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Transportation Technology

Ford Patents a Way To Remove 'New Car Smell' (freep.com) 170

Posted by BeauHD from the first-world-problems dept.
Ford has filed a patent for a method of eliminating the new car smell after a vehicle has been purchased. In the U.S., "new car smell" is beloved, but in China, customers find the odor disgusting. From a report: While the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hasn't issued a ruling on the "vehicle odor remediation" patent application, and Ford hasn't committed to moving forward with the project, the paperwork explains what creates the odor so many Americans like: That new car smell is caused by volatile organic compounds given off by leather, plastic and vinyl. Chemicals used to attach and seal car parts may also contribute to the odor. People notice odors when compounds are released, which occurs when a car sits in high temperatures.

Ford scientists describe baking the car until the odor disappears, which happens after compounds are released. The process described in the patent involves parking the car in the sun, opening the windows slightly, and optionally turning the engine, heater and fan on.The system includes special software and various air quality sensors, and works only when fitted to a driverless or semi-autonomous vehicle. A lot of technology is involved in the patent application. The car would determine whether conditions are right to expel compounds, and the car would drive itself to a place in the sun and bake away the offensive odor.
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Ford Patents a Way To Remove 'New Car Smell' More

Ford Patents a Way To Remove 'New Car Smell'

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  • Alternate solution (Score:4, Funny)

    by stealth_finger ( 1809752 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @05:15AM (#57678604)
    Pay a couple of big fat sweaty people to sit in it farting and burping for a couple hours.

    • Smells are additive. (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      And you're a voter. (An alias for "complete moron".)

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by quenda ( 644621 )

      Pay a couple of big fat sweaty people to sit in it farting and burping for a couple hours.

      I believe the Chinese solution traditionally involves fish heads, but durian fruit imported form SE Asia is becoming more popular.

    • I purchased a Toyota from a family member, purchased it during his family-formation years.

      16 years later, one is entering college and the other just graduated. When you get into this car and before the A/C kicks in, you still get a whiff of the unmistakable New Kid small.

    • Another alternate solution: rent it as Uber cab for a couple of days.

      After that you'll want to thoroughly disinfect it with bleach.

  • That new car smell is caused by volatile organic compounds given off by leather, plastic and vinyl. Chemicals used to attach and seal car parts may also contribute to the odor.

    It's also given off by the plastic dashboard, which was injection-molded but the tool was so insanely complex that they kept getting pale creases and they used that boot polish that comes in a bottle with a foam applicator to paint the creases out.

    ... not that I'd know.

  • I've not heard of anyone who likes it, though it's not a topic that comes up very often and there are some who like the smell of paint thinners and acetone.

    • I've not heard of anyone who likes it

      You must hang out with an incredibly like-minded group. The new car smell is something that generally polarises people. There are plenty of people out there who like it. Myself included. That said it can't be good for you.

      • My thought was why would they want to get rid of the new car scent apparently enough people like it that febreze makes it as an air freshener.

        https://www.febreze.com/en-us/... [febreze.com]

      • I also don't know anyone who likes it.

        But I remember a story, probably actually on /., a decade ago: the smell is put into the cars deliberately. There are companies that tried to "optimize" the "new car smell".

        Unfortunately the only car that I bought new had the smell still after 10 years ... unbelievable, I really hated it.

    • Re:People like the smell? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by LostMonk ( 1839248 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @06:52AM (#57678836)

      People like the associations the smell invokes - an exciting new addition/change in your life that you're going to enjoy - not the odor itself. Same as enjoying the mixture of paint thinner + cleaning detergents + plaster + wood shavings + wet cardboard ... it all combines into "new house smell".

      • >"People like the associations the smell invokes "

        That might be true, but not true as an absolute generality. Some people, myself included, just like the smell, itself. And it varies wildly. For example, from the parent post- I like the smell of paint thinner, but hate the smell of acetone. I have to assume that some of it has to do with genetics and not associations.

