Things you should never leave in a freezing cold car

From medication to musical instruments, it can be dangerous to leave these items in a car when it is freezing.

The following written content from Andy Gott

During the last stretch of below zero temps, I, unfortunately, left behind a few bananas in my car before calling it a night. The next morning, I woke to find a couple of frozen, brown, inedible things that even a starving raccoon wouldn’t touch

That being said, there are plenty of worse things you could leave in your car when the temperature plummets. A recent article lists the 5 items you should never leave in a freezing South Dakota vehicle, and once you read it, it makes a lot of sense.

Beer: Because of its ingredients, beer tends to expand when it freezes, and that’s not good. Don’t be surprised if you find frozen brew in your vehicle the next day if you’re unfortunate enough to leave it in there overnight.

Cellphones: This one should be obvious. Once temps fall below freezing, smartphones tend to operate at a slow pace. But if left in below zero temps for hours on end, you could be looking at causing irreparable damage to your phone.

Musical Instruments: Instruments left in a frozen car can get out of tune quickly and may even need to be replaced entirely. Read More from KVRB

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The following written content by Casey Bond

Thankfully, 2020 spared us any polar vortexes. But it does still reach below-freezing temperatures in many parts of the country this time of year. If you’re lucky enough to live in an area where shoveling snowy driveways and scraping ice from your windshield are required, you should also pay attention to what’s inside your car.

That’s because certain items left in a freezing cold car can not only get ruined, but also become dangerous. Below is a look at the things you should never leave in your car during the cool winter months.

Medication

If a stop at the pharmacy is on your list of errands for the day, be sure to bring your medications indoors with you. Many have a recommended storage temperature of 68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit in order to work properly. In fact, allowing drugs to get too cold could not only render them ineffective, but cause them to become harmful. For example, compromised antibiotics can cause stomach or kidney damage. It’s important to prevent liquid medications, in particular, from freezing.

You might want to think twice about leaving your guitar or violin in the car between lessons. Cold temperatures can cause your musical instruments to contract, causing a range of issues. Best case, they could go out of tune more frequently. However, instruments made of wood are also susceptible to shrinking and cracking, which is very expensive to fix. In some cases, the cracking can be too severe to repair.

Canned soda and beer

You might want to save lugging in that case of seltzer or Bud Lights for later, but you should be careful not to let carbonated canned drinks get too cold sitting in your car. As they freeze, pockets of carbon dioxide can build up pressure and cause the cans to explode. And no one likes a mess ― or worse, bodily harm. Read more from HP

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