Solar sensors: The hidden tech cooling your car's interior

There are many elements in cars whose functions we don't fully understand, such as the spherical plastic placed on the dashboard. However, this element plays an important role.

With each passing year, cars become more complicated. Manufacturers strive to introduce the latest technologies, which were novelties a few years ago but can now be found even in small city cars. Therefore, the question may arise: "What is this for?"

Such a question may arise when we look at a protruding, often spherical, plastic on the top of the dashboard, right next to the windshield. This element appears in cars with automatic air conditioning, and in the case of dual-zone air conditioning, there may be two plastics. These are solar sensors.

How do they work? The sensors analyze the sunlight and, based on it, assess how much the car's interior is heating up to adjust the automatic air conditioning operation properly. For example, on a sunny day, if we set the air conditioning to 20 degrees Celsius, the system will work to quickly and effectively cool the vehicle's interior.

If we set the exact temperature on a cloudy day, the car's computer will recognize that the interior is not heating up as quickly, which means the cooling process will be different. Therefore, ensuring that nothing is covering these sensors is essential, as they play a crucial role.