      • Yeah it is like the smell new PCBs have... opening the antistatic bag on a motherboard or video card is more exciting than it probably ought to be!

    • I've not heard of anyone who likes it, though it's not a topic that comes up very often and there are some who like the smell of paint thinners and acetone.

      don't forget gasoline as well. And nitro methane. Man I used to love the smell of those. Gas smelled better when it was leaded in my opinion, but cox fuel smells awesome lol. I do kind of like the smell of acetone as well. And some pain thinners too. Not in the "i'm gunna huff these things" kind of way but when I fuel up or have to paint or clean paint kind of way :)

  • Perhaps time to investigate other materials... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @05:26AM (#57678656) Homepage

    .... that don't require volatile organics in their manufacture. Perhaps this current fashion for glueing everything could be reverted back to rivets and bolts for a start. And there are plenty of plastics that don't release volatile compounds for months after they're purchased - eg you wouldn't be too happy if your food smelt like a chemical plant after you took it out the packaging.

    • I have the perfect car for you
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Cyberax ( 705495 )
        Hey! UAZ is a monster car. It works even if mistreated horribly and usually can be repaired in the field.
    • Sure, but it's going to be more expensive. You won't pay. They don't even put spare tires in cars any more because it increases the price and the weight decreases the gas mileage. You want cheap, cheap, cheap and don't care what materials are. You use phones made with slave labor because they're cheaper for fucks sake.

      • They don't put spares in cars any more because they use up trunk space and that's a competitive point. They still put spares on pickup trucks because they can be stored beneath.

        • They don't put spares in cars any more because ...
          In some countries they can get away with it ... in others they don't.

        • They don't put spares in cars any more because they use up trunk space and that's a competitive point. They still put spares on pickup trucks because they can be stored beneath.

          Actually most cars still have a well for a full-sized spare, the manufacturers just cheap out for aforementioned reasons.

          My boss was just telling us about a Malibu he used to own - had a flat, and when he went to change it, in the well where the spare should have been Chevy installed a 12v air compressor and a bottle of that green goo shit that never works... but no spare.

          • My boss was just telling us about a Malibu he used to own - had a flat, and when he went to change it, in the well where the spare should have been Chevy installed a 12v air compressor and a bottle of that green goo shit that never works... but no spare.

            It costs money to redesign that well, so some vehicles are getting the goo and compressor before they get the well taken away to improve trunk volume. As they buy less spacesavers, they get a worse price on them...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      But then they would have to have different manufacturing for China, re-test it all for durability and long life etc. They know how those materials perform over 20 years and in all sorts of conditions from desert to sub-arctic.

      It's probably easier just to treat the car to get rid of the smell.

  • If I wanted to sit in a hot car for a few hours and get baked until the smell goes away, I'd buy a Volkswagen.

    • https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne... [dailymail.co.uk]

      There are photos of phalanxes of unsold Tesla automobiles parked outside.

      The most likely explanation is that they were being stockpiled to maximize the number of U.S. customers who could benefit from the expiring "FIT" credit of $7500. By stockpiling the cars, Tesla was able to not cross the 200,000 unit number in 2018 Quarter 2 ending June 30. Crossing that statutory number in Q3 didn't count against the credit, hence Tesla ran their factory 24/7 so the cars they mad

      • Many Tesla critics pointed to these cars stored at airport or industrial park lots as baking in the California sun with attendant degradation. But we now know that proud owners of Tesla cars were spared having to inhale to toxic fumes of the New Car Smell.

        I wonder what the Tesla critics have to say about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com].

        Dangerously close to howaboutism on my part, but I think letting unsold vehicles to rot is a crime.

        Maybe Fort et al, could sell the Chinese these brand new vehicles? Seems they should have outgassed by now.

  • How can you patent parking a car in the sun and leaving the windows open?

    • Re:What In The Fuck (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Rei ( 128717 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @06:02AM (#57678750) Homepage

      Welcome to Ford. Marketing slogan: The future is built [youtube.com].

