Cabin air filters: the personal connection

With the growing adoption of cabin air filters by North American automakers, these little known items have become an easy add-on to routine maintenance service of many late model vehicles. Most cabin air filters are also easy to change, so they may become an over-the-counter sale as well. One key to successful sales in these early years will be consumer education, so remind your customers that the filter should be checked and be armed with statistics about the effectiveness of filters. It may also be useful to show the consumer where the filter is located in his/her vehicle, and be willing to remove it and check it on the spot.

Like other safety features, cabin air filters strike a personal chord with consumers because they have a direct effect on their well-being and comfort. These filters are design to remove contaminants such as pollen, dust, exhaust gases, bacteria and other pollutants from the air before it reaches the passenger compartment. In addition, combination-style filters also have an activated carbon layer to control odors. Cabin air filters may also be known as passenger compartment filters, pollen filters or dust filters.

“Many people are concerned about pollens, bacteria, and exhaust gases from other vehicles, but few know that many vehicles have filters to alleviate these problems,” explains Jim Brown, director of marketing for FRAM Filters. FRAM is helping to educate consumers about cabin air filter benefits with shelf talkers and countercards, as well as comprehensive packaging information.”

The FRAM ComfortAire filter is available for most cars and light duty trucks that have cabin air filters. There are also two part numbers that cover heavy-duty applications, including John Deere combines.

Selling points

“Measurements have shown that the air inside vehicle compartments has significantly higher concentrations of exhaust gases than the outside air,” says Bruce Coffey, light duty product engineer manager for Wix Filtration Products. “That’s because vehicles in front of your car produce an ‘exhaust gas tunnel’ and these gases are then drawn into passenger air compartments in a concentrated form.”

The air inside a vehicle can be six times more polluted than the air outside, according to recent air quality studies. Filter manufacturers claim their products can stop about 90% of these contaminants from entering the passenger cabin. Wix micronAir filters stop particles as small as 1 micron (1/1000 of a millimetre).

The opportunity

Cabin air filters are typically located under a vehicle’s dashboard, attached to the glove box or inside the engine compartment. In nearly all cases, reports Wix, they can be changed in as little as 10 minutes. Vehicle recommendations may vary, but the general guideline for replacing cabin air filters is every 20,000 km – or at least once a year. “In addition to an unpleasant odor,” says Bruce Johnston, brand manager for Wix Filtration Products, “filters not changed after 20,000 miles can result in decreased heating and air conditioning performance caused by restricted airflow through the cabin air filter.”

According to Wix, cabin air filters are currently installed on 40% of new model cars and light trucks. That number is expected to grow to nearly 60% by 2005. The Automotive Oil Change Association cites an estimate that 85% of vehicle with cabin air filters have not had the recommended replacement. That’s a lot of room for growth.