[6] Unlike previous vehicular refrigerants, 2,3,3,3‑tetrafluoropropene is flammable, but does not increase fire risk in internal combustion engines.

[citation needed] One drawback is it breaks down into short-chain perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs), which are persistent organic pollutants.

[7] HFO-1234yf was developed by a team at DuPont, led by Barbara Haviland Minor, jointly with researchers at Honeywell.

[8][9] Their goal was to meet European directive 2006/40/EC, which went into effect in 2011 and required that all new car platforms for sale in Europe use a refrigerant in its AC system with a global warming potential (GWP) less than 150 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

[30] In October 2012, SAE International established a new Cooperative Research Project, CRP1234-4, to extend its previous testing and investigate Daimler's claims.

[10] The investigation concluded that R-1234yf did not increase the estimated risk of vehicle fire exposure, because "the refrigerant release testing completed by Daimler was unrealistic" and "created extreme conditions that favored ignition".

[31] Writing for Auto Service Professional, Gordon Jacques summarized the controversy: "The flammability issue has attracted a lot of attention, prompting the industry to conduct some serious third-party testing.

Almost every other fluid under the hood will light more easily and burn hotter than R1234yf, so the industry has determined that with proper A/C system design, it does not increase the chances of fire in the vehicle.

[33] Other additives have been proposed for lowering the flammability of HFO-1234yf, such as trifluoroiodomethane, which has a low GWP due to its short atmospheric lifetime, but is slightly mutagenic.

Due to its high polarity and low degradability, it is difficult to remove TFA from drinking water (ICPR 2019).