Deal Breaker: To Avoid Any Trace of New Car Smell, China Goes to Extremes
China doesn’t possess the same affinity for the iconic “new car smell” that remains popular in North America. The scent itself, a conglomeration of industrial adhesive fumes and the off-gassing of various plastics, is technically toxic air pollution trapped inside the vehicle’s cabin. However, Western drivers have made it synonymous with the pleasantries of owning a new vehicle, while Chinese motorists have not.
This brings up a very important question. Are they bad people?
While it would be very easy to use this single example to conclude that China is a perverse and disturbed nation, Westerners subjected to the volatile compounds of a new car’s interior on a particularly hot day might agree that the smell, in heavy doses, occasionally leaves something to be desired. Ideally, the odor should bring a tear to the eye due to nostalgia or pride, not because it’s trying to flush out the hazardous vapors emitted by baked vinyl.
“Research shows that vehicle interiors contain a unique cocktail of hundreds of toxic chemicals that off-gas in small, confined spaces,” said Jeff Gearhart, research director at the Ecology Center, which has been researching the the smell since 2006. “Since [most of] these chemicals are not regulated, consumers have no way of knowing the dangers they face. Our testing is intended to expose those dangers and encourage manufacturers to use safer alternatives.”
Automakers have been. As a result, the intensity of new car smell has diminished quite a bit since the early 2000s. In North America, it’s largely the result of trying to exclude carcinogenic fumes from substances like polyvinyl chloride. But in China, the practice extends out to nullifying any negative associations shoppers might have with the scent by trying to eliminate it entirely. It’s the number one concern for new car buyers, and automakers and customers go to great lengths to avoid even the slightest whiff.
“In North America, people want a new car smell and will even buy a ‘new car’ spray to make older cars feel new and fresh. In China it’s the opposite,” Andy Pan, supervisor for material engineering at Ford’s Nanjing research facility, told Reuters.
Ford Motor Company employs 18 smell assessors in Nanjing, whose job it is to huff various materials before they go into a vehicle’s production. If any part smells too strongly, the “golden noses” request they be sent back to the supplier and substituted.
As persnickety as that sounds, it’s not the first time Ford has gone to great lengths to appease the olfactory senses of Chinese buyers. Lincoln Continentals imported from America are equipped with odor-absorbing carbon sheets prior to their long journey across the Pacific.
“When I lived in the United States I might look at the suspension or the engine,” said Don Yu, general manager at CGT, which makes materials to cover seats and dashboards for General Motors, Volkswagen, and Ford. “In China, though, people open the car and sit inside, if the smell isn’t good enough they think it will jeopardize their health.”
While it’s a little odd to think about a country with a penchant for baseless alternative medicine and some of the worst building safety regulations on the planet as “health-minded,” China’s air pollution problems have created a backlash. Heavy smog has resulted in the nation implementing fiercely rigid emission laws and convinced its occupants to consider the air they breathe a little more often.
Whether it’s a cheap hatchback wreaking of melted plastics or a stately luxury sedan emitting the aroma of treated leather, China’s not interested. Drivers will scrub down their interiors with water and vinegar solutions after purchase or head to a car wash offering ozone sterilization services that claim to eliminate toxins.
Unpleasant interior odor was Chinese motorists’ chief concern for both 2015 and 2016, according to J.D. Power.
“Smog and indoor pollution have made Chinese consumers paranoid about smells in new cars, and thus the problem is actually exaggerated,” Jeff Cai, general manager of auto product and quality at J.D. Power China, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “On the other hand, there’s a group of consumers in Europe and U.S. who are so fond of it that they will buy new car smell spray to keep it as long as possible.”
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky
Comments
Join the conversation
The smell of a new car is intoxicating to North Americans... probably because the chemicals affecting our bodies and brain. LOL! It's funny how the mainland Chinese hate the new car smell yet they've polluted their own environment, air and food supplies. Very ironic and hypocritical!
Looking at the featured photo, I can't even fathom how bad a car with seven or eight Black Ice air fresheners must smell inside. I once made the mistake of purchasing said scent and its musk is just plain weird. And yet it's the one I most often see hanging from people's mirrors. Must be popular with the AXE crowd, is all I can guess.