I watch the show all the time and its pretty tight. I was watching today and they were trying to get different cans of sorts to explode in a heated car. It was basically said that a soda can would only explode in a car that is reaching 300 degree and thats not really posible. Well I hate to say but thats not true, bc there was a doctor peper in my girlfriends car about 2 years ago and after leaving it in there while we were out doing something it exploded and splatered on the celling of the car and all in the cup holder. There are still stains on the Celling to this day. And honestly the cup holder is still a little sticky since it is so hard to clean down in there. I just thought you should know. Sorry.

I havent seen this episode, but similar has happened in my trunk... though that was wine and beer.

But if there was a problem with replicating it the problem was probably impatience. the materials inside a can take significantly longer to heat than air. Thats why Air is the key to insulation and so on so forth.

I too have had a can of soda explode in a vehicle. Upon leaving a family get together, we were given some cold cans of coke. I didn't want mine and stuck it in the glove compartment. Days later, I came across the forgotten can and set it on the seat. The next day I approached my van and what appeared to be fogged up windows. I opened the door to find soda spray covering the entire front section of the van, as well as some concentrated stains on the headliner, even extending into the mid-section of the van. The interesting thing was that the seat where the can had been resting had very little spray and the can was completely empty. The entire contents had emptied up and out on explosion. We live in Missouri and the van has tinted windows. Our passenger electric window will no longer operate because the soda got down inside the door and gummed everything up. As stated by another poster, I think you have to allow the can time to heat up.
We love your show! Keep up the good work!

In July 1995, my family was visiting the Hoover Dam. While taking the tour a can of Coca-Cola exploded in our rental car. it was sitting on the floor in the shaded area on the floorboard. Obviously this is one of the hottest places in the US, but still the can exploded and cover the passenger seat and windshield. The explosion happened through the pop-top opening. The aluminum tab was pushed up and out.

I agree with metalcynic (about impatience). My husband had a 12 pack of coke in his car over a hot weekend and when he got in the car monday for work 3 of the 12 cans had exploded from the bottoms of the cans and coated the inside of his honda civic. I think that the liquid inside the cans takes a lot longer to heat up than the inside of the car. Love the show though. I spend $40 a month (for satt) just to watch your show!

I love the show as well. I have to agree with wct420 about the exploding soda can in the car. My sister left a soda in her car while she was at work. She came out to her car at the end of the day and soda was all over the inside of the car. It stained the ceiling as well and made every nook and cranny sticky. We couldn't push any button on the console without it sticking.

I worked a few years in shipping and receiving for a major hotel in NYC and I can tell you when it gets hot, canned soda, beans and even tomato products explode. Sometimes just puffing out like a blow fish other times into a big mess.

I have to agree. I purchased a 12 pack of soda before work one day, mid-summer (since at the time, I had school afterward.) Wisconsin summers do get hot, and when I came back to the car after a full day, the dash, ceiling, and part of the windshield was covered in sticky soda.

It does happen.

I have had a family member have a soda can explode in her car after it was left in there all day long...she had it packed with her lunch and hadn't touched it all day...but it had been in the fridge for at least 3 days so that it was cool enough to replicate the temperature of the fridge...i think that is what your problem is.

I too have experienced this myth happening to me. I was in Temecula CA. during mid summer and it was easily 106 outside. My car was in the direct sunlight for over 7 hours and when I returned to my car, the entire top of the soda can had been blown off and soda was everywhere. What they did on the show was to heat the soda up quickly, but if you simply let the soda sit in a closed car in 106 degree weather for a number of hours, it is completely possible.

I had a can of cherry coke explode in my car, and it went everywhere. How can they say it won't blow up in a car, when it does... a lot.

Same experience. I had a can sitting in the back window in the Nevada summer sun. Every window was coated with cola. The gear shift was sticky. The ceiling is still spotted to this day.

A can left in the car in winter will also explode, but it is not nearly as spectacular (meaning it is much easier to clean and doesn't coat the entire interior of the car).

So I live in the Phoenix, AZ area and do not have air conditioning in my car. I work at a mall and park in a big black parking lot and left a 12 pack of "lemon lime soda" in the front passenger seat on a very very hot day in the middle of summer. When I got out of work around 3:30-4pm (super hot then), I sat in my car to see everything is splattered with soda. I mean it was everywhere! I sighed, started my car and decided to drive home. When I left the parking lot the bump of hitting the street was enough to make another can explode unexpectedly next to me and I threw my hand over and pushed the entire pack on the floor causing a couple more to explode. POP! POP! Lucky I live close to work. By the time I got home I was covered in hot soda and the side of the 12 pack was ripped open and so were the cans. Totally blown open, not just a small tear. There are small brown spots all over my car still from it. (lemon lime soda turns brown after it dries and heats with time!) Lesson learned? Keep soda in the trunk or at worst the back seat if you ever leave it in your car!

Also my roommate a couple years back had a Purple **ade drink in his back seat for a month that turned completely clear, no trace of purple except for a slight tint. weird, huh?

I as well have had actually a few cans of cola explode in my car. I live in Louisiana and our summers are extreamly hot. I worked in security and due to my lack in keeping my car well maintained left cola cans unopened in my car. I have black cherry leather interior, in a 93 caprice classic with no added tint to the windows. The caprice cars have very large windshields and back glass in them which may lead to intense heat in the car. I have not once, not twice, but 3 times had a can of cola explode in my car. I will admit that i seriously doubt that the tempature in the car reached over 300 degrees...however..... it took a couple weeks for the cans to start exploding... I have come to the conclusion that over time the stress around the seal of where the can opens becomes weak due to the expanding, and shrinking back of the can in the heat of day then cooler temperature at night, untill it cannot hold anymore and in the heat of the day it gives and explodes soda all over the interior of the car. Since I have had this happen 3 times I will say that at no time did the can "explode" from any other point than where the can opens from. (ex. the sides and bottom were expanded, but intact.)Hope this will help. also... I have learned my lesson well. I no longer leave cans of cola in my car

I have also been the victim of an exploding soda can. I would definitely agree with the idea that the contents of the can take longer to heat than the car itself.

My thought though, is that the turbulance caused by a regular car ride could also contribute to a buildup of pressure in the can. In my experience, it was a hot summer day and I had just left my house to head to a friend's. I noticed the can rolling back and forth on the passenger side floor but didn't pay any mind to it. A few minutes later I was stopped at a stop sign and it blew straight out the side of the can, covering me, my seats and windows with Jackson Pollock-esqe pattern of Coca-Cola.

I would think that the can bouncing and rolling around the floor of my car, in addition to its contents being heated, contributed to the explosion.

Yes soda cans do explode in hot cars. It happened to me, after I was warned that it could. I said no it couldn't, and two days later there was soda sprayed all over the car. Now I never leave a closed soda in the car, especially in the California heat.

They shouldn't have labled that myth busted. The problem is that they kept the soda can still, when it would explode if it was moving around. Our car has stains all over it from where a soda blew up in it. It blew up because it was hot and rolling around. They should retest the myth and let it roll around in the hot car.

Yea, i was watching that show today too and at coincidently my mom came home (in the middle of when they were explaining how it couldn't happen in a car) with a seltzer can that had exploded in ours while she was at work. its actually pretty cool, the entire top is gone and the bottom has sort of bubbled out.

Another thing you can consider:

If the cans had been frozen when they were put into the car they would probably explode much easier. I know last time i froze a can of soda and left it out in the sun the pressure made a hole in the can in about 20 minutes