If you haven’t been paying much attention to the interior carpeting of your vehicle, maybe you should. Given the amount of time we spend in our cars, the interiors should be clean and healthy places. However, between highway pollution, food and drink spills, and tracked dirt and mud, your vehicle’s floor mats and trunk mats take a real beating. Replacing your auto carpets can make a big difference to the interior and overall quality of your vehicle.
Vehicle interiors: the facts
Unfortunately, it’s a fact that vehicle interiors are actually very polluted and germy places. That’s because all the pollution you encounter on the highway and the germs that live on food and drink spills find vehicle interiors congenial places. Your feet track in dirt, mud and other stuff that you walk on. All in all, car carpets and auto flooring on general are not actually clean enough for you to put your groceries on.
All that exhaust and highway pollution that you encounter on your commute also finds its way into the auto mats. And stays there. Replacing your auto mats may be one of the best steps you can take for your health.
Highway pollution and your vehicle
Auto interiors can be much more polluted than the highway or the germiest places in your home. The interior air in your vehicle could be anywhere from two to ten times more polluted than what’s wafting past on the highway. In fact, experienced drivers avoid following diesel cars or trucks. They also tend to use the carpool lane, where trucks and buses are not allowed. The air in these lanes can be as much as 30 to 50% cleaner, due to the lack of diesel fumes.
When it comes to germs too, auto interiors are worse off, having 17,000 times more bacteria than are found in a typical home, according to data from a study by GAP Enviromicrobial Services. Not only is your vehicle interior more polluted than the highway or your home, you spend a considerable amount of time in that environment. Americans spend 87 minutes in a car each day.
Replacing automotive carpeting
One of the best ways to refresh your vehicle’s interior is to replace the flooring. This can include both floor mats and trunk mats, as well as sound deadeners. It’s a good idea to think of replacing your vehicle carpeting if it is more than ten years old.
When replacing your vehicle’s carpeting, it’s important to match the year, make and model of your vehicle. Many automotive carpeting manufacturers produce car carpets and floor mats to match your vehicle. They can match models going back all the way to the mid-1940’s.
It’s also a good idea to replace floor mat and trunk mats at the same time.
- Floor mats
New floor mats are an easy way to improve your car’s interior. They offer an aesthetic boost, but also have practical results. With clean and new floor mats, your vehicle is not only better looking but also much cleaner and healthier. - Trunk mats
Trunk mats should be replaced at the same time as floor mats. That’s where you keep your groceries and luggage, and you want to be sure that it’s clean enough. Trunk mats come in different materials like vinyl, Burtex, foam, fleece, felt and cardboard.
Sound deadeners are sound control and heat barriers installed beneath the flooring. These can be made from three different materials: EVA, Mastic with Pad, and Foil with Pad. Adding a sound deadener below your floor mats makes your vehicle much more comfortable.
Replacing your vehicle’s carpeting and floor mats can improve the interior both visually and in terms of providing a healthy environment.
