Volvo has announced that its latest Advanced Air Cleaner technology is equipped with a sensor that measures PM 2.5 levels inside a vehicle’s cabin, creating a feature it claims is not available in any other car currently on the market.
The Swedish auto maker notes that in some markets, such as China, where PM 2.5 measurements and related information services are well established, this system allows drivers to compare air quality inside the cabin to that outside the car.
The company states that the feature, which also filters out fine particulate matter from the cabin, is available on all 60 and 90 series Volvo models based on the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA). Cleaning is achieved with a synthetic fiber-based filter and ionization of the incoming air, which Volvo claims means up to 95% of all PM 2.5 particles are kept out of the cabin. The system can also be activated via Volvo’s On Call app prior to a journey.
“With our Advanced Air Cleaner technology, you can rest assured that the air you breathe inside your Volvo is cleaner and healthier,” said Anders Löfvendahl, senior technical expert on cabin air quality at Volvo Cars. “We believe that clean air is good for you, both from a health and from a safety perspective, and we will continue to push the envelope in this area.”
Volvo notes that it is also working on improving the cabin environment in other ways, saying its engineers have a long-standing focus on removing emissions from organic substances in the car and minimizing the amount of allergy-causing materials from its interiors.
The company even has a dedicated team of odor assessors, internally known as The Noses, which tests components individually as well as on a complete car level for odor emissions. Despite technological advances, this team remains indispensable for the odor control process because the human nose is much more sensitive than any analytical instrument.
