Coronavirus or the SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent behind the COVID-19, which has now been declared as a global pandemic by the WHO. The coronavirus is transmitted mainly through close contact with an infected person, exposure to respiratory droplets (from cough and sneeze), or by touching surfaces contaminated with the virus.

There is an outbreak of the number of confirmed cases of virus-infected patients across the globe. With medicine striving for a cure, it is our responsibility now, to do our part in preventing further spread and keep ourselves protected.

All governments across the globe are taking steps to curb the spread of this virus. The sanitization measures are adapted everywhere to safeguard the surroundings and prevent the virus’s spread, e.g., for individual disinfection, it is notified to sanitize hands and the surroundings to kill the virus.

Why Clean or Disinfect Your Car?

There are two things to keep in mind with the virus outbreak:

As vital self-sanitizing is, so is disinfecting your surroundings. High-contact objects like your car have regular movement in and around; consequently, the more time you spend behind the wheels, the more likely are the chances of getting exposed from contaminated surfaces.

Your car has the interiors with continuous passenger movements. The higher the exposure, the more significant are the chances of these acting as virus repositories. Now, these viruses require a host to survive, and without a human body cell, they can die in a time that varies with the kind of surface they hold on to. The toxicity lies in the fact that the viruses can live upto 72 hours on plastic surfaces. It is hence crucial that you disinfect your car with all that is essential to eliminate any possibility of infection.

5 Quick Steps in Disinfecting Your Vehicle 

These five points on your checklist will help you completely disinfect your vehicle.

1. Eliminate all chaos
   

Begin with decluttering the car interiors. Sterilize and remove all accessories, soft toys, books, plastic holders, etc. that are rarely put to any practical use. Any undesirable contamination could lead to the spread of the virus to all passengers who would visit next. Keep in mind to use disposable gloves so that you don’t risk skin contamination from the various chemicals and cleaning solutions.

2. Brush-it-off
   

Start with removing all the dirt and soil from the front and rear ends of the car. Use a soft brush for the dust that is accumulated and then vacuum the dust from the crevices and spots you cannot reach with the brush. First, wipe off the surface with a lint-free cloth and then use the disinfectant solutions that fit the surface material. Soap solutions are considered the best for a conventional cleaning process. Detergent-based solutions or the ones with 60% alcohol or more, damage the car plastic and leather interiors. Remove all dirt and then move to the disinfection solutions.

3. Targeting specifics
   

Start disinfecting with high-touch target areas like steering wheel, exterior door handles, infotainment screens, central console panel, power/ lock buttons, ignition controls, keys, etc.

Disinfect your car by targeting definite areas – the fancier surfaces for the dashboards and seating surface of the vehicles will follow many more precautions than the plastic and vinyl coatings. Alcohol is neither good for the painted surfaces of your car nor the vinyl-wrapped covers. Bleach will do reasonably good for disinfecting the plastics, but it’s better to avoid it altogether.

4. Disinfectant tools
   

You can use cleaning solutions and disinfectants based on the target areas – for hard surfaces, opt for soap solutions or disinfectant wipes, for your vehicle’s upholstery, carpets, headliners and other soft-interior surfaces, you can use fabric-friendly disinfectants. Keep in mind to wipe the surface after a thorough cleaning so that the chemicals don’t damage the surface material.

Wipe through the cabin surface and consider cleaning those areas where droplets from a sneeze or cough are likely to fall from passengers inside.

5. What to avoid!
   

Avoid solvents of all kinds – scrub the windows, console and all around the high-touch areas using soap water. Make sure to avoid bleaches/ammonia-based products, as the ammonia in the solution will damage the glass surface and also damage the anti-glare coating of the display panel. The alcohol-based sanitizers are unsuitable for the cleaning as they will cause the leather to dry out.

Keeping your car sanitized regularly will prevent hundreds of those who are likely to get exposed – keep your car sanitized to avoid any chances of re-infection.

To contain the virus outspread, it is crucial to keep safe. Prevent your loved ones from any unwanted exposure to infectious microorganisms. The continuous movement makes your car vulnerable to be the infection’s host.

Keep safe with the points mentioned above. Do let us know in the comments below of other solutions that might help disinfect surfaces in the vehicle -Together we can contain the disease outbreak.