Air pollution is known to be one of the key factors for causing serious adverse health effects including respiratory illness and cardiovascular disease. Recently, some studies have concluded that air pollution may also influence the behaviour, productivity and well-being of those exposed. In a journal, published in the American Economic Association, authors find robust evidence that pollution levels in a car’s cabin well above the air quality standards have a significant impact on our cognitive performance.   

Driving safely is a complex task that relies on cognitive performance. It is well-established that cognitive performance is inversely related to the bad impact of air pollutants. Over the course of a long drive, your car’s cabin can accumulate levels of particulate matter and gases that are very unhealthy to breathe. Our respiratory system remains exposed to such dangerous gases and pollutants while driving our car.

Is Car’s Built-In Air Filter Efficient to Purify the Air Inside?   

Cabin air filters were first designed to eliminate comparatively large particles like pollen and dust and are not capable of arresting fine particles and vehicle emissions. Gases like carbon dioxide, which is exhaled by passengers; and nitrogen oxide, which infiltrates the cabin from vehicle emissions, aren’t usually filtered and can impair decision making, make people sleepy, or exert adverse health effects.

Cabin air quality can be affected by heavy or stop-and-go traffic, ventilation fan speed, vehicle speed, pollutants in outside air, and the number of passengers in the car. VOCs and gases from other car’s exhaust are the key concern that can be removed by air purifiers fitted with a pre-activated carbon filter. And they also include HEPA to protect the people inside a car against all types of pollutants and particles floating inside.

Measures to Improve In-Car Air Quality:

Use a Car Air Purifier: Car cabin pollution is due to internal pollutant emissions and external ones infiltrating vehicle car cabins, mostly NOx, CO, CO2, UFP, PM and specific VOCs. You should not rely on the built-in filters to reduce the exposure to these harmful pollutants. Therefore, it’s recommended to go for the one that comes engineered with medical-grade HEPA, pre-activated carbon filter along with other filters. PetriMed CA car air purification systems are one of the few options that can capture all types of indoor pollutants with 99.999% filtration efficiency.

Keep a safe distance from vehicles ahead of you, especially diesel trucks.

When you’re in traffic or at a stop sign or light, close your windows, keep some distance from the vehicle in front of you, and put your air on recirculate.

Try to use less congested roads with fewer traffic lights, even if they take a little longer. Try to avoid rush-hour traffic on busy roads or highways during peak hours.

Don’t rely solely on an in-car air filtration system. They are not typically highly efficient at removing ultrafine particulates, VOCs, carbon monoxide, or other pollutants. Also, they don’t filter air entering the car cabin through windows and door cracks.

Avoid car air fresheners or deodorizers. They are full of harmful VOCs and make your air quality worse – not better.

Keep your car interior clean. Pollutants in cars can combine with dust particles and be inhaled. Again, a car air purification system needs to be placed inside to remove the pollutants. PetriMed CA car air purification system is a medical-grade air cleaning solution for automobiles, fitted with HEPA H14, pre-activated carbon filter, UVC, and ioniser to give nourished air.