Pro or anti-aircon: Who gets to control a car’s climate?

My friend always turns the air-conditioning on full blast when she’s a passenger in my car. She does it even when the temperature’s perfectly fine with the windows down. How can I stop her?
H.M., Wheeler Heights, NSW

Illustration: Drew Aitken

We humans used to be tough. We could handle a hot day in the car. Didn’t mind our fingers fusing to a molten steering wheel. Our bellies getting branded by searing seatbelt buckles. Our sweaty thighs suction-sticking to the vinyl seats (and having to break the suction seal with a Paddle Pop stick just to get out of the car).

But now we’ve become a pack of weather-wimps. The moment the temperature cracks 24C, we’re closing our windows and blasting the air-con: you see people driving around on perfectly pleasant days in their mobile storage freezers, shivering in woollen scarves and hooded anoraks, icicles forming under their nostril holes. So your friend needs to know that air-con isn’t always necessary: if she just opened her window, she could get the exact same cooling for free from nature’s patented FaceBreeze Climate Management System™.

Also make her aware of three key words in your question: “in”, “my” and “car”. No passenger should be touching any car controls without the driver’s permission. That means no fiddling with the climate settings. No changing podcasts on the touchscreen. And no taking hold of the steering wheel (not unless the driver has specifically said, “Here, grab the wheel a sec. I think I’m having an aneurysm and we’re heading for a cliff edge. But don’t turn off this true-crime podcast. It’s well-researched ... and gripping ... and I sense ... a twist … coming ...”).

Tell your friend all this stuff: that by leaving the aircon off she’ll be helping to save money, energy, your friendship, the environment, a glacier or two, and most of Kiribati.

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