Is Your Car Hygiene Affecting Your Health?

Bangkokians are car crazy. We spend more time in our cars – commuting to work, driving to the mall, and escaping the city – than any other city in Asia. According to the Bangkok Post, drivers in Thailand spent an average of 61 hours stuck in traffic in 2016, followed by motorists in Colombia and Indonesia who averaged 47 hours.

It might not be the first thing you associate with a clean and glistening car, but inner-car hygiene is very important for your health.

We spend so much time in our cars that the majority of us dine in there too. Whether you’re eating sweets, crisps, sandwiches, fried chicken or sushi, the crumbs can get everywhere. Other behaviours that lead to a mucky car are smoking and taking your pets for a ride.

Last year, a study conducted by Confused.com in collaboration with the University of Nottingham’s Microbiology Investigation Centre found that 76 percent of British people ate in their cars. Some of the respondents revealed they had vomited in their cars while, amusingly, one-third of the respondents blamed their kids for all the mess. Incredibly, only 25 percent of them cleaned their car interiors 2 or 3 times a year. How crummy!

Likewise, research conducted by scientists at Aston University, England revealed that motorists are at danger from germs like Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus "each time they enter their car". Bugs linked with food poisoning and skin infections were discovered inside the "random" cars they subjected to a range of tests.

When we leave the office or public spaces, the germs we’ve accumulated throughout the day board the car with us and infect everything we touch. This is known as cross contamination. It may be easy to blame the kids for the mess, but the logical conclusion is that, in order to protect the family from problem bacteria, car hygiene makes sense.

With the busy modern lifestyles we lead these days, it can be hard to find the time to give the car the attention it deserves. For a limited time only, Luma members receive a complementary car wash with Instawash; an on-demand car detailing app. The eco-friendly service uses only 2-5 liters to clean your car, while the hygiene wash focuses on interior car hygiene, eliminating everything from easy-to-see crumbs and microscopic bacteria, yeasts and moulds.