What is a cabin air filter?
Is it:
- A filter for a house in the middle of the woods?
- A fresh, piney scent?
- A filter for the passenger compartment of your car?
Clever you, it’s 3.
A cabin air filter cleans the outside air before it comes into the passenger compartment. It filters out dust, pollen, spores, bacteria, pollutants, sparrows, exhaust gas and odors.
These high tech filters can block particles larger than 3 microns. By contrast, a grain of sand is about 200 microns.
Not all vehicles have cabin filters. They are fairly new on the scene. About forty percent of new vehicles come with cabin air filters, but the number is growing every year.
Cabin air filters can make for a very nice driving environment or turn your car into a sealed environment that fogs up with a carload of friends. With a properly working Cabin Air Filter, very little dust and pollen will get in. However, the filter eventually gets clogged. When this happens, your heating and air conditioning flow can become restricted and foul the air you’re breathing.
We’ve seen many people suffering from allergies find relief by simply changing their automobile’s cabin air filter. The difference can be quite astounding. – John, John’s Auto Care, 303.442.2932
You can check your owner’s manual for recommended replacement intervals, but often, owner’s manuals forgets about the cabin air filter, so Ask John (or our Service Advisor) for a recommendation. It’s usually every year or 12,000 miles. Change it sooner if you drive in dusty conditions or if you start to notice an odor from your ventilation system.
So keep your cabin air filter clean. It may not help your car go from zero to sixty in under 6 seconds, but it will make your driving experience more enjoyable.