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Ford
Engineers from the
Ford Research and Innovation Center have been working with the University of Michigan to find the grimiest bits inside your car and their results are, well, not all that surprising. Turns out, the most microbe-infested parts of our cars' interiors are the same spots we touch the most. The team took samples from 10 locations in employees' cars including steering wheels, radio buttons, shift knobs, and window switches.
"Our findings suggest car interiors are complex ecosystems that house trillions of diverse microorganisms interacting with each other, with humans, and with their environment," says
Dr. Blaise Boles, assistant professor in the U-M Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology in a press release.
The two most likely spots to encounter some of these bugs is on your steering wheel around your car's cup holders. "The console area near the cup holders is a common location for spilled drinks, so it provides an ideal feeding ground for microbes," says Cindy Peters, Ford Motor Company technical expert.
The point of the study wasn't just to gross out drivers and encourage cleaner driving habits. After identifying the grossest areas, the team set to work on developing paint additives that might one day discourage the growth of microbes. Ford is currently testing interior coatings infused with
Agion, an antimicrobial, silver-ion compound. If the long-term, real-world tests show Agion to be effective, you might one day experience the sweet smell of their success first hand.
"We can't control everything that contributes to stains and odors in our cars and trucks," Peters says in the press release. "But we're doing our part to maintain a pleasant cabin environment for our customers over the long haul." Get more of the dirt on the, well, dirt in the press release
below.
Continue reading Learn where the top bacterial hot spots are in your car
Learn where the top bacterial hot spots are in your car originally appeared on
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Report: Learn where the top bacterial hot spots are in your car
