25 Ways To Protect Your Car From Viruses

20: Focus On Common Touchpoints

Cars nowadays are known for having a lot of touchpoints throughout the vehicle. Gone are the common dials of yesteryear. New interfaces are generally touchscreens, and that means a lot of touching inside a vehicle. You also have the door handles, which are bound to get touched more times than you can count. You’ll definitely want to disinfect highly-trafficked areas.

Taking the time to wipe down your handles, seat corners and anything else that gets touched often will make a difference. You don’t want to be caught in the middle of the pandemic with certain areas of your vehicle a hotbed for germs.

19: Cabin Air Filter

Many illnesses are airborne, which means that the air that comes into your vehicle can be infected as well. Therefore, the cabin air filter is one of the most important aspects of keeping the air inside of your vehicle clean. The cabin air filter is often inexpensive to change, but it’s something many of us overlook when it comes to vehicle maintenance.

But if you want to prevent the spread of airborne illnesses in your vehicle, this is a logical first step. You might not have ever changed the cabin air filter, so check and see if it’s something that needs to be replaced.

18: Replace Fluids On Time

A pandemic is a scary thing, and if it gets worse there might be a time when you’ll need to get out of a certain area. The last thing you want is to break down on the side of the road. Doing routine vehicle maintenance will keep you ahead of the curve and increase the chances of your survival. Oil changes are the first and most obvious. You’ll also want to check your battery and terminals to make sure there isn’t any corrosion.

Coolant is also an important thing – we often skip this step if our vehicle isn’t overheating. But you want to make sure that your vehicle has an adequate amount of coolant in its reservoir. Lastly, don’t forget to check your transmission fluid.

17: Tires

The right tires make all the difference in the world. During a pandemic, this is especially important. You want to make sure your tires are in good operating order. That means thick treads and a reasonable amount of inflation. A lot of people will overlook their tires if they’ve had a recent replacement. But even brand-new tires can fail.

Tire inflation is an important thing to consider. You’ll get the most out of your vehicle and you’ll be able to protect yourself during a pandemic. When things hit the fan, you’re going to need a vehicle that can make it out of any situation. The right tires are a good step in making it to safety when bad things happen.

16: Power Inverter

During a pandemic, power can go out. This is why it’s crucial to have some sort of power inverter inside your vehicle. You’ll notice that having a power inverter is incredibly useful, especially in this day and age of technology. We’re a mobile world, and being able to charge our tech is important. A traditional car outlet is usually not enough to charge any kind of serious electronics in the case of an emergency. You want to have a power inverter close by where you can use it.

By having one, you’ll be able to charge most of your important tech gear. You can power a small cooktop and even a small television. The power inverters of today are much more advanced and geared toward portable tech gear. The worst thing in the world other than a pandemic is being caught in one with no communication.

15: Aerial Disinfectants

Your car should be a sanctuary from any kind of virus. If it’s not you can take steps to ensure a difference. Aerial disinfectants are basically air fresheners, but they kill off airborne illnesses. The air you breathe inside your vehicle can be just as polluted as the air on the outside. So you want to take the time to make sure that you’re breathing clean air inside and out of your vehicle. Airborne illnesses don’t choose who they want to attack, instead, they focus on certain areas of life.

Getting an aerial disinfectant for your vehicle will definitely ensure you’ll have a cleaner existence all around. These disinfectants can usually be plugged into the outlet in most modern vehicles, or you can get a vent disinfectant, which does the same thing.

14: Avoid Densely Populated Areas

The vehicle you’re driving is exposed to densely-populated areas all the time. Especially if you’re a commuter or are going out of town to visit family. When the pandemic is affecting everyone, you want to avoid densely populated areas if possible. This is where your vehicle will be exposed the most. The pandemic is spreading quickly, which is partly to blame on densely populated areas and people being within too close proximity of one another.

If you want to protect your vehicle, you’ll need to do as airlines do and keep it grounded for a while. Keeping your vehicle grounded will limit your exposure to the pandemic. And since you’re in and out of your vehicle quite often, it’s safer to make sure you aren’t exposed to the outbreak at hand.

13: Keep Dashboard Disinfectant Wipes

Remember when grandma used to have that Kleenex dispenser on the visor? Well, the same thing now applies to keep disinfectant wipes handy. When you need to get somewhere in a hurry, you don’t always have time to wash your hands. So it’s important to make sure that you have some kind of wipes that are easily accessible. You can keep a wipe dispenser just about everywhere, whether it be on the visor or in your center console.

One of the best steps to protect your vehicle is to keep wipes handy. If you don’t keep them in an easily accessible place, you’ll forget to use them. Disinfection is one of the most important aspects of avoiding the pandemic, so keep these easily visible in your car.

12: Disinfectant Spray

Wiping down the surfaces of your vehicle is a great way to preserve the condition of your interior. Because the virus can live on a surface, you want to make sure you keep these surfaces wiped down. But it also helps to give your car a good cleansing with disinfectant spray. The disinfectant spray you get in the grocery store is good enough and you should be able to make a can last for a long while.

Using a spray will reduce the number of germs present in your vehicle. A disinfectant spray is also a great way to make sure that you can keep your car germ-free. Giving your car a nice, thorough spraying will make it a lot more sanitary.

11: Steering Wheel Cover

The virus is going to spread rapidly, and it already is. Because the steering wheel is the most touched part of the car, it helps to have a steering wheel cover. Covid-19 lives on hard surfaces. An antibacterial steering wheel cover can help reduce the spread. You touch your steering wheel more than any other part of the car, so covering it up is a natural way to stop the spread of the virus.

Steering wheel covers come in all shapes and sizes, which is partly due to varying options in the automotive world. Most steering wheels are the same size across the board, so finding a cover that fits your specific vehicle shouldn’t be hard to do.

