What is Freon?
Freon is a refrigerant that cycles through your AC, cooling you car. It cycles through liquid and gas forms and works to regulate the temperature of your car. It is very important that there are no freon leaks in order to maintain cool temperatures inside your car.
What is R-12 Freon and R-13A Freon?
There are different types of Freon. Originally R-12 Freon was used in car air conditioning prior to 1994, but it was found that when a car emits R-12 Freon, it depletes the ozone layer. R-13A Freon is used in auto AC in cars after 1994. R-13A has insignificant ozone layer depletion potential and somewhat lower global warming potential. However, studies show that the concentration of R-13A has doubled in Earth's atmosphere between 2001 and 2004, increasing the global warming potential significantly and acid rain negligibly. The European Union has banned the use of R-13A in cars and began phasing it out of cars since 2011. R-13A is anticipated to be completely phased out in 2017 in the EU. R-1234yf is the new Freon that is safer for the environment compared to R-13A, but only specific cars can use it. The US is planning to phase out R-13A by 2020.