Inside a vehicle, there is what we see, what we hear…but also what we smell. This may be the aroma of a new vehicle, of the leather of the luxury sedans and shortly after the purchase, all the odors impregnated or coming from outside. Up to now it’s been incidental, but now car makers are working to make it deliberate. In premium vehicles, fragrance packs are available. The Mercedes solution, for example, allows to diffuse a personalised perfume in the cockpit; a glass vial is placed in a container in the glove box. Air quality can be further enhanced by ionisation and better filtration of indoor and outdoor air.
BMW have a similar system, with intensity settings activated by the iDrive controller and menu, or directly via buttons on the climate control panel. But these packs do not solve all the odour problems. That new-car smell so prized in Europe and America makes enemies in China: a J.D. Power study found 10% of Chinese dislike it—twice as many as the second-most-important gripe of excessive fuel consumption. In their eyes, the safety and performance of the car are less important than the smell of solvents and chemicals from new plastics and leathers. Ford, for one, intend to eliminate this smell with a patented method to eliminate these odours—or at least minimise them—by leaving the vehicle stationary, windows open and heat on. The circulation of hot air that is then evacuated from the outside would destroy the odiferous molecules.This is an automatic mode that would activate at the factory and therefore not be seen by the eventual customer.
To go further on odour control, Toyota have filed a patent on perfume diffusable inside vehicles. The connected diffuser stores a selection of perfumes. As soon as a registered person gets behind the wheel, they are identified by their smartphone and treated to a previously-selected favourite perfume. Between different drivers a deodoriser will act to eventually accommodate another occupant. The system could also be a weapon against car theft; the patent includes a an anti-intruder device to dispense tear gas in the passenger compartment if a break-in is detected. After getting rid of the intruder, the diffuser will spread a deodorant to remove any trace of the gas. The owner can then take the wheel of his Toyota, as if nothing had happened—time will tell if Toyota will commercialise all aspects of this patent.
