Keep COVID-19 Out Of Your Vehicle: 5 Tips to Clean and Sanitize Your Car

 

1. Sanitize.  Did you know the steering wheel of your vehicle has 4x the bacteria that a public toilet seat has?  Just like you wipe down doorknobs constantly, you should wipe down the surfaces in your vehicle every time you get in and out of it.  This includes the steering wheel, door handles (interior and exterior), seat adjusters, signals, radio knobs, gearshift, touchscreens, keys, and any other frequent touch points. To sanitize, simply use an alcohol based household cleaning wipe that is at least 60% alcohol.  

 

2. Keep hand sanitizer easily accessible in your vehicle. If you think about it, the keys are the first thing you grab after you have touched the gas pump or keypad on a credit card machine.  You will be in and out of your car after every pickup order, prescription pick up, doctor’s office, etc.  By sanitizing your hands as soon as you enter the vehicle, you will help to minimize the spread of germs within your vehicle.

 

3. While social distancing prevents BBQs and other social weekend activities, use some of that extra time to perform a deep clean on your vehicle. This includes using leather cleaner on any leather surface such as seats, removing floormats and mopping or scrubbing them, vacuuming and shampooing the carpets, and cleaning the outside of the vehicle. 

 

 

 

4. Change your cabin air filter or bring it to any Hertrich Service Department to have the service completed. The cabin air filter cleans the air you breathe in the vehicle. If the filter is left too long, the quality of the air in the vehicle will decrease. Changing the cabin air filter will help make sure the air you are breathing is fresh, healthy and germ-free. 

 

5. Spray disinfectant into the defrost vent while your air conditioner is on recirculate mode.  This will circulate the disinfectant through the air conditioner and throughout the vehicle.  Circulating a disinfectant through the air vents will help make sure germs in the air are eliminated and do not linger after you exit your vehicle, wait to get you on your next trip to the grocery store.