Your cabin air filter is responsible for stopping a variety of containments—such as mold, smog, pollen, and exhaust gas—from getting into your vehicle. It also keeps out larger debris from getting into your vehicle, such as rodent droppings and bugs. It is a simple piece of equipment that plays a very important job. It needs to be replaced on a regular basis. Not changing it out can have some serious consequences.
Consequence #1: Bad Odors
Not changing your vehicle's cabin air filter can cause the air that comes out of your vents to smell bad. When it is really clogged up, the air that comes out of your HVAC system is going to have an unpleasant smell. If you have started to notice that the air coming out of your vents smells bad and you have not driven past anything that smells bad, your vehicle's air filter for the cabin needs to be changed out for a new one.
Consequence #2: Foggy Window
When the air that has to come through your vents has to pass through a dirty air filter first, the right amount of air will not get through. This will diminish the quantity and quality of the air that comes through your vents. When the air filter for the interior of your car is dirty, you are more likely to experience a foggy window that takes too long to clear up.
Consequence #3: Wear to Your HVAC System
When your cabin air filter has reached its max air filtering potential, not enough air will get through, which will reduce the airflow throughout your HVAC system. Not having enough air flow through your HVAC system can have serious consequences on the entire HVAC system. Your system will not be able to run as it is designed to run when not enough air is coming through.
A dirty air filter will damage your heater core, your evaporator and other components of your HVAC system. It can cause various components to work harder than they have to, which can cause damage to your system at a faster rate than if everything were optional.
Consequence #4: Poor Health
Finally, having a dirty cabin air filter in your vehicle can have a negative impact on your health. When it's full of dirt, it can't keep all those pollutants out of your vehicle. If you have allergies, this is a problem, and even if you don't have allergies, breathing in dirty air can aggravate your lungs and cause you to sneeze.
Chang out your vehicle's cabin air filter at least once a year. In some vehicles, you can easily change the cabin air filter on your own. In other vehicles, it is a little harder to access and, thus, is a task you should allow your mechanic to handle.
Learn more about auto repair and maintenance from a company such as AutoMedics.
Share4 June 2019
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