New car air freshener
July 17, 2010 6:13 AM   Subscribe

Are there any car fresheners/sprays that actually smell like new car smell?

I really like that 'new car smell'. Some people have told me of mythical sprays which can you spray into your car to make them smell new. However, every time I buy 'new car smell air freshener', it smells nothing like a new car. Has anybody tried a new car smell air freshener that actually smells like new car?
posted by Comrade_robot to Grab Bag (10 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: My company makes one. MeMail me your address and I'll have a can sent out.
posted by gman at 6:37 AM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


I might be wrong (and I probably am--the newest car I've ever owned was more than a decade old), but I thought 'new car smell' was a combination of, like, solvents evaporating and plastics outgassing and suchlike. It seems like it would be possible to approximate this smell, but very difficult to replicate it perfectly.
posted by box at 6:57 AM on July 17, 2010


Ozium makes a "New Car" freshener that actually smells like new car. A small bottle will last a very long time.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:57 AM on July 17, 2010


24 minutes and a representative of a company that makes the stuff shows up (and a regular, too)! How is it that any AskMe doesn't get answered?
posted by Nabubrush at 8:06 AM on July 17, 2010


Box is right, so-called "new car smell" is vinyl and other plastics outgassing. I have a friend who puts two small (8" X 8" or so) vinyl sheets under his car seats every so often to approximate the new car smell. It works really well, and it's cheaper than most sprays. He builds boats so he has loads of vinyl sitting around, but it's easy to find. You might even be able to get some samples from a tile shop or bathroom fitters.
posted by littlerobothead at 8:09 AM on July 17, 2010


On the chance that you don't acquire 'new car' in a bottle, you might look at it as a reduction in your intake of toxic fumes....seems like the final verdict is out, but i personally would not unnecessarily add potentially toxic off-gassers to a confined area.

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/121443/article.html

gman, i am intrigued by your 'new car' air freshener. do you know if it contains the same compounds that are released by vinyl off-gassing?
posted by Tandem Affinity at 8:27 AM on July 17, 2010


It does not contain these compounds. It's basically a perfume.

Our product actually smells like leather and the MSDS is available here (pdf). It's one of the more popular products we have, but unlike our enzyme-based aerosols, it simply acts like an air freshener. One can would last a very long time when only used on a single car.
posted by gman at 8:40 AM on July 17, 2010


Ha, that sounds so cool gman. :D
posted by cavalier at 12:10 PM on July 17, 2010


Response by poster: Wow, that's incredibly generous of you -- I've actually tried the Ozium one, and it smells nice, but it didn't smell like new car (to me).
posted by Comrade_robot at 5:07 PM on July 17, 2010


Response by poster: For the record, the spray's very new car smelling, way better than the Ozium stuff.
posted by Comrade_robot at 6:33 AM on July 23, 2010


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