Every car owner knows the feeling of an overheated car. As a child, I remember opening the car on the beach in Skegness (UK) and sitting on a hot black plastic car seat in our Morris Minor 1000 Traveller (a super cool car by the way) in shorts and that stinging heat hitting the back of my legs like a toaster!
Over the years, nothing has really changed with heated cars. We all know the damage it does to the internal leather or plastic fabric, we have all seen the bubbles on the dashboard, the delamination or the loss of colour of the leather over time. In addition, we know how dangerously hot our vehicles can become, reaching temperatures up to 40C or 140F within 15 minutes. In addition, you leave items in the back and they are roasting.
In terms of our personal safety, heat strokes are an outcome of a hot car, children, elderly people, or people with heat control issues can suffer. Even more concerning is the impact on pets, who if left without cover and water can soon suffer life threatening conditions within minutes.
So is there a solution? Well of course there is - a well made car sunshade with a reflective surface is a logical and easy solution, but there is a distinct lack of innovation and thought within the current product range by many vehicle manufacturers and after sales specialists.
In the Car and Vehicle Accessory world, the in-store retailers have paid very little attention to consumer needs, providing at best sub 10CHF/USD/Euro SunShades. Made thinly, of generic cut, they neither fit nor stay in place. Add a suction cup and the SunShade sticks for a while longer, until it falls onto the dashboard and then in fact radiates yet more heat via accelerated UV into your vehicle.
You see these online at Galaxus, in stores like Jumbo and even outside the front door of mediamarkt.
So, there are 5 options open to protecting your car from the impact of increasingly hot European Summers.
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Do nothing.
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Park in a more shaded place (recommended).
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Buy a generic auto sunshade and hope for the best.
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Find a custom fit auto Sunshades that perfectly blocks the entire front windscreen.
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Go even further and find a solution that provides custom-fit sunshades for your entire vehicle.
So, finding a customer's need is key to any brand's success and I have long believed that there are massive ease of use benefits for really well designed, manufactured auto SunShades.
So, in 2025 we introduced our USA range of 350 custom-fit SunShades on our website and via galaxus.ch to the Swiss customers.
Problem is, we didn’t see the demand coming, like no way did we see this level of interest and demand, So to be honest after a good supply run in June, July has been sticky, with stock outs in Switzerland and in our German distribution. As some of our customers you will have noticed that our delivery times are longer, not what you or us want for sure.
So, as an update, if you are one of our SunShade customers, we thank you for helping us grow our business and provide better solutions for those customers who want to solve the hot vehicle issue. At the end of July (next week) we will be shipping some 500 SunShades into our German facility, that will be available to cover our customer backlog in Switzerland and provide inventory for the rest of the year (we will be shipping more product by Air Freight) every 2 weeks until mid-september.
If you are a customer and are desperate for your sunshades before you leave on vacation, then we do have a solution. Tell us your temporary holiday location address with the start and end date and we will ship your SunShades in the next 2 weeks to that address if you are in Europe!
Finally, do remember our Sunshades are duel purpose, so if you are in the mountains for your Winter sports, just switch to the black side and our shades will start to absorb UV, converting back to radiated heat and act like a “wet-suit” keeping your windows temperature way above the ambient temperature outside. The result, no frosting of those windows and a warmer car.
Thanks to all of our customers, without you we cannot grow our business, understand your needs, handle your (valid) concerns on delivery and stock. But be rest assured, we will continue to accelerate our growth and make sure no matter what if you order from WeatherTech you will get your product!
