Indoor Air Pollution in Cars: An Update on Novel Insights

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 16; no. 13; p. 2441
• Main Authors: Zulauf, Nicole, Dröge, Janis, Klingelhöfer, Doris, Braun, Markus, Oremek, Gerhard M, Groneberg, David A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 09.07.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Air Pollutants - analysis; Air pollution; Air Pollution, Indoor - analysis; Air quality; Airborne particulates; Automobiles - statistics & numerical data; Benzene; Carbon dioxide; Carbon oxides; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Compressed natural gas; Disease; Drivers; Emissions; Environmental health; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental protection; Flame Retardants - analysis; Gases; Germany; Health risks; Homology; Humans; Humidity; HVAC; HVAC equipment; Hydrocarbons; Indoor air pollution; Indoor air quality; Indoor environments; Mass balance; Oxides; Passengers; Plasticizers - analysis; Pollutants; Review; Sleep and wakefulness; Sleepiness; Taxicabs; Temperature; Vehicles; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Germany; volatile organic compounds (VOC); car indoor; airborne bacteria; particulate matter (PM); fungi; high molecular weight plasticizer; nitrogen oxides (NOx); organophosphate flame retardants (OFR); (novel) brominated flame retardants ((N)BFR); carbon oxides (COx); air pollution
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16132441

From a global viewpoint, a lot of time is spent within the indoor air compartment of vehicles. A German study on mobility has revealed that, on average, people spend 45 minutes per day inside vehicles. In recent years the number of cars has increased to around 43 million vehicles in private households. This means that more than one car can be used in every household. The ratio has been growing, especially in eastern Germany and rural areas. "Overall and especially outside the cities, the car remains by far number one mode of transport, especially in terms of mileage". Therefore, numerous international studies have addressed different aspects of indoor air hygiene, in the past years. In this paper, meaningful original studies on car indoor air pollution, related to VOCs, COx, PMs, microbials, BFRs, OPFRs, cigarettes, electronic smoking devices, high molecular weight plasticizer, and NOx are summarized in the form of a review. This present review aimed to summarize recently published studies in this important field of environmental medicine and points to the need for further studies with special recommendations for optimizing the interior air hygiene.