Modern cars - Sunburn

AugustusMinimus

Simple enough question which I can't find a good answer to. Does the glass in modern cars filter out UV light so that you can't sunburn from sunlight passing through the glass.

If not, wouldn't this be a sensible suggestion ?

clairefontaine

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Simple enough question which I can't find a good answer to. Does the glass in modern cars filter out UV light so that you can't sunburn from sunlight passing through the glass.

If not, wouldn't this be a sensible suggestion ?

thats a really good idea. patent it quick. ive gotten sunburn sitting in traffic.

Oafley Jones

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Simple enough question which I can't find a good answer to. Does the glass in modern cars filter out UV light so that you can't sunburn from sunlight passing through the glass.

If not, wouldn't this be a sensible suggestion ?

Yes, it's the reason reactive glasses don't work in cars.

Voodoomelon

Pretty sure most car glass has no UV protection. Protective uv comfort glass is usually an option on higher end models.

Oafley Jones

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Pretty sure most car glass has no UV protection. Protective uv comfort glass is usually an option on higher end models.

Well a pov spec entry level 10 year old avensis definitely has it. First thing that every optician will tell you when you buy reactive lenses is that they will not work in your car - I've never heard them qualify that with high end.

Mycroft H

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Pretty sure most car glass has no UV protection. Protective uv comfort glass is usually an option on higher end models.

Bog standard glass blocks UVB rays which is more or less responsible for burning your skin. UVA rays are damaging too but to a lesser extent.

Your windscreen probably will block out the UVA rays (laminated) but the unlaminated side screens will not.

Voodoomelon

BX 19 wrote: »

Bog standard glass blocks UVB rays which is more or less responsible for burning your skin. UVA rays are damaging too but to a lesser extent.

Your windscreen probably will block out the UVA rays (laminated) but the unlaminated side screens will not.

My bad, I had UVA and UVB reversed in my head. You will still burn behind nearly all glass though if say the sun is on your side for a long journey.

pa990

http://sciencefocus.com/qa/can-i-get-sunburnt-through-glass


Vincent Bradley, Canterbury

Ordinary glass absorbs 97 per cent of the UVB rays that cause sunburn and some skin cancers, and 37 per cent of the less harmful UVA radiation. This translates to a protection of about SPF30, so you can still get burned with long enough exposure. Car windscreens have a plastic layer bonded between two layers of glass and this blocks all the UVB and 80 per cent of the UVA, making sunburn very unlikely.

Cee-Jay-Cee

My car (05 legacy) blocks both UVA and UVB. I don't know if it was an option or if its standard spec.

mad muffin

What's that filter I see on some cars windscreen wearing my polirised sunnies?

Wibbs

Sounds like the laminations showing up in the polarised light.

pred racer

BX 19 wrote: »

Bog standard glass blocks UVB rays which is more or less responsible for burning your skin. UVA rays are damaging too but to a lesser extent.

Your windscreen probably will block out the UVA rays (laminated) but the unlaminated side screens will not.

+1,

UV light is blocked by glass, If you need to measure UV (from plasma emissions etc) you need to use quartz or sapphire windows.

hoodwinked

isn't side window protection kind of irrelevant anyway as usually in hot weather (or stuck in traffic) the window will be down?

ongarite

hoodwinked wrote: »

isn't side window protection kind of irrelevant anyway as usually in hot weather (or stuck in traffic) the window will be down?

Not if you have climate control, you peasant!

Victor Meldrew

Wibbs wrote: »

Sounds like the laminations showing up in the polarised light.

There is a difference between car windscreens. High end cars (Lexus) and (strangely) some Renaults look different through polarised lenses. Note, in all cases, I can see through the glass, it can just look a bit pink..?

Other issue with polarised glasses? The radio display in the car is blacked out but the climate control window just below is clear...?

paddydriver

I never got sunburned sitting in class watching out at those glorious spring and early summer days of the 80's.. and I am fairly sure schools back then didn't have any fancy glass installed in their windows:p

CJhaughey

Victor Meldrew wrote: »

There is a difference between car windscreens. High end cars (Lexus) and (strangely) some Renaults look different through polarised lenses. Note, in all cases, I can see through the glass, it can just look a bit pink..?

Other issue with polarised glasses? The radio display in the car is blacked out but the climate control window just below is clear...?

Is one LCD and the other LED? If you turn your head from the vertical with polarised sunglasses on the screens become visible again....

dr.fuzzenstein

Victor Meldrew wrote: »

There is a difference between car windscreens. High end cars (Lexus) and (strangely) some Renaults look different through polarised lenses. Note, in all cases, I can see through the glass, it can just look a bit pink..?

Other issue with polarised glasses? The radio display in the car is blacked out but the climate control window just below is clear...?

Try tilting your head to the side by 90 degrees, for some reason the rotation of the glasses makes a difference.
You should notice one display becoming clear and the other one black.

edit: (found the sciency bit)
http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/sunniesblock.htm

mad muffin

My car stereo LCD looks fine from the drivers seat but looks totally blank from the passenger seat wearing polirised sunnies.

JoeA3

Had same annoyance in my MKV Golf. Couldn't see the radio or climate settings while wearing my sunnies! LCD screens and polarized shades don't work well together. It was very annoying.

As for the original question, I always assumed you couldn't possibly get sunburned behind glass of any kind. Perhaps I've assumed wrong...

AugustusMinimus

Good to know. I actually pulled over the other day to put on sun cream for fear of my right arm getting sun burned.

Victor Meldrew

CJhaughey wrote: »

Is one LCD and the other LED? If you turn your head from the vertical with polarised sunglasses on the screens become visible again....

Both are "red/orange"

I can lean over and they are fine, Issue is the angle I am looking at them from the normal driving position.

Just weird that this schoolboy error is present in a BMW. Maybe I should get a pair of Oakleys and wear them as a hairband...

CJhaughey

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Good to know. I actually pulled over the other day to put on sun cream for fear of my right arm getting sun burned.

http://www.skincancer.org/prevention/are-you-at-risk/sun-hazards-in-your-car

Tea 1000

Victor Meldrew wrote: »

There is a difference between car windscreens. High end cars (Lexus) and (strangely) some Renaults look different through polarised lenses. Note, in all cases, I can see through the glass, it can just look a bit pink..?

Other issue with polarised glasses? The radio display in the car is blacked out but the climate control window just below is clear...?

All LCD screens have a polarised layer on them. If your glasses and the LCD screen have their polarised lines going perpendicular to each other, it'll go black. Also, if they're going the same direction, if you look at an acute angle, some or all might go black.
Polarised glass is basically just lines either vertical or horizontal really close together, so that when you look you can't actually see them. They help filter out dispersed light like from reflections and the like, which is why you can often see into cars better and the like with them.
If you take two pieces of polarised glass, one horizontal lines and the other vertical and place them on top of each other, the result is total blackout. Rotate one of them by 90 degrees and you'll see through them again.