Car odor has been criticized by consumers, as early as 2013 CCTV reported on this. Recently, "China automobile consumption report" and "Xiaoqiang laboratory" program group of Zhejiang TV station have investigated and analyzed the problem of car odor that hasn't been solved for many years.
At that time, CCTV thought that if the smell existed in the car for two or three years, or even longer, it might be related to something called a damper.
It is understood that the damper has the function of shock absorption and noise reduction, which is generally located at the foot of the driver, the side of the main beam, the bottom and foot of the second row of seats, as well as the back of the legs of the second row of seats, the trunk and other parts.
At that time, CCTV reporters also sent damping plates to relevant testing institutions for testing. The results showed that Benz, BMW, Audi and other mainstream vehicles all used damping plates made of asphalt. Asphalt refers to the residue produced after coal tar or oil refining. Because it contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, sulfur, phenol and other harmful substances, the World Health Organization International Cancer Research Center (IARC), as early as Coal tar pitch was listed as a carcinogen in 1976. In the case of sun exposure and engine heat dissipation, the asphalt damper close to the steel plate is easy to decompose and release toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon gas.
According to Wang Yinglai, member of the automobile consumption and Rights Protection Committee of Zhejiang Provincial Consumer Protection Commission, before 2000, the damping sheet of automobile was mainly "butyl rubber", which was environmental protection rubber. After 2000, various automobile manufacturers successively changed the damping sheet into asphalt damping sheet. At present, most automobile manufacturers use asphalt damping sheet.
Asphalt damping sheet is so harmful, why do automobile manufacturers use this kind of damping sheet?
Mainly to reduce costs. If the automobile manufacturers reduce the environmental protection rubber (butyl rubber) damping sheet to asphalt damping sheet, the profit of each vehicle can be increased by hundreds of yuan. At present, the top two auto manufacturers in the world sell about 10 million vehicles every year. That is to say, the automobile manufacturers can increase the profits of billions of yuan every year by using asphalt damper.
"In addition to the cost problem, the low standard is also the main reason why most automobile manufacturers use asphalt damper. At present, China's relevant regulations concerning the air quality in vehicles only include the guide for the evaluation of the air quality in passenger cars, which requires the detection temperature of the air quality in vehicles to be 25 ° C, while the European requirements for the detection temperature of the air quality in vehicles are very low, only 23 ° C. " No matter in European regulations or in China's regulations, the air quality in the car can still reach the standard even if the materials worse than asphalt are used under the normal temperature detection conditions of 23-25 ℃.
So far, only the Volvo brand has adopted the environmental rubber damper for the vehicles with a price of more than 50000 yuan but less than 2 million yuan on the market, because the enterprise standard of Volvo requires the air quality detection temperature in the vehicle to be 65 degrees Celsius, which is more in line with the consumer's driving conditions in summer. If this test temperature is used, the air quality in the vehicle can not meet the standard.
Experts said: "at present, more than 95% of automobile manufacturers reduce the environmental protection rubber damper to asphalt damper, and these automobile manufacturers are not only unpunished, but also increase profits and legalize them. The most fundamental reason is that nearly half of automobile manufacturers participate in the drafting of air quality regulations (in Europe and China)."
In fact, asphalt damper is not the only source of odor inside the car. The interior materials of the car also affect the air quality inside the car. For example, car seats, sealant strips, carpets, foam materials, plastic parts of the center console, chrome plated parts, etc. are the main sources of odor in the new car, which are harmful to the human body.