Is there always a strong smell in your car? Here are 5 ways to try!

Recently, many parents have asked us in the background: Will the odor in the car cause harm to the body?

Some parents even worry that the odor in the car will cause leukemia?

This problem is actually not an isolated case: a report from the China Consumers Council shows that as of June 2021, there have been as many as 27,000 complaints about odors in cars, which shows that the problem of odors in cars has become very common.

In this article, "Dad's Laboratory" will tell you about it:

What exactly is the odor in the car?

Is it harmful to the human body?

What should we do?

Although the odor is small, the harm is not small

In fact, as early as 2019, Wei Laoba had done relevant tests. At that time, there was a hot post on the Internet about many car owners complaining that car odor caused leukemia. After seeing it, several car owners were worried about the safety of the air in the car and specifically found Wei Laoba to do the test.

▲ The picture comes from the "Doudou Don't Cry" public account

First of all, I want to tell you that there is no medical evidence to prove the causal relationship between leukemia and toxic gases in the car. However, if the odor problem in the car is not controlled well, it will indeed cause great harm to the human body.

The main problems of car odor are TVOC and formaldehyde. Regarding formaldehyde, many people know that it is a Class 1 carcinogen. As for TVOC, we also popularized it in our previous article. It is a general term for many volatile organic compounds and an important indoor pollutant. It contains the Class 1 carcinogen benzene that everyone is worried about. Long-term exposure will have a strong toxicity to the nervous system, respiratory system and skin.

▲ Description of TVOC hazards in relevant literature

The results of our tests for several drivers at that time showed that the TVOC concentrations in the four cars were all high. If calculated according to the TVOC limit of 0.60 mg/m³ in the "Air Quality Requirements for Long-distance Buses GB/T 17729-2009", these were definitely exceeded.

Moreover, a car that has been bought for 6 years has a TVOC concentration as high as 1.3 mg/m³. It is worth mentioning that these four car models are already mid-range.

▲ Special note: Since professional laboratories do not accept individual vehicle inspections, we conducted simulated real-life inspections for car owners under limited conditions. This is only for car owners to find out the air conditions inside the car, and it cannot be used as authoritative proof.

Those two years have passed. Has the air safety in cars improved?

Unfortunately, we looked through the drifting log and found that recently, several parents used our instruments to test the air inside their cars. The results showed that the formaldehyde content exceeded the standard and the TVOC concentration was also very high. The TVOC concentration of a new car even reached 2.23mg/m³.

The long-standing odor problem

Why does the problem of odor in the car keep happening?

A knowledgeable friend left a message below before: This is because many cars use lower-cost asphalt damping pads.

Indeed, some inferior asphalt damping pads may use coal tar asphalt, which is a Class 1 carcinogen in the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) carcinogen classification and is an important source of car odor. The weight of asphalt used in general cars can reach 8 to 15 kilograms.

If cars were all using this type of low-quality asphalt damping pads, the TVOC concentration inside the car would be unimaginable.

In addition to asphalt damping sheets, sound insulation cotton is also an important source of odor in the car. Volkswagen issued a statement in 2017 to ensure a comfortable experience in the car, which is to solve the problem of odor in some vehicles caused by sound insulation materials.

Sound insulation cotton is used in large quantities in the bottom of the car, door panels, and front surround together with PP fillers and PU foam materials. When the temperature is high, it is very easy to cause the TVOC concentration in the car to increase and produce odor.

In addition to these two, a large amount of chemicals are used in the production process of plastic parts, leather, rubber, adhesives, carpets, accessories, etc. in the car, which will also produce a lot of TVOC and formaldehyde, which is harmful to our health.

▲ Schematic diagram of the car interior, picture from Unsplash

Another important reason why the problem of odor in cars continues to occur is the insufficient constraints on automobile manufacturers.

At present, the national standard GB/T 27630-2011 "Guidelines for the Evaluation of Air Quality in Passenger Cars" only stipulates the concentration of formaldehyde (the same as the indoor air standard requirements), and does not have any limit requirements for TVOC.

▲ GB/T 27630-2011 "Guidelines for Passenger Car Interior Air Quality Evaluation"

Although the standard stipulates the limit values ​​of 7 types of pollutants such as benzene, acetaldehyde, acrolein, etc., TVOC includes more than these 7 types of pollutants, and many volatile organic compounds are not included. In addition, it can be seen that the limit values ​​of toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene are significantly higher than the 0.6 mg/m³ TVOC requirement for long-distance buses.

In addition, this standard is not mandatory, which gives some car companies an opportunity to take advantage of it. Therefore, whether the air inside a car is safe depends largely on the conscience of the car company.

However, new standards are also being promoted. As early as 2016, a draft for the revision of the in-vehicle air quality standard was released for comments. It was intended to revise the recommended standard into a mandatory standard, adjust the various limit values ​​of the standard, and discuss the feasibility of PAHs and TVOC indicators and limits, so that more vehicles can undergo in-vehicle air testing before leaving the factory. However, this mandatory standard has not yet been implemented, so everyone still has to wait patiently.

Targeted treatment to give your family peace of mind

Although the new mandatory standards have not yet been implemented, we can also conduct self-inspection first, check with professional instruments, have a general idea, and then take targeted measures.

If relevant problems are found, you can take the following measures:

As more and more people ask about car odor in the background, we also find that: with the development of society, more and more people start to own private cars, and more and more people use cars to go to farther places. It allows us to not have to endure the wind and rain and crowds on the way forward, allowing us to drive freely to our destination, making the distance between reality and ideal shorter.

▲ Image from soogif

However, as the number of private cars increases, we spend more and more time in our cars. We sincerely hope that cars can bring us convenience as well as more safety.

We also hope that everyone will no longer have to worry after the investigation and can drive wherever you want.

■ Do not force everyone to agree with our views, and do not use moral kidnapping

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■ The content of the article is supported by real data, and I only speak for myself

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Source: Dad Review