We’ve all been warned about the dangers of drinking water out of a plastic bottle that’s been sitting in your car. Experts have claimed that the hot sun, or even high temperatures, can cause chemicals in the plastic to leak into the water. But as one man found out, plastic water bottles left in hot cars can have more immediate negative consequences.
Idaho Power’s battery technician, Dioni Amuchastegu, used to bring a plastic bottle of water with him to work each day. One afternoon, in August 2017, while he was sitting in his car during a lunch break, Amuchastegu noticed smoke rising from the plastic bottle in the passenger seat.
Sunlight was refracting through the water in the bottle, and it was so concentrated that his seat had begun to catch fire.
Luckily, the water bottle didn’t do that much damage to Amuchastegu’s car seat. But if he hadn’t been there to catch the smoke in that moment, the outcome could have been a lot worse.
Amuchastegu recounted the situation in a video posted on the Idaho Power Facebook page. In just over a year, his PSA has been viewed over 1.2 million times and has garnered over 5,000 shares. Idaho Power wanted to warn others that this can happen in their vehicle as well.
Idaho Power tested the water bottle-sunlight reaction again and registered a 211-degree heat reading where the sunlight was concentrated on the leather carseat.
The team told those watching to make sure that their plastic water bottles are stored out of direct sunlight if they’re transporting one in their car — especially during the hot summer months.
If this isn’t another reason to trade in your plastic water bottle for a reusable, sustainable alternative, we don’t know what is.
If you’re looking for a reusable water bottle, over 3,000 people have give the CamelBak Chute 1L Water Bottle almost five stars.
You can buy it for $12.49 here.
