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The so-called "new car syndrome" may be seriously bad for your health. A study found that new cars contain dangerous levels of 24 different carcinogenic and toxic substances. The Korea Transportation Safety Authority submitted to Democratic Party Rep. Lee Nak-yon a report on the air quality inside 38 brand-new cars produced here.
It showed that the air inside the cars had an average of 111.3 micrograms per cubic meter (§¶/§©) of benzene, a carcinogen. That's more than 22 times the limit of 5§¶/§© recommended by German testing and standards organization Technischer Ueberwachungs-Verein. It's also more than three times the 30§¶/§© limit recommended by the Environment Ministry in its guidelines for new homes to prevent "sick building syndrome." Some cars had as much as 384§¶/§© of benzene.
Another toxic substance, xylene, was also detected in quantities exceeding government regulations. An average of 827.9§¶/§© of xylene was found in the cars, more than the 700§¶/§© limit. Dangerous levels of the carcinogens formaldehyde (97.7§¶/§©) and toluene (517.6§¶/§©) were also found. While these amounts are lower than the permissible levels for Korean homes, they exceed the limits set in Germany and Japan.
The problem gets worse in the summer, the report said. Emissions were found to increase up to eight times normal when the temperature inside some vehicles rose. The KOTSA report noted that the levels of xylene were particularly worrying because it is highly dangerous. SUVs had higher levels of toxic substances than other vehicles. The KOTSA didn't make public the vehicle models or their makers.
Most of the toxic substances were found to come from the ceiling, seats and floor mats. Benzene and styrene came from the ceiling, while formaldehyde came from seats. Floor mats gave off toluene, ethyl-benzene and xylene, and dashboards gave off styrene and xylene.
A total of 24 toxic substances were found in the cars. The study said it took some four to five months for the levels of formaldehyde and ethyl-benzene to decrease.
In a poll of 800 buyers of new cars, 51.5 percent of the respondents said they had experienced some toxic symptoms while driving. Specifically, 31.5 percent said they suffered headaches, 31 percent cited sore eyes, 15.8 percent said they sneezed, 11.1 percent said they felt fatigued, 11 percent felt hypersensitive, 6.3 percent felt nauseous and 4.5 percent had difficulty breathing.
Rep. Lee said that while the government has yet to set standards for car air quality, automakers should set their own standards and replace dangerous interior materials with ones that are safer.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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