How Often Should You Change Your Cabin Air Filter?

Cabin air filters have been installed in vehicles for the past two decades and are designed to improve the air quality as it enters the interior of your vehicle.  That’s why it’s important to periodically replace the cabin air filter in your vehicle from time to time.  But how do you know when your cabin air filter needs to be replaced?

Cabin air filters typically need to be replaced every 15,000 – 30,000 miles. Consult your owner’s manual to see when they recommend replacing your cabin air filter.  How often you replace your cabin air filter will vary based on how much dirt and pollen is in the air where you drive.

So now that you know how often you should replace your cabin air filter you may be wondering how hard is it to change the cabin air filter installed in your car?  How much does it cost to replace a cabin air filter?  Are there instances where you should replace your cabin air filter before the recommended change interval?  These questions and more are answered below.

How Often Should You Change Your Cabin Air Filter?

Most vehicle manufacturers recommend replacing your cabin air filter every 15,000 – 30,000 miles.  The mileage at which you should replace your cabin air filter will be mainly dependent on how much dirt, soot, and debris you regularly drive through.

If you live in an area where you regularly have to drive down gravel roads then you would need to replace your cabin air filter more frequently than someone that mainly does highway driving.

What Does A Cabin Air Filter Do?

Cabin air filters as the name suggest filters air as it flows into the interior or cabin of your vehicle.  Cabin air filters have been installed in cars since the early 2000s as a way to improve the air quality inside vehicles.

Why Should You Change Your Cabin Air Filter?

As we’ve covered before, your cabin air filter is responsible for filtering the air as it comes into the cabin of your vehicle.  Changing your air filter keeps fine particulate matter from entering the cabin or interior of your vehicle.  Most cabin air filters can filter up to 98 efficient at catching particulates in the 5-100 micron range.

High Efficiency Particulate Air or HEPA cabin air filters can filter up to 99.97 percent at 0.3 microns which is the industry standard test, according to the EPA website.

Not changing your cabin air filter can lead to a buildup of dirt and debris in the cabin air filter which can restrict the flow of air coming into your vehicle.

When your AC unit is not running in recirculation mode it pulls in air from outside of the vehicle through the cabin air filter.  As you can imagine the more dirt and debris in your cabin air filter the harder your AC unit will have to work to suck in outside air.  This can lead to more stress on your AC system and can eventually lead to a low flow of air from your car air vents.

How Do You Know If Your Cabin Air Filter Is Bad?

To tell if your cabin air filter is bad you would want to visually inspect your cabin air filter for dirt and debris.  If it’s covered in dirt and debris then you’d want to go ahead and replace it with a new one.  If while inspecting your cabin air filter you find a leaf or two and not much dirt then you’d be fine with driving with that filter for a longer time period.

Ideally, you would want to check your cabin air filter at least once a year to determine if it needs to be replaced.  You could also just replace your cabin air filter once every year to make sure that it stays clean.

How Much Does It Cost To Replace A Cabin Air Filter?

The cost of a replacement cabin air filter will vary widely depending on the type of replacement air filter you go with, the replacement cabin air filter manufacturer, and your specific make and model of car.

How To Change Your Cabin Air Filter

Changing or replacing the cabin air filter is relatively easy for most cars and can typically be performed without needing hand tools.  The process for replacing a cabin air filter will be different for every car so you’d want to look up how to change the cabin air filter on your specific make, model, and year of car.

I’d recommend looking up how to replace the cabin air filter on your make and model of car on Youtube.  I’ve included a link below to a Youtube video showing how to change your cabin air filter on a Honda Civic.  Like I said the cabin air filter location will be different for every car so look at your owner’s manual or on Youtube for instructions on how to change it.

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Related Questions:

Does AutoZone Change Cabin Air Filters?

AutoZone sells replacement cabin air filters and has instructions on their website on how to change cabin air filters but it’s not one of the items that they will typically replace for you.

Can I Drive Without A Cabin Air Filter?

Driving without a cabin air filter would be fine if you are heading to the auto parts store to buy a new one but you wouldn’t want to drive without a cabin air filter for long distances. Cabin air filters will prevent debris from being sucked into your car’s AC system so while driving without a cabin air filter anything sucked into your car’s AC system so keep that in mind.

Can I Wash My Cabin Air Filter?

Cabin air filters are meant to be replaced, you could wash your cabin air filter but it wouldn’t be able to as good of a job of trapping dirt and small particulates as a brand new cabin air filter.

Do Cabin Air Filters Affect Gas Mileage?

No, driving with a dirty cabin air filter will not affect your gas mileage as cabin air filters aren’t attached to the air intake of your engine.  Engine air filters are responsible for filtering the air as it gets sucked into the air intake of your engine.  So if you’re experiencing a loss in gas mileage then you’d want to check your engine air filter to see if it possibly needs to be replaced.