Are car air fresheners dangerous to health?

For many drivers, they are part of the standard equipment of the car, others find them simply inconvenient - they hang in the car and must provide a "refreshing" air and atmosphere. But according to various studies, hanging air fresheners are not as harmless as they claim.

Air fresheners usually consist of absorbent cardboard impregnated with various artificially created flavors and other "auxiliaries". To regulate the flow of fragrances, air fresheners are often placed in a plastic box. For initial use, only a small portion of the housing should be removed to prevent excessive chemical leakage.

However, the information on the packaging is often ignored and the plastic film is completely removed from the start. Thus, a large amount of fragrance enters the vehicle interior in a short time, which can lead to headaches and, in worst cases, even high blood pressure, irritation of the mucous membranes or asthma.

Aside from misusing air fresheners, the ingredients themselves are responsible for health problems in many cases. Independent product tests regularly show that most of the tested fragrances exceed the VOC emission limit values ​​many times. In some tests, the excess is up to 20 times. Tests have also uncovered allergenic ingredients as well as plasticizers that are believed to damage detoxifying organs such as the liver or kidneys.

Fragrances can be dangerous when combined with cigarette smoke. Fine dust particles bind to the components of cigarette smoke and can "settle" well in the human body.

But if you still do not want to get rid of air fresheners in your car, we recommend that you at least pay attention to the advice of reputable testing institutes (for example, Ökotest in Germany).

Care should also be taken when using fragrances to use as few artificial ingredients as possible and include as many natural oil essences as possible.

A good alternative is flavored sachets that are free of artificial additives like herbs, lavender flowers or orange peel, as long as you are not allergic to the ingredients used.

Regardless of whether odors are artificial or natural, the vehicle interior must always be well ventilated and existing odors must not be obscured by other odors.