TSXsurf

I've only had my car for about 4 months, so I'm not one to talk. I love how my TSX still has that "new car" smell. Has that left anybody? Does anybody have any tips on how to keep it around? I am hoping that aslong as I keep the inside of my car clean, it will stay around, but any help would be great. Thanks

TSX 'R' US

I had mine for a year and half now...and a co-worker said my car still smelled new.

I had a 98 Oldsmobile and after 5.5 years, it still smelled brand new inside. I got used to the smell and couldn't smell it...but after being away on business for a week, I can smell it when I got back in. Too bad it doesn't smell new anymore after I gave it up

majormojo

I read somewhere that "new car smell" is mostly glue. That leads me to think that perhaps one could preserve the aroma by leaving an open container of contact cement under one of the seats.

lokman

I also read that the glue is also full of things that could be hazardous to your health.

ClutchPerformer

fdl

TSXsurf

FDL - Does that thing smell like glue?

matelot

First thing I wanted to get out of the car is the "new car smell"
Bad for you.

members78

i saw a special about car odors, and it said that car manufacturers apply some of that new car odor to the vehicle. mercedes has a staff of about 2-3 people who only deal with the odor of new cars... in fact they have a specific title, which escapes me rite now.

members78

check this car and driver article for the 411 on new car smell.

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....rticle_id=7284

and lo and behold, in the article, this quote: "Hennig's notes on a 2004 Acura TSX , for example: "Very one-dimensional, nothing lying underneath. Clean, pleasant, sterile, a touch of plastic."'

lokman

I'm not sure I need the new car smell - I find that as long as the car is kept in good condition and clean like a new car, some people that ride in it just seem to associate a new car smell with it anyways.

TSXsurf

Yeah I agree. I am starting to think that aslong as I keep my car clean, it will have a good smell - whether that's "new car" or whatever. Good info..

TSXtc

I've got an uncle who is a foreman at the GM plant in Lordstown, OH. He has told me many times before that the "new car smell" is no top secret formula. Its the foam in the seats. He said there is a huge warehouse in the plant where the foam is stored until its brought to the line and he said when you go in there the smell is so overwhelming you'd want to puke.

Godwhacker

I guess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing my TSX!!!

focalmatic

iTrader: (1)

I always get compliments from my friends on the smell of the interior of my car because I use this

http://www.autogeek.net/pinleatcon.html

Pricy in comparison to the Zaino conditioner, but I only use it on the perforated sections of my seats - so I have applied it 3 times since I bought my car in early August. I just use 303 Aerospace on the pleather parts.

joerockt

Ressurection time I was going to mention Zaino's leather in a bottle conditioner. I think the leather smell is the next best thing to the new car smell. So pick up this conditioner, makes the TSX smell awesome.

jlukja

Dude, your avatar almost made me

Alin10123

I had a 4runner with 80k miles on it and up until i sold it, it had a slight hint of new car smell left in it. I basically kept everything clean and didn't allow food or any other odors in there.

joerockt

Hmmm, 80K and you never farted once in your car?? LIAR!

TSX7

I remember a thread that said you get the new car smell when you change the filter inside the glove compartment.

exceldetail

Its not even broken in without farting in it!

May 20, 2002
Volume 80, Number 20
CENEAR 80 20 p. 45
ISSN 0009-2347




WHAT'S THAT STUFF?
NEW CAR SMELL
VOCs account for the characteristic 'newness'

STEVE RITTER

There's something about the smell of a new car. To many people, the leathery, plasticky aroma that hits you when you slide behind the wheel is a pleasurable scent. Seductive. Perhaps even addictive. On the other hand, to a few people the smell is malodorous, particularly to someone who has an acute chemical sensitivity.


SMELL OF THE ROAD Brown sets up monitoring equipment to measure total VOCs in a car.
CSIRO PHOTO
Exactly what gives rise to new car smell? The answer, not surprising to chemists, is a complex mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily alkanes and substituted benzenes along with a few aldehydes and ketones.

Nearly every solid surface inside a vehicle is a fabric or plastic that is held together in part with adhesives and sealers. Outgassing of residual solvents and other chemicals from these materials leads to a dilute sea of VOCs floating about in the passenger compartment. The same holds true for new airplanes, homes, and offices.

A standard measure for automakers is to keep the gross amount of VOCs emitted by the textiles and flexible plastics low enough to prevent repeated fogging of window interiors. Each car manufacturer has its own standard for total VOCs in cars, one car company spokesman says, but he is unaware of any government standards regulating air quality inside new vehicles.

