Insight into Detailing Your Car’s Interior and Coronavirus Accumulation in Vehicles
The current pandemic requires every individual to pay special attention to cleanliness during and beyond the crisis. That implies that beyond maintaining a clean environment in your house, you need to ensure your car is spic and span as well. You may very well consider your vehicle to be the safest mode of travel against the pandemic.
As much as that is the case, failure to exercise due diligence can make your vehicle a health risk. That is why keeping your automobile’s interior clean is not optional. Here are some details on what you should focus on when detailing your car’s interior.
Basic Cleaning Products
The same way you prioritize washing your hands as a result of the coronavirus, you should consider regularly cleaning your car’s interior. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that soap, water, and such alcohol solutions like disinfectant wipes with at least 70% isopropyl alcohol are effective household products for guarding against contracting the virus.
Additionally, any cleaning product will take time to break the virus. In that case, you should allow the cleaning products you use in your car a few minutes before wiping them down. Note that using alcohol-based products often on the imitation leather or leather seats of your automobile can cause damage. As such, soap becomes the ideal option for fabric and leather car seats.
Also, avoid scrubbing your car seats aggressively, but rather clean the upholstery gently using small amounts of water to prevent the cushions beneath from soaking. It is also advisable to apply a conditioner on your car’s leather seats after cleaning to avoid cracking. When cleaning your car’s interior, wear disposable gloves to protect yourself from underlying contaminants.
You should also pay special attention to such sensitive surfaces as electronics and touch screens. The steering wheel may have more germs than any other area in your car’s interior, so take time to clean it thoroughly.
Focus on High-Touch Areas
It is advisable to start with frequently touched surfaces when cleaning your car. These include passenger armrests, exterior and interior door handles, grab handles and seat adjustment levers on both driver and passenger seats, steering wheel, mirrors, gear shift, seat belts, wiper and turn signal levers, seat upholstery, as well as any buttons on your radio and climate control unit.
Cleaning Products to Avoid
When cleaning your car’s interior, there are products you should avoid even though they can kill the virus. These include ammonia-based products, bleach, and hydrogen peroxide. Using such products can damage plastic, upholstery, among other surfaces inside your car.
Critical Products to Keep inside Your Car
If you want to mitigate the chances of contracting coronavirus, there are must-have products you should consider keeping in your car. These include a hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes to clean your hands before touching the steering wheel and other surfaces inside your vehicle. Having masks and disposable gloves inside your car is also a wise idea.
How to Protect Yourself and Others Inside Your Car
The idea of social distancing is a challenge, especially when you need to fit your loved ones in one vehicle. The reason is that a typical family car’s interior has a volume of about 100 cubic feet, which suggests that individuals will be close to each other when such a vehicle is full. The other problem, in this case, is that shutting the windows in a fully-occupied car inhibits the circulation of fresh air, which increases the danger of contracting the virus.
So, where possible, you should limit the number of individuals in your car at any one time as much as possible. Also, insist on the importance of wearing a face mask and sanitizing before anyone boards your vehicle for safety reasons. You should also try as much as possible to keep the windows open when traveling with others to increase the circulation of fresh air inside your car.
Opting for other modes of transportation such as motorbikes, scooters, and bicycles where applicable can also reduce the probability of contracting coronavirus. The reason is that such transportation options promote social distancing.
How to Keep Other Modes of Transportation Clean
Sanitizing the other transportation options you use the same way you sanitize your car is paramount if you want to keep safe over this period. As such, ensure you give frequently touched surfaces on your motorbike, bicycle, or scooter a thorough cleaning. Also, consider wiping down your helmet, eye protection wear, and gloves with a disinfectant wipe before and after using them.
Accumulation of Coronavirus in Vehicles
If you are riding in a vehicle with a person suffering from COVID-19 with the windows closed for over an hour, it increases the buildup of the virus over that period. Every cough from the affected person increases the accumulation of coronavirus fine aerosol particles. That is as a result of failure to open the windows to dilute the air inside your car’s cabin.
Opening the windows of your car a few inches when traveling with others or when you are using a taxi goes a long way towards averting the possibility of contracting the virus. Cracking the windows open is critical whether everyone inside the vehicle is feeling okay or not. The idea, in this case, is to ensure you are safe in an environment where observing social distancing while traveling is a challenge.
Conclusion
Most individuals are wary of using public transportation in the face of COVID-19. For that reason, various transportation companies are indeed putting measures in place to safeguard the lives of those who use public transport services. However, it may be a while before such entities win the confidence of the majority who are using their vehicles when they need to move out.
That does not imply that you do not need to prioritize cleaning your car’s interior even if you do not share it with anyone else. The fact that coronavirus is an airborne disease implies that you can contract the same unknowingly. For that reason, cleaning your vehicle’s interior becomes another line of defense against this virus. That is why you cannot afford to overlook the necessity of cleaning your car’s interior.
Your vehicle is as safe as the care you give it, and detailing its interior will safeguard your health as well as those you travel with every other time. If you need more information on detailing your vehicle’s interior, contact us today!
