Chemicals found in sunscreen can damage your car, scientists warn

This week, the UK is experiencing the highest temperatures it’s ever had, with parts of the south reaching a staggering 39°C.

While sunscreen is an absolute must for most people in this weather, these lotions may be having a detrimental effect - on your car.

Ford has revealed that chemicals found in both sunscreen and hand sanitisers can react with the surfaces of your car, and permanently damage them.

Mark Montgomery, senior materials engineer at Ford’s Materials Technology Centre, said: “From hand sanitisers to sun lotions to insect repellent, consumer trends are constantly changing, and new products are coming on to the market all the time.

(Photothek)

“Even the most innocuous seeming product can cause problems when they come into contact with surfaces hundreds and even thousands of times a year.”

Ford tested the effects of various sun lotions and hand sanitisers on its cars in temperatures ranging from 74°C to -30°C.

The analysis revealed that sun lotions with higher quantities of titanium oxide reacted with plastics and natural oils that are found in leather - particularly in warm conditions.

Suncream can damage your car (Getty Images)

Based on the findings, Ford has developed special protective coatings that can be added to car interiors to make sure they don’t degrade over time.

Richard Kyle, a materials engineer at Ford, explained: “Sometimes what we do requires a bit of detective work.

“There were instances of particularly high wear in Turkey and we managed to trace it back to ethanol potentially being a contributing factor, and most likely a popular hand sanitiser that contained 80 per cent ethanol – far higher than anything we’d seen before.

“Once we knew what it was, we were able to do something about it.”