[RahulNagaraj]

After purchasing a car, people always talk about how they like the "new car smell" emanating from the cabin. However, according to a new study, the new car smell could actually be dangerous to a person's health.

CBS Austin's latest study reports that new car smell is linked to leukaemia and rare nose cancers. It states that the 'new car smell' isn't a smell at all, but rather a combination of compounds inside the vehicle undergoing a phenomenon called 'Off-gassing'. Basically, all organic compounds inside, including in the seats and dashboard, undergo a reaction and release chemicals which create the distinctive smell.



Another study was conducted by RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia and overseen by Professor Oliver Jones, wherein a new car was left in varying environmental conditions over a course of 12 days. Keeping Chinese safety levels as a baseline, the study found that Formaldehyde levels increased by 34.9% & Acetaldehyde increased to 223.5 micrograms per cubic meter - 61% higher than the safe levels. The results of the study found that just 30 minutes of exposure to these chemicals is enough to put someone at risk. Professor Jones also stated that many of the chemicals in the cabin were carcinogenic.

Ford is said to already be working on a system that would completely get rid of the new car smell in vehicles.

Source: CB Austin

Link to Team-BHP news

[xjosephjacob]

One more reason to seriously consider the pre-worshipped examples !

While its cool to say "Nothing beats the smell of a new car", I always had it in the back of my mind that these are from plastics and foam (read Cancer).

Good luck to the Ford- I'm sure other's also have been putting effort to find a solution.

[jeganatu]

In this article, find an interesting video how NISSAN uses this new car smell to give its customer new experience!

https://www.popsci.com/technology/new-car-smell/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTB9dv8m9xQ&t=3s

[krinpit]

Not just cars, VOC's are present in almost every new item that is made in factory. And they continue to be in the air for a significant amount of time. VOC = Volatile Organic Carbons

[sunsivj]

I got my XL6 car delivered last month and today while driving I was thinking what happened to the smell of my new car? as I felt it was no longer present. And this news gives me some relief assuming something is going on the right direction with my car hopefully. I did request the Sales person to remove all plastics before the car being delivered to me. Maybe that also did help a bit.

[Brumby]

Originally Posted by krinpit

Not just cars, VOC's are present in almost every new item that is made in factory. And they continue to be in the air for a significant amount of time. VOC = Volatile Organic Carbons

VOC - Volatile Organic Compounds,

Slightly off topic - Organic is the word used for all things related to Carbon, Organic chemistry is a branch of chemistry dealing only with carbon and its compounds. I read during the school that the number of compounds that carbon can make by reacting with itself and other elements is far greater than formed by all the other chemicals reacting with each other.

Cheers

[Iyencar]

I'm a bit surprised to see this trending across automotive media as some new information. A quick google search will show results from atleast a decade back. Here is one from the NIH published in 2001: Link
"In addition to pollutants that are drawn into a vehicle from outside, hidden pollutants may lurk inside as well, particularly as emissions from materials used to construct the vehicle. While there are very limited publicly available data, a few sources indicate that the familiar “new car smell” is laden with VOCs and other pollutants emitted from materials such as plastics, foams, adhesives, and carpet".

Seems like the kind of news that is sent out to media outlets to grab eyeballs every few years, like this one from 2021. Link

On the other hand there are studies like this. "A 2007 German study on "Toxicity of Parked Motor Vehicle Indoor Air" which specifically tested the health effects of emissions from one new and one three-year-old vehicle exposed to "parked in sunshine" conditions found "no apparent health hazard of parked motor vehicle indoor air"

P.S. I'm not dismissive about the real and present dangers of the fumes. All I want to say is a better understanding of the topic can be achieved by simply going into google scholar, typing out your concern, eg. "car dashboard carcinogenic" and reading the peer reviewed articles or atleast the abstract to get a clear pic minus the hyperbole.

[aargee]

Two threads that educated me on the smell of new cars were
Beware of that new car smell
Unacceptably high levels of carcinogens inhaled by car owners

[warp_10]

Interesting, was unaware of this. So recourse is wear a mask during the run-in ??

[steadfast]

My mom and brother get motion sickness and headache due to this smell. I have told my driver to keep the car in sun for 1 hour once a week with windows slightly open. Hopefully this works

[shivamgiri22]

This might be offtopic, but I need some help, our driver spilt old engine oil brought from servicing on our car's trunk carpet ( Fortuner), we did get the interior cleaned up, and the car mat has done a large amount of absorption as whenever we touch the mat we can feel the oil and a subtle engine oil smell remains as whenever the car it non ignited, it subsides during drives as the car freshener and ac work their way around it but that's about it. Toyota showroom recommends a replacement of the mat and is saying that a tentative expense of Rs 10-15k will be incurred, I guess there can be some better way around it too, so kindly help me with how to get the remaining oil cleaned up from the mat and let ensure that smell goes too, any insights will be highly appreciated.

[Sargent_dallas]

I brought a new jeep wrangler in 2022, and one of my friends suggested not to use any air freshener to retain the fresh car smell; whenever I drive for extended periods (say 5-6 hours with 100% A/C), I always felt lightheaded and thought it was because of Jeep dynamics; the smell lingered around for six months and went away on its own. My friend’s x3 still has new smell even after an year!, not sure how many carcinogens we inhaled ��*♂️.

[Ravi Parwan]

Originally Posted by shivamgiri22

This might be offtopic, but I need some help, our driver spilt old engine oil brought from servicing on our car's trunk carpet ( Fortuner),.... I guess there can be some better way around it too, so kindly help me with how to get the remaining oil cleaned up from the mat and let ensure that smell goes too, any insights will be highly appreciated.

take out the mat from the car, wash it with shampoo or detergent to get out the oil and residues. Then dry it in shade for a couple of days.

I had a milk spill in my Chevy Beat a couple of years ago. Had it washed in-car a couple of times but no joy. in the end, took out the entire carpet and washed it like a blanket/ carpet. The smell reduced in the washing, but the real game changer was drying it out for a couple of days.

[shivamgiri22]

Originally Posted by Ravi Parwan

take out the mat from the car and wash it with shampoo or detergent to get out the oil and residues. Then dry it in shade for a couple of days.

I had a milk spill in my Chevy Beat a couple of years ago. Had it washed in-car a couple of times but no joy. in the end, took out the entire carpet and washed it like a blanket/ carpet. The smell reduced in the washing, but the real game changer was drying it out for a couple of days.

So basically, Fortuner has a single mat right from trunk to front, that'll require all the seats to be removed (as informed by the Toyota service centre) and then that mat can be removed, washed and dried out, seems like quite a task.