03/12/2020
If you have time read this. Is long but worth reading it.
Warning! “Germaphobes” beware – this article may gross you out!
Many of us go to great lengths to keep our houses clean. We obsess about bathroom cleanliness and use harsh chemicals to clean food preparation surfaces. We vacuum with HEPA filter equipped vacuum cleaners, clean our home’s air ducts, and change our HVAC system filters religiously. Yet, how many of us actually spend more than a few minutes every year or so cleaning out our cars? Most of us spend a few hours a day in our cars – commuting, running errands, shuttling kids to after school activities. Yet relatively few of notice the filthy condition of our cars. We all think twice when getting into a taxi cab, sitting in a movie theater, or grabbing the handrail on a subway train – but we’ll ride around in our own cars without a problem. That coffee that you spilled in the cup holder a few weeks back, that fermenting pile of Cheerios and Goldfish Crackers under the seat, and that thick coating of dust on your dashboard – these are all hotbeds of microorganism growth.
A British company tested the interior surfaces of a variety of vehicles and found that the average car had more than 6 million bacteria in it. That is much worse than the average toilet seat in a public bathroom! And keep in mind, it just takes a single living virus to make us sick.
Sniff, sniff. Smell that? That’s bacteria and mold that you smell. Recent scientific studies show that our cars are littered with bacteria and mold – and in places that you might not expect! The dashboard, for example, contained the second largest amount of microorganisms detected. Air vents around the dashboard draw air into the car’s ventilation system – also drawing mold spores and bacteria along with it. Some of these microorganisms then settle on the dash and thrive in the warmth of the sunlight. Car dashboards along with food spills had 10 times more bacteria than areas that most of us would predict to be the dirtiest – like radio k***s and seat belts.
Yes, the dirtiest areas of a car are usually those that we interact with the most; seats, steering wheel, cup holders, etc. But there are also areas that we don’t see that can harbor microorganisms. While we are usually pretty good about cleaning out visible food spills, how many of us do more than a cursory wipe or vacuum? That soda, powdered sugar, or french fry grease gets into the carpeting and upholstery – and becomes food for bacteria. And what about those deep dark, hard to reach areas of the car’s ventilation system? The cool moist air produced by the air conditioning system blowing through the dark inaccessible air ducts creates the perfect area to collect mold. That mold then gets circulated throughout the passenger cabin. HEPA cabin air filter you say? Sure, the cabin air filter cleans the air as it comes into the system. But then that air is blown through those moldy air ducts right back into the passenger cabin!
So, how does one control cabin air pollution and disinfect vehicle surfaces? Well, according to the United States EPA, there are three approaches to reducing air pollution in a confined space (such as your home or car):
Source Control: Eliminate or control the source of pollution;
Ventilation: Dilute and exhaust pollutants by ventilating with outdoor air, and
Air Cleaning: Remove pollutants through proven air cleaning methods.
Of these three, the first method – source control – is the most effective. This calls for a thorough cleaning of all surfaces within your car. The car wash vacuum isn’t going to cut it here. We’re talking steam cleaning of food spills and hot water extraction of stains. The key to minimizing microorganisms is to remove their food source.