      Apparently "the future" means that Ford will leave your car idling in the sun while they sell off data about where you live and work to the highest bidder.

      On the upside: one good recession and Ford will go bankrupt. They're barely hanging on as it is. Which is why they're getting so desperate with extra revenue streams, like that "selling your personal data" idea. That said, I'm sure the Ford brand will still live on; it has plenty of fans. Whoever buys them will probably just keep the lines running largely as they were before, after ditching Ford's accrued debt.

    • They patent the computer system that parks it there and monitors the gases

  • Car makers are putting perfumes in the mnes seats, to make new cars and seat smell 'new'. Besisdes some old cars have a particular smell, especially air-cooled city cars like the old Fiat 500, 126 and Panda or the WV Beetle, even id they were made 60 years ago...
  • "Ain't nothin' better than a new car smell...'cept maybe for pussy"

  • I hate those christmas tree air fresheners (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The ones that people dangle from their rear view mirrors.

    To me they're the odor equivalent of scraping your fingernails across a chalk board.

    (Of course these days everyone has whiteboards and nobody knows anymore what a chalkboard is or what scraping your fingernails across them sounds like.)

    And it's easy to get rid of that aroma, just throw the damn things out.

  • It's cultural (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @07:16AM (#57678894) Homepage

    Americans love the smell because they associate it with getting a brand new car. This is a big deal in car culture.

    Chinese hate the smell because it represents chemical contamination, something they know all too well. In China when they buy a new apartment and furnish it, there's a period of six months or so when they leave it vacant. They have to let all the materials outgas before they can live there.

    So it's the different culture in China where every product is toxic and any off smell means you're being poisoned. Even if you buy from a reputable company there's always some middle manager somewhere who is going to substitute inferior materials for the quality materials her factory paid for and pocket the difference.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Actually the smell is associated with stuff that is cheap.

      People who can afford a Ford in China can also afford better furniture. The current fashion is for heavy, solid wood stuff. Incredibly uncomfortable but then again many of them slept on blankets as kids. And of course wood, even treated wood, smells different to plastic.

      The west isn't so different really. People are okay with the new car smell in more affordable motors, but when they buy an expensive one they expect better materials too. One of the m

      • Actually the smell is associated with stuff that is cheap.

        I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss what he wrote. olfactory memory is one of the most potent sorts of memory. Probably evolved to keep us from eating tainted or rotten food.

        There are some Chinese products that I have a visceral and immediate negative reaction to. I'm pretty certain it is an estrogen mimic in some of their plastics, although I've never analyzed it. Smell is powerful, and I think for many people mysterious.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Careful, that's sounding dangerously close to the great soy boy panic of 2018...

          • Careful, that's sounding dangerously close to the great soy boy panic of 2018...

            Close enough.

            THere is a strange sort of denial that I have seen among some people regarding the existence of the Estrogen mimics - usually to ridicule anyone who dares to broach the subject, in the dmanner that some folks might ridicule anti-Vaxxers.

            Yet theere is absolutely no scientific denial that Estrogen mimics and phytoestrogens have an effect upon humans.

            Precocious puberty in females caused by excessive estrogen/estropgen mimics causes health problem in women, and bynecomastia in men is also cau

    • Re: (Score:2, Redundant)

      by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

      Americans love the smell because they associate it with getting a brand new car. This is a big deal in car culture.

      Exactly. The olfactory nerves are directly wired into the brain. And smell memory is maybe the most potent memory there is. New car smell instantly makes me happy. The smell of crayons takes me back to pre-school. The shore smell relaxes me. That's the good side of olfactory memory.

      Chinese hate the smell because it represents chemical contamination, something they know all too well.

      And we have the bad side. Many concentration camp victims would freak at the smell of chlorinated bleach. And some of the plastics and synthetic rubber coming from China has a distinct naptha smell which would fit within your ana

    • In China when they buy a new apartment and furnish it, there's a period of six months or so when they leave it vacant. They have to let all the materials outgas before they can live there.

