feel slightly more insulated than you would if you had light interior, but this feature is detrimental in summer.
Black attracts heat and sunlight, so you’ll find yourself boiling hot in no time at all, especially if your seats are also made of leather.
Black leather is a popular choice for cars because it looks so slick and sophisticated and it doesn’t show stains or marks as easily as lighter interiors. The darkness of the colour will affect you in summer and winter because it will either attract lots of heat or retain lots of cold air.
Black leather interior will have the same effect as black clothing during summer: it will overheat you, cause you to sweat more than you otherwise would, and have you longing to avoid the colour until the weather starts to cool down.
How Do You Fix The Issue Of Black Leather Car Seats Getting Hot?
You can’t strip away your car’s interior after you’ve bought it if you like the look and style of the car, but there are other things that you can do to reduce the heat of your black leather seats.
The industry design plenty of covers, shades and other innovative features that will allow you to enjoy your stylish black leather seats without causing you to sweat as you drive.
That way, you can then remove these temporary additions in the winter months when you’ll rely on your car’s black interior to offer you some extra warmth.
Seat Covers
Seat covers are easy to find for all cars and the range is so diverse that you can choose exactly the colour and look that you would like.
Just as heated seat covers are popular during winter, basic seat covers are a great choice for summer, especially since you can slip them onto your seats in less than a minute. The feeling of a cooler material will calm you down and stop you from feeling the heat that is absorbed by the black leather underneath.
Sunshades
If you’ve ever seen a car drive past with a seemingly blacked out window then you’ll be familiar with sunshades. These are only recommended for the back windows of a car because the driver needs to be able to see out of their own window and the passenger side window to check their mirrors, but even just shading two of the car’s windows from sunlight will stop extra heat from sneaking into the vehicle.
Heat absorbed by the back seats will circulate around the entire car, so buying some sunshades for those windows will reflect the light energy, and you can also by a windshield sunshade for when your car is parked to keep it cool before you drive it.
Car Seat Air Conditioning
All cars are fitted with air conditioning systems, but in very hot conditions, those systems often aren’t enough to cool down an entire vehicle of people.
So, car seat air conditioning is the perfect solution to this problem, and they work exactly like heated car seats, except they cool you down instead. Car seat air conditioning will cool your upper back, lower back and legs as you sit, preventing you from sweating and expelling that uncomfortable heat energy from the black leather seats.
Solar-Powered Fans
Solar-powered fans are a great choice if you want to introduce an environmentally friendly element to your car that will also work to keep you and your black leather interior cool.
These fans hook over the top of your windows, taking in light energy through the solar panels and then using that energy to power the fan and circulate cool air.
The best thing about them is that, as you can hook them over your car windows, you can aim them straight at you while you drive, cooling yourself much more closely than you can with the car’s own air conditioning system.