With the government taking action and providing recommendations on ways to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, there is much we can do at a personal level to prevent its spread in our community. It is important to clean and disinfect our hands and high-touch surfaces at home and work, but we must also remember to clean and sanitize car interior surfaces as a priority too.
Of course, nothing will happen to your car if the virus gets on board, but if the car becomes a hotbed for germs, you and whoever else rides in it stands a risk of getting infected. For this reason, you must disinfect your car regularly, especially if you live in an area with many COVID-19 cases, carry people in your car, utilize your car as a taxi, or drive a shared or rented car. However, it would be best if you learned how to do this without damaging the interior surfaces.
Key Surfaces in Your Car to Disinfect
You want to disinfect all of your car’s high-touch areas and surfaces, including:
- Car fobs and keys
- Door buttons, latches and handles
- Buttons for temperature, radio and mirror control
- Armrests, headrests, seat belts, seat adjusters and grab handles
- The steering wheel
- Gear shift
- Cup holders and center console
- Turn and wiper signals
- Seat pockets
How Do You Sanitize Car Interiors Without Damaging the Surfaces?
Using cleaning solutions that are known to be effective against COVID-19 that contains at least 70 percent alcohol and isopropyl alcohol can be used to clean most of your car’s hard surface interiors. Surface interiors include: armrests, seat adjusters, shifters, steering wheel, dashboard, doors, handles, cup holders, and areas with imitation leather. However, follow the manufacturer’s product label on the recommended disinfecting procedure. Although most car leathers have urethane coating protection that can be cleaned with alcohol, over time, it can make it susceptible to damage.
Vigorous washing with water and soap can kill the coronavirus, which still holds to washing your car interiors, especially the leather surfaces and upholstery. However, do not scrub them too hard or use a rough cloth lest you chip its surface coating and dyes. It’s not recommended to use too much water either, as when it soaks through the cloth surfaces to the cushions, it can lead to mold growth and unpleasant smells.
Under no circumstances should you use glass cleaner on your touchscreen displays, as it will damage the anti-glare coating. Also, avoid cleaning products that are ammonia-based because they can damage the vinyl dashboard.
When your car interiors are sanitized and clean, make sure your hands are clean and sanitized before you start disinfecting your vehicle, as this also reduces the chance of the virus finding its way into your car.
We encourage you to clean and sanitize car interiors often. Whether you had someone sick in your car or not, knowing your car is clean and sanitized can give you peace of mind. Contact Valley Automall at 702-570-2257 to schedule a car detail and get your exterior as clean as your interior.