Chinese Buyers Hate New Car Smell, So Ford Wants To Eliminate It By Baking Its Cars

Ford is looking to remove the characteristic new car smell from the vehicles is sells in China, The Detroit Free Press reports.

That’s because, while many car buyers around the world absolutely love the new car smell, many in China don’t. In fact, they absolutely hate it!

According to the 2018 J.D. Power China Initial Quality Study, more than 10 per cent of drivers have complained about the new car smell.

“Unpleasant interior smell/odor remains the top industry problem in that market,” revealed J.D. Power senior director of global automotive Brent Gruber. “To put that in context, it is nearly double the problem rate of the second most prevalent problem, excessive fuel consumption.”

To solve this issue, Ford recently made a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a special odor-removal process. A vehicle’s new car smell is caused by organic compounds given off by the leather, plastic and vinyl as well as the chemicals used to attach and seal certain car parts. Ford’s patent application describes parking the car in the sun, opening the windows, and turning the engine, heater and fan on to eliminate the odor.

“While ‘new car smell’ is ingrained in American culture, we know Chinese customers dislike that scent. This patent is the result of years of research and is just one idea we are considering for future use,” senior technical leader in materials sustainability at Ford, Debbie Mielewski said.