To Idle or Not to Idle, That is the Question - Vol.316
Idling a vehicle has become a topic of much debate, particularly in the face of environmental issues and an increased awareness of the dangers of children or animals in a hot vehicle. In general, it is widely agreed that the collective and excessive idling of vehicles has a negative impact on the environment. While the environmental impact of vehicle emissions is being addressed by automakers, it is still important to consider your personal impact or footprint on the environment. Despite the potential negative consequences for idling a vehicle, there are some occasions that you may want to leave your vehicle running.
Reasons to Idle
When the temperature outside is warm, the interior of vehicles might be likely to heat up beyond outside temperatures. If there will be any people, children, or animals remaining in the vehicle it is important to leave the vehicle idling with the air conditioning running. There have been many deaths of children and animals in recent years due to overheating in hot vehicles. You can be persecuted for leaving children, animals, or dependents in a hot vehicle. While it can be safer to leave the vehicle and air conditioning on, it should not be unattended for any significant length of time.
If the weather outside is cold, then it can be beneficial for your vehicle's engine to run for a short period of time prior to driving. There is an on-going debate about how long you should let your vehicle idle prior to moving, but approximately 1 to 3 minutes is a reasonable amount of time. It benefits the vehicle for the oil to be warmed up and the temperature gauge to reach "normal." Most newer vehicles and modern fuel mixes are designed to operate in extremely cold temperatures, and only require a short period of time to reach the "normal" temperatures for running. It can be necessary to allow vehicles that run on diesel fuel to idle in temperatures below 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Diesel fuel can become viscous and sludgy in freezing temperatures, which can cause damage to the engine and fuel system of the vehicle.
Reasons Not to Idle
The most important reason to limit the amount of time you allow your vehicle to idle is due to the emissions created by your vehicles engine. Emissions can have a negative impact on the environment, and can also be hazardous to the health of people in enclosed or small spaces. Never leave a vehicle idling inside a garage or near the entrance to buildings, as the exhaust can have harmful effects on people nearby. If you do need to idle your vehicle for any of the reasons listed above, then be sure to do so in an open area away from others.
Beyond helping to reduce your impact on the environment, idling your vehicle can have other negative consequences. In order to leave your vehicle running it typically requires that you leave your keys in the ignition, which can make your car prone to theft. Modern vehicles with remote starters or push button ignitions are less prone to theft while idling, but should not be left unattended for a long period of time. There are also many places that have created laws against idling vehicles, with the potential to be ticketed for leaving your vehicle running. Finally, idling your vehicle consumes fuel and can require you to burn through gas at a faster rate. A general rule related to how much fuel is consumed while idling your vehicle is that for every 2 minutes a vehicle is left running it consumed approximately the same amount of fuel as if it were driven 1 mile. These are some of the many reasons not to idle your vehicle, and should be weighed when considering the situations where idling might be necessary.