Clean Air

By Peter Nunn

Over the past couple of years, Japan ’s carmakers have started to think a lot about something pretty fundamental to life’s wellbeing yet quite often overlooked. That’s the quality of air inside the cabin.

New technology has come on the scene to purify the air we breathe and prevent the spread of volatile organic compounds (VOC). These are the airborne micro organisms that form moulds and fungi, and which have since become infamous in Japan as one of the causes behind “sick house syndrome.” 

As new air conditioned homes and offices go up, so some of the materials and chemicals used have been found to emit VOC which bring on nose and throat irritation and other physical ills. Japan ’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and others in industry are now actively working on combating VOC, and JAMA, for its part, has come up with a set of guidelines for cutting down on VOC levels in car cabins.

JAMA’s guidelines, which coincide with the indoor concentration level guidelines set out by the MHLW in Japan , and are voluntary, cover 13 different substances including Formaldehyde, Toluene and Acetaldehyde.  They’re set to apply to passenger cars marketed from April 2007 but well ahead of that some top players are already tackling the VOC issue.

As Nissan renews the paint line at the Kyushu plant in Japan , the paint will be replaced by water-based paint that cuts VOC by 50%. Materials used in the building of the latest Toyota Crown have also been chosen specifically to limit VOC.

Another innovative anti VOC measure is air conditioning that uses Plasmacluster Ions technology. This works by releasing positive and negative ions into the air, thus cleaning the air as it cools so making for a clean, fresh environment. The Nissan March (Micra) and Toyota Crown Majesta are two now in Japan that have this system on board.

Then there’s the new Toyota Vitz (Yaris) whose automatic air conditioner skillfully filters out pollen, dust and other air impurities at the simple flick of a switch.

As car manufacturers build on the opportunities for nice, crisp, fresh air so 660 cc mini makers, with an eye towards their many female customers, are also trying out different ‘scents’ as a way of making things a little more interesting and exotic.

Think of it as an interesting, subtle, marketing technique that’s almost….as free as air.