I can’t think of a location within the bodywork of a car that would provide accurate data considering wind-chill when it’s moving, excessive heat from either the engine, or stationary in the sun.
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They’re often installed inside the front bumper, where they’re far enough from the engine to avoid heat yet shielded from wind effect
The outside air temperature in a car is normally measured at the Mass Airflow Sensor(MAF). It is quite accurate as it is used to determine just how much air is entering the engine and then to add the correct amount of fuel.
This is normally done by measuring the temperature before the MAF, adding heat, and measuring it right after the MAF.
The difference between the two tells the car how much air, so the sensors are very accurate and very fast.
There are times when this can be wrong, but then MAF still works for fuel, as it only cares about the difference, not the actual temperature
I thought the temperature was derived from the mass air flow sensor integrated with a thermistor.
I remember reading somewhere that there is a set of criteria used when to update the temperature reading displayed on the dash or wherever to avoid super high readings from sitting out in the sun. Something like x number of minutes after the car has been going at a certain speed. I assume the display just shows the last good reading when that criteria isn’t met.
Apparently a car thermometer isn’t even a thermometer — it’s a [thermistor.](https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/car-thermometer-thermistor-temperature-wrong#)
“windchill” will carry away the radiated heat from the car and allow the thermometer to be in equilibrium with the actual outside air temp. That’s what you want
On my motorbike it says intake air temp. My thought is that it’s probably in the air intake in most vehicles. I imagine the ecu probably uses that data anyway which is why we have them.
The ambient air temperature sensor is usually in the bumper, grill area of your car. It csnt be in the engine bay or behind your radiator because that wouldn’t be accurate at all. Engines run up to 225 degrees and a radiator is hot too so that would throw it off.
I’ve had cars that when idling for long periods in the summer the heat build up from under the car would raise the temp to the point the thermometer on the dash would max out at 122F and then just say “hot”.
The temp probe is almost always in the grill of the car.
It’s the air intake temperature sensor that provides the outdoor air temperature reading, it’s a probe sensor
The car for at least the last 25 years has pretty much always had the ability to use that figure because it’s needed to determine fuel mixture, it’s just only lately it has been added to a clock in the cabin
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