How Do You Get Rid Of New Car Smell?

Most people that buy a new car want to enjoy that new car smell for a bit until they learn that that new car smell can actually be toxic to their health.  

What Is New Car Smell?

While the interiors of new cars are nice to look that most car interiors use a wide variety of plastics, paints, sealants, and rubber compounds that are used to put together all of the various pieces of a car.  These materials will off-gas chemicals called volatile organic compounds or VOC for short.

There can be hundreds of VOC chemicals that are detected in the interiors of new cars. Some of the most common chemicals found are benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, styrene, and toluene.

Is The Smell of a New Car Toxic?

The EPA says that these VOCs are toxic and can be harmful to humans if you are exposed to them for long enough.  Common health effects for exposure to VOCs include headache, nose and throat discomfort, dizziness, and even nausea.

While research hasn’t been able to provide a direct length between new car smell VOCs and cancer, benzene, in particular, is a known human carcinogen and is known to cause cancer in humans.

So while breathing in that new car smell probably won’t be detrimental to your health there is still cause for concern.

Easiest Ways to Get Rid of New Car Smell

1. Ventilate The Car

The best way to get rid of the new car smell inside your car is by ventilating the inside of the car whenever possible.  When it’s a nice day outside leave your windows cracked that way some of the gasses are allowed to escape the interior cabin of the car.

2. Drive With The Windows Down

Whenever you get the chance you would want to drive with your windows all the way down or cracked.  This will allow airflow to enter into the cabin of the car and any VOCs inside of the car to escape out the back windows.

3. Don’t Use Recirculation

Almost all new cars made today will come with an option to prevent outside air from coming into the interior of the car.  This feature is called recirculation and is typically represented on a button with an arrow going around the inside of the car in a circle.

To get rid of that new car smell in your car you’d want to make sure that fresh air is entering the interior of the car when you are driving if you can’t roll your windows down.  That means on days that it’s raining or too hot or cold to roll your windows down make sure that the recirculation feature is off at least until that new car smell starts to fade.

4. Use An Ozone Generator

By far the quickest and most effective way of getting rid of new car smell is by using an ozone generator.  It also happens to be the most expensive if you don’t currently own one. An ozone generator works by charging oxygen molecules

What’s The Quickest Way Of Getting Rid Of New Car Smell?

I mentioned above that the quickest and most effective way of getting rid of that new car smell from your car is by using an ozone generator.  That is because ozone generators work on the chemical level by converting oxygen molecules into ozone molecules. Ozone molecules are unstable and will eventually convert back to oxygen molecules.

But when those ozone molecules then convert back into oxygen molecules they no longer have any smell to them effectively removing any new car smell from the vehicle.

How Long Does It Take For New Car Smell To Go Away?

That new car smell will typically stick around inside your vehicle from anywhere from 1 month all the way to 6 months from the purchase date of the vehicle.  The time period that you can expect that new car smell will stick around will be dependent on a couple of factors; mainly how often the car is allowed to air out and how often the car is driven with the windows down.

If your car is a convertible or has a removable top driving around with the top down or off will also eliminate that new car smell faster.

Why Does New Car Smell Give Me a Headache?

New car smells can give you a headache because of the chemical compounds in that new car smell.  That new car smell contains a concoction of hundreds of chemicals or VOC’s that can irritate nostrils and give you a headache.  If you are sensitive to smells it’s a good idea to allow your car air out by opening all of the doors and windows before going for a drive.  You’d also want to drive with the windows all the way down or cracked whenever possible.

Why Does New Car Smell Make Me Sick?

Since new car smells are comprised of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are known to irritate your eyes and nostrils and are even known to make people sick.

How Do I Replicate New Car Smell?

So now that you know that new car smells can be toxic and contain VOC’s that you shouldn’t breathe in.  What if you enjoy the smell of new cars? What should you do then?

After that new car smell has left your vehicle there isn’t much that you can do to bring that new car smell back again.  But one way that you can try to replicate that new car smell is by spraying a new car fragrance inside of your car to try to simulate that new car smell.

Chemical guys has a spray that is meant to smell like the inside of a new car but the reviews seem to be mixed on if the smell is close to that new car smell or not.  But it’s cheap enough that it’s worth giving a shot if you want your car to smell like a new car again.

Chemical guys new car spray – https://amzn.to/3cdlTpc

Another option is using an odor bomb that is designed to smell like new cars.  An odor bomb will come in a can that is designed to spray mist into the air while inside of the car with the air conditioner on and the windows up.  That mist would then be circulated throughout the car in an effort to make the car smell like a new car again.

I’ve personally not ever used an odor bomb in my vehicles but I’ve heard that these will work for a while but then after a few days the smell will begin to fade.

Meguiar whole car air freshener – https://amzn.to/2xobnN0

A longer-lasting solution would be to get a car air freshener that attaches to your vents in a new car smell.  I’ve used Refresh brand air vent air fresheners and they work well and last a long time compared to most scents that you would just spray in your car.

These attach to the vents on the dash of your car and will circulate that new car smell throughout the car as you use the AC or heat of your vehicle.

Refresh new car sent air vent diffuser – https://amzn.to/2RyVASl

Sources:

https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/what-are-volatile-organic-compounds-vocs