In Sub-Saharan regions of the world, November to March is usually known to be the harmattan season. This season is characterized by the dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind which blows from the Sahara over West Africa.
While you take precautions to keep yourself away from the unpleasantness that comes with the harsh and dry winds of this season, it is also important that you do the same for your car. Let’s talk about 5 ways to get your car ready for the best and safest experience during the harmattan season.
Get your car a duvet too!
If you are still wearing 7 sweaters, after a hot bath, how do you think your car feels? In case you didn’t know, the cold during harmattan can be very tough on your car’s battery.
Experts say the battery requires more current to start when the weather is cold. So what do you do? Get a durable and thick car cover to keep your car warm, all the way to the engine.
Use Fog Lights While Driving
Fog lights are best for foggy conditions and they perform better than headlights due to their low mounting point on the vehicle.
Fog lights often have clear or yellow lenses and their beams of light come in a wide and flat pattern. The flat pattern stays close to the road surface and minimizes reflection back by fog, while the wide pattern helps to better illuminate the sides of the roadway.
Use Your Low Beams
The visibility in front of you will sharply decrease in a fog, so if your car does not have a fog light, use its low beam lights.
Heavy fog conditions prohibit the use of high beam headlights, as they will be reflected back by thick fog, making it difficult for you to see clearly.
Check Your Air Filters Regularly
Since this period is characterized by a lot of dust in the air, it becomes easier for your air filter to get clogged while you drive. A malfunctioning air filter might lead to bigger problems like increased fuel consumption and starting problems.
To avoid this, it is recommended that you regularly check your air filter during this period. While the recommended time to change your air filter is 6 months, you may have to do it sooner during harmattan.
Drive Extra Carefully
There’s a natural tendency to wander into the middle of the road when visibility gets bad. Don’t drift or rush to get out of the fog. Be sure to keep your car in your lane.
It is also important that you allow more distance between vehicles. So, increase your count distance by 5 seconds instead of the normal 2 seconds behind another car.
Due to poor visibility, the safest speed is moderate. This will give you time to use your brakes effectively if there’s a sudden need for it. If it gets too difficult for you to see, pull over and wait till visibility improves.
Handle Petrol Carefully
Please do not store petrol inside a keg in your boot this season. During harmattan, the air is drier than usual, so things ignite really faster than usual.
If you have to do anything that involves petrol, be extra cautious and be safe.
Wash Your Car Regularly
During harmattan, you may need to wash your car more often than you used to. Asides from defacing your car’s aesthetics, having dust residues on your car can lead to a quick erosion of your paint and damage some parts following rust.
Keep good microfiber towels handy to easily wipe off the dust, so that your car looks better during the course of the day.
In addition to these, it is also important to keep your car secure at all times because you can only drive a car that you have.
With Concept Nova’s Tikon Basic Vehicle Tracker, you no longer have to worry about losing your car to thieves. It is equipped with features that let you know the location of your car at all times while making recovery very seamless in the case of theft.