‘We can do better;’ Study shows toxic chemicals could be coming from the seats in your car

A new study is raising concerns about toxic chemicals coming from the seats in your car.

As reported at 5:30, Veena Singla, from San Francisco, drives an electric car to help the environment but she hasn’t thought much about the air inside her car.

“I never realized there could be toxic chemicals, it was very surprising to me, to be honest,” Singla said.

About two years ago she volunteered to participate in a study looking at drivers’ exposure to flame retardants used on automobile seats to meet federal fire safety standards.

She and 100 other car owners placed silicone bands in their cars for a week to measure the levels of those chemicals in the air inside their vehicles.

>> Coroner identifies man killed in shooting near Dayton apartment complex

“I want to know what chemicals are in my car and if there’s anything I can do to reduce my own exposures,” Singla said.

The results are in, and the study found that “vehicles are likely an important source of human exposure to potentially harmful flame retardants.”

Research also found that the people who are most likely to be exposed are commuters, full-time vehicle drivers, and children, who the study says “would also be at risk of greater exposure” than adults for “equivalent commuting times.”

Lydia Jahl, with The Green Science Policy Institute’s Lydia Jahl, is one of the study’s authors. She said that when you get in your car, you are breathing in these toxic chemicals.

“It does mean you’ll be breathing the chemicals,” Jahl said.

>> Local middle school teacher in critical condition after crash

They found that some of those chemicals were 2 to 5 times higher in summer, as compared to winter.

“In hotter temperatures, the chemicals are able to be released from the car materials more easily. And so you end up with higher concentrations,” Jahl said.

Researchers can’t say exactly what the health effects might be from breathing in those flame in those flame retardants, but they note that a 2023 U.S. National Toxicology Report “found evidence of carcinogenic activity in...rats and mice” for the most frequently found chemical.

They and others are calling for the federal flammability standard to be re-evaluated, similar to how the standard for upholstered furniture was revised in 2021 to eliminate flame retardants.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration set that standard but did not respond to a request for comment.

>> ‘They’re not moving;’ 911 call details discovery of man killed at Dayton apartment complex

The International Association of Firefighters union says most car fires come from car engines and accidents, not car interiors, and the chemicals also pose risks to firefighters.

“When you put those flame retardants in there and then, the fire is going, that’s what we’re breathing in. Some of the most toxic air that you will ever find anywhere,” Pat Morrison with the Union said.

Singla said her test showed flame retardants too, and she said that is frustrating.

“We’ve made, you know, great strides in making our cars safer, you know, over the decades. I just think we can do better and actually have healthier, safer cars,” Singla said.

For now, the researchers recommend when you first get in your car, roll down the windows and let the air out.

©2024 Cox Media Group