New Car Smell: Broken Dreams

Is your new car’s smell toxic?

You just bough a new car. You get in and take a deep breath. It smells like success, luxury and the American dream. Finally, you don’t have to drive your grandma’s teal-colored Camry around anymore!

There are some important things that the dealership definitely didn’t tell you.

What toxic chemicals are at their highest in the first 6 months of your new car’s life
The health affects of these chemicals
How you can reduce your exposure

That “new car smell” is a cocktail of more than 200 different chemicals used to make the various parts of the car. These chemicals are involved in all of the different materials that make up the car’s nice interior as well as how the pieces are attached. These materials include solvents, glues, adhesives, rubbers, plastics, flame retardants, coatings, trims, fabrics, and leather.

Similar to the chemicals used by the personal care industry, these chemicals aren’t regulated and consumers don’t know the potential dangers that they face. It’s the job of independent researchers to expose the dangers and encourage manufacturers to use safer materials, which is an exhausting and expensive game of whack-a-mole.

The average American spends more than 1.5 hours in a car every day, which is why toxic chemical exposure inside vehicles can be a major source of indoor air pollution. Inhalation is the main route of exposure to these chemicals. When we get into a car, we breathe in chemicals that are gases, chemicals in vapors and chemicals in suspended dust. Additionally, the dust that settles on surfaces, when touched, can be ingested via hand-to-mouth behavior (a fancy way of saying eating french-fries or biting your nails), resulting in ingestion being the second exposure route.

Caution is most important for people who are pregnant and for children. Fetuses and kids alike are growing rapidly, and for all of that cell division to happen seamlessly, a low body-burden of toxins is crucial.

The time frame for this caution should be highest in the first 6 months of having a new car and the risks diminish significantly after 3 years.

Classes of chemicals involved in “New Car Smell”:

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Among the common VOCs found in vehicles include benzene, ethylbenzene, styrene, xylene, acetaldehyde, toluene, formaldehyde, acrolein, all known or suspected carcinogens. Formaldehyde for example, is a common chemical used in building materials, wood paneling, glues, permanent press fabrics, paints and coatings, lacquers and finishes, and paper products. It is recognized by the EPA as a carcinogen. Several studies investigating VOCs in car interiors have found many of these pollutants in levels exceeding indoor and outdoor air quality standards.

The reason why we smell these chemicals is because they are “off-gassing” from the materials in the car. They are volatile, floating up into the air. Heat and UV light increase rate of off-gassing and also break down other materials that can then further pollute the air. Because cars are sealed up with no ventilation toxic chemicals in the air are able to reach high concentrations.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and other Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs),

This class of chemicals is used, as the name implies, to give a material flame retardancy. Back in the 1970’s when most people chain-smoked, the government mandated that things like mattresses, sofas and car interiors be rated to a certain degree of flame retardancy. PBDEs became commonly used in foams, fabrics, plastics, textiles and electrical/electronic equipment.

Of the PBDEs, pentaBDE and octaBDE have been phased out by the EPA because of toxicity and health effects. Now, under, TSCA a Pre-manufacture Notification (PMN) must be filed for these two. DecaBDE is still commonly used and it breaks down into pentaBDE and octaBDE as well as other lower brominated BDEs. Exposure to deca (and the lower brominated BDEs) is linked to a number of human health effects. Deca may pass through the placenta and cause neuro-developmental toxicity in the fetus. Other suspected health concerns include: thyroid hormone disruption, learning and memory impairment, behavioral changes, hearing deficits, delayed puberty onset, decreased sperm count, fetal malformations, and possibly cancer. Levels in the environment are close to those levels in which health effects are seen in animal studies. Deca is used at loadings of 10 to 15% weight in polymers and is always used in conjunction with antimony trioxide, a carcinogen.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

PVC is a very common plastic. There are a host of issues in the making of PVC and the end of life of PVC. This includes workers being exposed to the vinyl chloride monomer and/or dioxin, both of which are likely carcinogens, and that PVC isn’t recycled and burning it releases dioxins and furans. However, just considering the use of PVC in a car’s interior, it is a concern mainly because of the dangerous chemicals added to it such as phthalates, lead, cadmium, and organotins. Phthalate plasticizers or softeners can off gasses from the PVC.

DEHP (di 2-ethyl- hexyl phthalate), is classified by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen, and there is also evidence that it causes male and female genital and urinary malformations, pre-term deliveries, and testicular atrophy and effects on other organs such as the liver and kidneys. Studies have shown that DEHP, or some of its breakdown products, can pass from mother to baby through breast milk and potentially affect development.

Heavy Metals

Heavy metals such as antimony, arsenic, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickle, mercury and tin are either used as catalysts in the synthesis of polymers like plastics or polyesters, polyethylene, polyvinylchloride, or as an antibacterial/antifungal/antiodor treatments on fabrics and surfaces. Heavy metals can be carcinogenic and have effects on fertility and the nervous system.

Particulate matter

Particulate matter enters the car from fuel combustion products from neighboring vehicles. Studies of automobile interiors have measured particulate concentrations above US EPA standards. This is especially true for drivers in heavy traffic situations.

What can you do?

-roll down the windows when you get into a car

-use a car shade in the windshield to prevent UV breakdown of deca and other chemicals

-don’t spend excess time in the car

-don’t take a brand new car on a long road trip

-dust often with a healthy cleaner

-buy a used car

-wash your hands before you eat / after you get inside from the car

-don’t buy “used car smell” in a bottle or air fresheners

-change your car’s cabin air filter / upgrade to a HEPA air filter

Companies are trying to reduce VOCs and health risks by using different materials. Most notably there has been a reduction in PVC use. In 2006, it was found in nearly every vehicle interior but by 2012, that number dropped to around 73%. Honda claimed that they would be PVC by 2019. Many automakers are replacing PVC with polyurethanes and polyolefins. The Honda Civic achieved its ranking by being free of bromine-based flame retardants in all interior components; utilizing PVC-free interior fabrics and interior trim; and having low levels of heavy metals and other metal allergens. Automakers are also installing better filtrations systems to help cut down on passenger exposer. I am concerned about what the replacement for different materials, particularly brominated flame retardants, is and that we just don’t know the health consequences of these new materials yet.

Resources

New Car Smell

https://interestingengineering.com/turns-out-that-the-new-car-smell-is-actually-a-cocktail-of-carcinogens

https://carbuzz.com/news/new-car-smell-may-soon-be-illegal

https://www.ecocenter.org/toxic-any-speed-healthy-cars

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-car-smell-is-toxic-study-says-which-cars-are-worst/

EPA on Formaldehyde

https://www.epa.gov/formaldehyde/facts-about-formaldehyde#whatare

AAA

https://magazine.northeast.aaa.com/daily/life/cars-trucks/is-that-new-car-smell-killing-you/

Car Study 2012 – Ecology Center

https://www.ecocenter.org/sites/default/files/2012_Cars.pdf