How Volatile Organic Compounds can be Created, Induced, and Limited from Vehicles
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are harmful chemical gases that emit from various materials. These gases are detrimental to health and prolonged long-term exposure to high levels of VOCs can result in increased risk of various cancers, particularly to the lungs, and other fatal diseases. Vehicles are a high risk space where VOCs can build up to an unacceptable level primarily because vehicles have an enclosed volume and are composed of many materials that tend to emit VOCs when they come into contact with heat. Examples of materials in vehicles that emit VOCs include plastics, vinyls, and adhesives which can be found on the dashboard, leather seats, and metallic surfaces. Higher temperatures tend to result in more VOCs emitted, making the location of the vehicle extremely important. The new car smell is also an important factor, as it is primarily made of harmful VOCs. Car manufacturers inject these VOCs for preservation and can seem relatively harmless as they may seem to exit after a small amount of time but unfortunately this is not the case. A high intensity of heat can cause the materials to essentially reignite and emit VOCs, creating a repetitive cycle of low and high levels of VOCs being outgassed. Because of this, it is extremely important for car manufacturers to reduce the new car smell to the absolute minimum through new innovations as the possible removal method of opening windows is not sufficient enough and may already be too late.