10: Disinfect The Trunk

The trunk is an often overlooked area of the car where germs can hide. You take grocery bags and other cargo in and out of your vehicle, so it’s not uncommon. Disinfection of the cargo area is something we should all take seriously, especially if you drive a vehicle that has an open cargo area. The trunk gets the brunt of most of the germs that enter your vehicle, so keeping this area clean is essential.

Even if you barely use your trunk, spreading some disinfectant powder throughout will make it less susceptible to infection. If you do use your cargo area often, it’s even more important to make sure you are disinfecting.

9: Get Ready To Scrub

If your car is a high-traffic vehicle, you’ll want to disinfect it. The interior is home to thousands of germs, and sometimes just wiping or spraying a cleaning solution isn’t enough. You want to really scrub your interior with a strong scrub brush. You don’t have to stress about the virus spreading in your vehicle surfaces if you scrub it right.

It might seem like a lot, but your health is worth the time and effort. Keeping your vehicle clean and scrubbed from the inside out will make a difference in the long run. You want to make sure that your vehicle is kept disinfected in these trying times.

8: Don’t Forget Fabric

Most people are focused on cleaning hard surfaces during this pandemic, but there are also a lot of vehicles that have cloth surfaces as well. When it comes to these types of surfaces, you want to make sure you are doing everything that you can to keep them clean. You can use a shampoo spray or fabric cleaner to get these surfaces clean and ensure that your interior is germ-free. The problem with fabrics is that they can hold germs for a lot longer than vinyl or plastic.

Taking the time to clean these specific parts of the interior with a good cleaning solution will make all the difference in the world. You’ll notice a dramatic decrease in interior odors, as well as a more pleasurable-feeling interior.

7: Think of Children

Kids are an important part of this pandemic as well, and even though school is out you want to make sure you are keeping the passenger areas of your car clean. Car seats can also carry germs in the fabric of the seats and plastic pieces. During this trying time, it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re disinfecting your children’s car seats.

Booster seats apply as well. You want to make sure that you are doing a good job of disinfecting them. This will save your children from the pandemic in the long run and keep germs in the passenger area of your vehicle to a minimum. Our children bring most of the germs into our vehicles when traveling to and from school and friends’ houses, so it is only a natural progression to make sure this part of our vehicles is disinfected.

6: Glove Up

Although it has become a relatively new trend, wearing a pair of disposable gloves in your car can be a great way to keep things sanitary. You’ll spread this virus by touching stuff, so naturally, if you’re wearing gloves, this will be greatly reduced. In the long run, reducing the risk of spreading the virus can be kept to a minimum by wearing a pair of latex gloves. You want to make sure that you are wearing these gloves before you get into the vehicle and during your time driving.

Disposable gloves are something that can be found at most automotive retailers. Make sure that you are getting latex nitrile gloves, as these are the same ones you’d find in an emergency room.

5: Don’t Share Accessories

During this time you might not want to share your cell phone chargers and other accessories with friends or family. Transmitting the virus from vehicle to vehicle is very easy, and the surface of an accessory can carry the virus. Take the time to examine what accessories you actually need in your vehicle, as this will greatly reduce the number of surfaces you are coming into contact with. At the end of the day, letting someone use your cell phone charger probably isn’t worth the risk of getting sick.

A lot of newer cars have charging technology built-in, which means that you don’t even have to use an accessory. You’ll feel better in the long run and you’ll keep the car disinfected for the foreseeable future.

4: Use a Bleach Mixture

You’ve got the disinfecting wipes, the spray, and just about everything else. But there are some things that just can’t match the cleaning power of bleach. Bleach mixture is a great way to spray down the surfaces in your car and get it disinfected in a pinch. You don’t have to use a heavy mixture, but you do want to get enough in the water that it will make a difference. In the long run, you’ll have a cleaner and more sanitary car for it. You don’t want to use straight bleach because this can damage your car’s interior.

You also want to go over the bleached parts of the interior with saddle soap or similar protectant. This way, vinyl will stay preserved and in good shape, keeping your car looking great and sanitary for years to come.

3: Avoid Oil Change Stations

Getting a quick oil change can be a blessing. But right now there is such a risk of spreading this virus that you really don’t want to be frequenting most establishments. Oil change stations have such a high volume of traffic going in and out of them that the risk of spreading illness is high. So take the time to make sure you are finding an alternative method to keep your vehicle lubed up. Do-it-yourself kits are inexpensive and a great way to get a closer look at your vehicle.

You might notice something wrong that the lube techs never told you about, such as a leak or a missing component. During this period, we need to do anything that we can to social distance. Doing your own oil change might be one of the best ways to accomplish this.

2: Clean Up With Hydrogen Peroxide

If for some reason you don’t have access to disinfectant spray, wipes, or bleach, there is another product you can use to clean your car’s interior. Hydrogen Peroxide is a very effective cleaning agent. It’s also very affordable, which makes it a cost-effective way of keeping the germs in your car to a minimum. You can find Hydrogen Peroxide at most retailers, which makes it a cost-effective cleaner.

Cleaning supplies are becoming scarce, so right now you want to make sure you’re doing what you can. Hydrogen Peroxide might be the best way to get your car interior disinfected if you can’t access anything else.

1: Use Microban 24 On Surfaces

Microban 24 cleaning solution claims to keep a surface germ free for 24 hours. If you’re tired of having to constantly clean a surface, this might be a better method to go. You’ll need to spray a liberal amount to get the job done, but the end result will be a dramatically cleaner surface that will keep your car illness free.

There are so many different ways to keep your car germ-free, but Microban 24 seems to be one of the most popular options. It is an easy-to-use spray that’s very similar to Lysol, which means you can get the interior a lot cleaner rapidly.

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