Ford has developed a new air filtration system for its vehicles that makes in-car air cleaner when driving through the city.
High levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide can be dangerous to your health, especially for those who suffer from asthma. Polluted air can result in coughing and sneezing, and according to Ford, you can end up ‘driving blind’ for up to 20 metres if you sneeze at 60mph when behind the wheel.
Ford is tackling this air filtration issue with a new system that blocks almost all nitrogen dioxide, 99 per cent of pollen, and gaseous pollutants and odours from entering the cabin of a car.
Fitted to its Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy models, the new air filtration system can detect outside levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide and prevent it from entering the cabin. When needed, it will then switch on air filtration using activated charcoal, in a similar way to spacesuits and gas masks.
Ken Washington, vice president, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, said: “At Ford, we aspire to improve people’s lives through innovation, whether it be advanced lighting technologies that better highlight potential dangers or an advanced filtration system that pumps ultra clean air into the vehicle’s cabin.”
With its air filtration system in place, Ford found that concentrations of nitrogen dioxide were reduced so much that they matched/were lower than the levels found outside a car in a rural area. This means that the quality of air in your car when driving through congested city traffic or a tunnel could potentially match that of the countryside.
