• Car and Driver

    Comments on: Will a Hand Sanitizer Bottle Explode in Your Car? Probably Not, but Be Safe Anyway


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    • So let me get this straight - a local fire department posts on its Facebook page warning that alcohol-based hand sanitizer is "explosive", and shows a picture of the result of an explosion that had nothing to do with hand sanitizer. Mainstream media picks up on it. Aforementioned fire department publishes a "correction" which doesn't actually admit to deceiving but shifts the blame to the readers for being "confused". ("While we never made the claim that the photo utilized was ... from an exploding container of hand sanitizer,..." - seriously?) Mainstream media hasn't picked up on that part yet though (at least not the CBS article linked above). Come on. The term "fake news" gets thrown around to refer to anything the reader disagrees with, but the term was really coined to refer to news like this - basically whatever it takes to drive "clicks" (engagement). This is why trust in media is low.

      Thanks, at least, to C&D for pointing out that this claim was misleading, though I don't really see the evidence that (1) hand sanitizer in a closed car can reach 300 degrees, and (2) reaching 300 degrees will cause a container of hand sanitizer to explode. I get the "better safe than sorry" logic, but then I could literally make up anything you should or shouldn't do for your "safety" and the onus would be on you to disprove it.

    • Water boils at 212 degrees and according to the gauge on the pressure cooker that I occasionally use, around 280 is steam. Yet in all my years, I have never been blasted by a steam jet coming from a bottle left in my car, suggesting that the water never hits 300*. I don’t dispute the fact that alcohol has a lower flashpoint than water. Is there a heat absorbing quality in a bottle of hand sanitizer that allows the contents to absorb more heat (BTUs) to reach a temperature much higher than a bottle of water. Sounds fake to me.