A lot of people have misconceptions about their car's engine and have developed terrible habits when it comes to idling their car. I always see cars and trucks idling in store parking lots while the owner is inside shopping. You should never do this! Many people give the excuse: "Well, my dog is in the car". My question is why are you taking your dog to the grocery store anyways? Idling wastes about 1/4 a gallon of gas per hour and 1/2 a gallon of gas per hour when functions such as the AC are running! I am in no way suggesting that you should leave your dog in a hot car, I am just suggesting to leave your dog at home. On average, American's waste about 3.8 million gallons of gas per year with voluntary idling (voluntary doesn't include sitting in traffic). People will idle their cars thinking that their car needs to run for a few minutes before they drive it. This is false. With modern cars, the best way to warm up your engine is to just drive. People also think that restarting their car uses more gas than just letting it idle. This is also false, because cars run very inefficiently when they idle. As a rule of thumb, if you are going to be stopped for more than 10 seconds, you are better off to restart than to idle. Finally, some people (myself included) believe that frequent starting is bad for the engine. This is not true! Idling is bad for the engine! So, there are plenty of reasons not to idle. Drive forwards into the modern age, and just say no to idling. If you have a friend who idles, stage an intervention. If you see a car idling is public, leave those people an informative note. Together, we can stop car idling!
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