How dirty is a car interior?
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, car interiors are among the dirtiest places on Earth.
Specifically, scientists have discovered that there are about 700 types of bacteria that exist inside car compartments.
To understand how dirty car interiors are, the team of researchers measured surface area in square centimeters or in colony-forming units (CFU).
The results were then compared to commonly touched public surfaces on a daily basis. The average steering wheel had 629 CFUs per square centimeter, making it dirtier than some of the most commonly touched surfaces.
Surprisingly, it's dirtier than the average cell phone screen (100 CFU), public elevator buttons (313 CFU), and even the average public toilet seat in the US (172 CFU).
In particular, the results also showed that the steering wheel is 4 times dirtier than the toilet we use every day.
In addition, the results also discovered the two most common types of bacteria found inside cars. The first is Staphylococcus, a type of bacteria that can cause many diseases such as food poisoning, skin infections. The other type is Propionibacterium, which can cause inflammation and infection.
The main reason is also due to the lifestyle of drivers who have the habit of throwing trash or leftover food and drinks inside the car. Therefore, the best way to protect the health of those sitting inside the car is to regularly clean the car interior and give up the bad habit of littering in the car.
According to the study, only 32% of the 1,000 drivers surveyed clean their interiors, but only rarely. These drivers said they clean their car's cabin once a year. Worse still, 12% of drivers said they never clean their car's interior.
