For a Healthier In-Car Environment
A motorist who drives 15 000 kilometres a year spends about 24 hours a month in the car – and probably twice as long if he or she lives in a major city with busy traffic. So offering a cabin that is clean and healthy, even for people with asthma and allergies, follows naturally from our safety philosophy and is an important environmental goal. Approximately 45%1 of the population of the western world is affected by some kind of hypersensitivity and one in ten women suffers from nickel allergy, while allergic asthma is also increasing rapidly. To deal with these challenges, Volvo Cars is focusing on five areas:
- Cabin air quality
- The quality of the air admitted by the climate system
- Contact allergies
- Odours
- Hexavalent chromium
- Certification of textiles and leathers under the Oeko-Tex 100 standard
Cabin Air Quality & Climate System
The standard cabin filter prevents dust and pollen from entering the car through its ventilation system.
IAQS
For even cleaner air – optional Interior Air Quality System monitors incoming air for certain unhealthy gases such as carbon monoxide, ground-level ozone and nitrogen dioxide. If necessary, it will temporarily close incoming air vents to shut them out. Meanwhile, an active carbon filter prevents dust, exhaust particles, pollen and unpleasant odours from entering the car through the ventilation system.
New Volvo S80 – Optional CZIP
Clean Zone Interior Package is a feature over and above IAQS. It comprises a series of modifications to improve the interior environment, not least for people with allergies. Materials are chosen carefully to avoid harmful fumes, and surfaces are smooth so they're easy to clean—the allergen-tested rubber floor mats are a case in point. On days when it’s at least 10°C outside, opening the car by remote triggers a 60-second ventilation cycle. The end result is cabin air that meets the approval of the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association.
Contact Allergies
The incidence of contact allergies is growing, and women are more affected than men. This is true, for example, of nickel allergies which, according to a European study, affect at least 10% of the female population and 1% of men. Nickel leakage has been shown to be the commonest form of skin contact allergy. For this reason, Volvo Cars has, on its own initiative, decided to implement a 2001 EU Directive concerning nickel leakage from items in long-term contact with the skin. Volvo's requirements extend to items such as keys, door handles and safety belt buckles, even though skin contact with these is only short-term.
Odours
The interior of a modern car contains many different materials, such as plastics. These, in turn, contain chemical substances. While most of these substances remain 'locked' in the material, small quantities can evaporate and give off the smell typical of a new car. Volvo Cars monitors these substances and the smells they may cause in the cabin.
We monitor the emissions from interior trim components. Volvo Cars has had to develop its own standard, based on the VDA (German Car Manufacturers' Association) standard for odours, to establish sufficiently high goals to aim at in this area. All of the components in the interior of a Volvo are tested in relation to our own requirements.
Volvo Cars interior designers use a sunshine simulator at the Swedish Testing and Research Institute in Borås in western Sweden. There, the car equipped with a new interior trim material can be tested by placing it in the simulator for perhaps a couple of hours until the cabin temperature has reached about 65º. Analysers are then used to take air samples to measure the levels of TVOCs (Total Volatile Organic Compounds) and aldehydes in the interior. Finally, the members of the Volvo Cars 'smell test panel' sit in the car and evaluate the smell on a fixed scale. All of the hundreds of chemical substances used in a car interior are analyzed.
Hexavalent Chromium
Allergy to hexavalent chromium occurs in about 2-3% of the population and is caused mainly by leather tanned by a process using chromium. Shoe, glove and watch strap leathers are common examples of chromium-tanned leathers. Although tanning makes a leather durable, hexavalent chromium from the tanning process can be released and cause an allergy.
All leathers used in Volvo cars are tanned using only natural vegetable-based substances. All these leathers also comply with the Oeko-Tex 100 standard.
Certification of Textiles and Leathers Under the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard
Making life more comfortable for people with allergies or asthma, upholsteries and interior textiles comply with the Oeko-Tex Standard, an international benchmark ensuring that textiles and leathers are tested for certain allergy inducing or harmful substances and emissions. Read more at www.oekotex.com
Recently, the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor, MI, USA did a study on toxic chemicals exposure in car interiors, and Volvo was found to have the lowest levels of phthalates (used primarily to soften PVC plastics) and the second lowest levels of PBDEs (used as fire retardants), making Volvo the industry leader in terms of in-car air quality in the study.
Footnotes:
1 Professor Thomas Sandström, MD PhD, Dept of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden