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Some love it and some hate it, but few know what causes it. “New car smell” is a familiar scent to anyone who’s ever sat in a car fresh from the lot, and many consider it an olfactory perk of the car-shopping experience. This distinctive aroma is caused by a chemical process known as off-gassing, which is just what it sounds like: chemicals being released into the air from all that leather, plastic, and various other interior materials. Many of these are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde and benzene, which release a potent scent.
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It's a fibPer a 2014 study, elephants put their noses — the largest in the world — to better use than any other creature on Earth. They have 2,000 genes coded for nasal receptor proteins, as many as rats (1,200) and dogs (800) combined.
If that sounds mildly unsettling, some researchers agree — VOCs can potentially cause eye or nose irritation, though the chemicals likely aren’t released in volumes high enough to do much more than that. Anyone who’d prefer to err on the safe side — or who simply has an aversion to the smell — can accelerate the off-gassing process by rolling down their windows or ensuring their air conditioner is sourcing air from outside the car. Those who’d rather immerse themselves in the aroma long after their car is new, meanwhile, can always invest in air fresheners meant to emulate the scent.
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The word “car” comes from “karros,” a Gaulish word meaning “______.”
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The word “car” comes from “karros,” a Gaulish word meaning “two-wheeled Celtic war chariot.”
A man once put 3 million miles on a single car.
If you get an exceptionally well-made car and maintain it to the best of your abilities, there’s a decent chance of getting up to 250,000 miles on it. While that might sound like a lot, it nonetheless pales in comparison to the world record: 3,250,257 miles, which an American man named Irv Gordon put on his Volvo P1800 over the course of 52 years. For those crunching the numbers, that averages out to a whopping 60,000 miles per year for more than half a century. Gordon bought the vehicle in 1966 on a Friday, and by the end of the weekend he’d already racked up 1,500 miles. Contributing factors to these impressive numbers included Gordon’s 125-mile daily commute to the Long Island middle school where he taught, his love of spending time behind the wheel, and his unfailing dedication to the vehicle’s upkeep.
Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.
