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There’s something about the smell of a new car. To many people, the leathery, plasticky aroma that hits you when you slide behind the wheel is a pleasurable scent. Seductive. Perhaps even addictive. On the other hand, to a few people the smell is malodorous, particularly to someone who has an acute chemical sensitivity.
Exactly what gives rise to new car smell? The answer is a complex mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily alkanes (known as paraffins or saturated hydrocarbons) and substituted benzenes along with a few organic compounds (i.e. aldehydes and ketones). The new car smell is attributed mostly to phthalate plasticizers used in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or other plastics.
Nearly every solid surface inside a vehicle is a fabric or plastic that is held together in part with adhesives and sealers. Off-gassing of residual solvents and other chemicals from these materials leads to a sea of VOCs floating about in the passenger compartment.
Individual components of new car smell probably aren’t harmful at the concentrations found in cars, but the cumulative effects of long-term exposure to the total mix of VOCs could pose health problems. Fortunately, high concentrations of these compounds quickly dissipate just a few months after manufacture. And although VOC concentrations can reach unhealthy levels in a closed vehicle on a warm day, the air-exchange rate in a car is high when someone opens a door, rolls down a window, or turns on the air conditioner.
New car owners should make sure there is plenty of outside air entering the vehicle while they drive for at least six months after the vehicle has been purchased - if it has not been treated by EnviroFix.
Negative effects of new car smell are headaches; drowsiness; nausea; respiratory distress; and eye, nose, and throat irritation.
David Stoner, CEO EnviroFix, Inc
©2011