      Maybe that's what they would like to do, but this pings my BS meter.

      Paying six months of rent or mortgage on a place you're not living in is a financial hardship in any country.

      • It's normal in China. When they buy an apartment, it is four bare walls with pipes sticking out. It takes two years to furnish before it's livable. You can move in early if you want, but all the other apartments near you are going to have construction noise, dusty workers hogging the elevator, etc. Chinese people consider they will live in the apartment their whole lives so it's not a big deal to them.

  • Or simply... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...park the car in the sun with the windows slightly open, and the engine and heating on. Why make life more complicated than that? Oh BTW, yes. The chemical smell of new cars is disgusting as well as the smell of exhaust fumes, burning engine oil/lubricant, and petrol/diesel fumes. Cars just smell foul all the time. They're also loud. The sooner we move on from ICE cars the better.

  • ... that "new car smell" is actually a perfume! They put that in to mask the actual smell of a new car which is mainly glue.
    So maybe just "don't spray it in" would be the obvious way to not have that smell?

  • should they not work on and "patent" the other way round: how to retain it the longest?

  • Ummmm... can you patent something that my body does naturally?

  • The "science" of patenting common sense. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Wednesday November 21, 2018 @07:51AM (#57678992)

    "...The process described in the patent involves parking the car in the sun, opening the windows slightly, and optionally turning the engine, heater and fan on...A lot of technology is involved in the patent application."

    You parked the car in the sun, cracked the windows, and turned on the fan. This is now considered "science" when removing a smell from a car interior? A generation ago we called this common sense.

    I guess I'm getting too old for such patented stupidity.

    And no, putting this "technology" into an autonomous car doesn't make you a genius. That just makes you greedy because you're going to charge the customer another $2000 for some bullshit feature they never asked for. Also known as 21st Century product design.

    • Speaking of common sense, most manufacturing processes that require heat utilize an oven, which provides uniform heat under highly controlled conditions, and if done on an assembly line, generally is the cheapest and most efficient option to boot. You know, like baking paint so it dries out in an hour instead of a month. Putting something in the sun sounds like something thought up by a 2nd-grader who forgot that sometimes it rains outside.

      It's just another excuse to file and patent and attach the automot

  • My car (not a Ford) is seven years old and I can still smell the leather.

    They better not "fix" that.

  • Let me get this right... they've patented "leaving a car in the sun with the windows open a bit"? Is there anything that can't be patented in the US?

  • In the 80s, I believe. Apparently, nobody in Italy wanted it.

  • I just put my ozone generator in my car for a couple of hours if it has any smell I don't like, be it wet dog scent or musty smell from too much wet weather. It kills all the smells.

    • I just put my ozone generator in my car for a couple of hours if it has any smell I don't like, be it wet dog scent or musty smell from too much wet weather. It kills all the smells.

      PLease tell us you open all the windows to let the ozone out before driving. Yeah - I know ozone smells good. So does benzene.

  • But I like new car smell. I can remember as a kid there was a car wash near my house and one of the interior scent options they'd spray in your car was "New Car Smell."
    • I also like the smell or new car. But I also like the smell of paint thinner, fresh blacktop and diesel.
  • It smells better before that fat, greasy burger eating American get into it and drops the mac sauce all over the upholstery

  • The new Ford Iguana...

    Damn thing drove off to Arizona and left me here in the frozen north.

  • The process described in the patent involves parking the car in the sun, opening the windows slightly, and optionally turning the engine, heater and fan on.

    So, they've patented a way to make global warming worse? Thanks Ford.

  • Because Ford getting a patent for "parking in the sun with windows slightly open" sounds like an Onion Article.

  • If there's a market for it in China, then by all means go for it. I personally can't stand when my car finally LOSES that "new car smell". You get a good 2-3 months of it and then I spend the rest of the life of the car using "New Car Smell" Little Trees which don't really smell the same but its still a pleasant scent.

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