It's cold, but your car doesn't care. Why you shouldn't warm your car up in the morning
Michiganders woke up to bitter cold temperatures Tuesday morning, but despite a commonly held belief, your car doesn't need to warm up, especially if it was manufactured after 1980, according to Firestone Complete Auto Care.
Before 1980, most cars had carburetors, a car part that regulates the air-fuel mixture in an engine.
More: Should I warm up my EV before driving this winter? What the experts say in Michigan
In cold temperatures, carburetors couldn't vaporize all the gasoline they let into the engine, so some of it would be left behind as a liquid rather than being burned off during combustion, according to Firestone.
If drivers didn't warm up their cars, they risked stalling.
Most cars sold in America have an electric fuel injection instead of a carburetor; that part helps maintain the required air-fuel mixture, regardless of the temperature.
Idling your engine could damage your engine's pistons, decrease your car's fuel efficiency and hurt the environment, according to Firestone.
So for your car's safety, cancel the warming-up-the-car routine.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Should drivers warm up their cars before driving in frigid winter?
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