Individual components of new car smell probably aren't harmful at the concentrations found in cars, but the cumulative effects of long-term exposure to the total mix of VOCs could pose health problems. Fortunately, high concentrations of these compounds quickly dissipate just a few months after manufacture. And although VOC concentrations can reach unhealthy levels in a closed vehicle on a warm day, the air-exchange rate in a car is high when someone opens a door, rolls down a window, or turns on the air conditioner.

Measurements for window fogging don't provide a breakdown of the chemical composition of air in new cars, however. Commentators in the media and on the Internet, as well as auto industry chemists contacted by C&EN, ascribe the pleasant scent of new car smell mostly to phthalate plasticizers used in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or other plastics. However, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, generally used in PVC, is not very volatile. And the few publicly avail-able studies that identify VOCs in new cars don't report phthalates among the primary components of the total VOC mixture.

One such study, reported this past December, was carried out by Stephen K. Brown and Min Cheng of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). The study took a look at VOCs in three new 1998 vehicles by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of air samples taken from the cars after they had been sealed for several hours. The cars were resampled at various intervals for up to two years.

The CSIRO researchers detected 30 to 40 VOCs in the cars, the most prevalent being toluene, acetone, xylenes, styrene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, various C5 to C12 alkanes, ethylbenzene, and ethylene glycol butyl ether. Total VOC concentrations for the cars were initially as high as 64 mg per m3 of air. For one of the cars, which was a few weeks older because it had been imported, the initial total VOC level was 2.1 mg per m3. These values correspond to the parts-per-million to parts-per-billion range.

As a comparison, the report notes that total VOCs in the indoor air of new buildings is on average 20 to 40 mg per m3, while established buildings have VOC levels generally below 1 mg per m3. Negative sensory effects--headaches; drowsiness; nausea; respiratory distress; and eye, nose, and throat irritation--are likely to occur at concentrations above about 10 mg per m3, according to the report.

The total VOC concentrations in the cars fell off exponentially over time, the CSIRO researchers note, reaching about 1.5 mg per m3 after six months. Two cars tested after two years had about 0.4 mg per m3 of total VOCs. Outdoor air measured next to the cars was about 0.1 mg per m3. There also is a temperature dependence to the VOC level: As the temperature rises inside the car, so does the total VOC concentration.

Not all of the VOCs are necessarily related to original materials in the passenger compartment, the CSIRO report points out. Benzene and other compounds from fuel or exhaust and siloxanes from cleaning products can contribute significantly to total VOCs.

CSIRO is considering developing a green air label to help consumers choose environmentally friendlier environments--such as cars, airplanes, offices, and homes--that have potentially healthier indoor air. Indeed, automakers try to eliminate parts that give off high levels of VOCs.

THE OUTCOME of these efforts is that some new cars just don't smell like new cars anymore. But therein lies the twisted irony of human nature: A host of air-freshener products with new car scent are designed to keep cars smelling showroom fresh indefinitely. None of these products, sold at car washes and automotive supply stores, has an ingredient list on the label--as "household products," ingredient labels aren't required--and companies contacted by C&EN would not divulge their proprietary secrets.

One fragrance industry spokesman tells C&EN that these products typically contain a small amount of the fragrance oil on a blotter card, in a gel, or diluted with water and/or alcohol. Simple fragrances may have only a few fragrance ingredients, generally aldehydes, esters, and ketones.

One of the first of these scents developed was the smell of treated leather, the spokesman notes. Tanned leather tends to give off a slightly rank odor, he says, so tanneries typically add artificial fragrance to the leather to keep it smelling fresh--think of the smell inside a shoe shop. The idea apparently caught on with some automakers, which have been known to add leather scent and other fragrances to cars.

Aromatherapy aside, new car owners should enjoy the original scent while it lasts. For the health conscious, Brown suggests they should "make sure there is plenty of outside air entering the vehicle while they drive for at least six months after the vehicle has been purchased."
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/8020stuff.html

joerockt

The TSX's HVAC will make sure of that I friggin hate when the vent opens on auto.

TSXsurf

I really wish that you could control the recirculate while on auto.

Way too much info on car scent in that other post. I dont have the patience to read it.

Natecbr

ive had my car for over a year and smoke in it and people always say it smells new....

joerockt

I had someone smoke in my old car 1 time ever (without me knowing...long story) and that shit stank for months.

white03TLS

I just picked up my '03 TLS today and found out that it had been smoked in by the oiriginal owner. I hadn't noticed it in the test drives but it was warmer today and there's a slight smell. When I called the dealer he said it had been "ionized" a few months ago. Anyone hear of this before? Any suggestions other than masking it with leather conditioner?

(first post - and I am lovin' the car)

Alin10123

Honestly? I never did. lol
I was sooooo paranoid because that was my first brand new car. I've had others, but i never babied the used ones i got as much as my 4runner since it was brand new.