Report: HFO-1234yf ‘safe and effective’

3 May 2013  

New AC refrigerant HFO-1234yf is safe to use, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International)

The gas attracted controversy in the late part of last year when Daimler AG, parent company of Mercedes-Benz refused to fill new vehicles with it, suggesting that it was ‘highly flammable’ and ‘dangerous’ to use. This decision reversed the findings of the VMs own engineers, who some time before had concluded that the gas was less flammable than its predecessor r134a.

However, a new report from SAE International that took in to account all of the concerns raised by Daimler has reconfirmed that Honeywell’s new low-global-warming-potential mobile air conditioning refrigerant, HFO-1234yf, is “safe and effective to use in automotive applications.”

The report slams Daimler’s testing methods as being “not an appropriate test to verify the safety of refrigerant applications in vehicles” because it “did not include any actual vehicle collisions or the mitigating factors that occur in an actual collision.”

SAE International’s Cooperative Research Project (CRP) said that it has carefully evaluated extensive testing on HFO-1234yf, including collision scenarios, and has reconfirmed its finding that HFO-1234yf is safe for use in automobile air conditioning.  The evaluation involved technical experts from Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Renault and Toyota.

“The CRP’s recent announcement again confirms that HFO-1234yf is safe for use in mobile air conditioning,” said Dr. Ian Shankland, chief technology officer for Honeywell, the firm which manufactures the refrigerant.