The car interior can be dirtier than a toilet, UK study finds

LONDON: It all sounds familiar and we have heard that said of handle bars, computer keyboards, phone screens and other high-use surfaces. That they are dirtier than a toilet.

So it isn't much of a surprise when the car interior also gets a bad rap.

According to research from Aston University in Birmingham, England, it discovered that the boot and the driver's seat are areas with the highest levels of bacterial contamination. They were even found to contain faecal bacteria.

The study, reported by price comparison website Scrap Car Comparison, shows that the highest levels of bacterial contamination were found in the car boot (1,425 bacteria identified) and on the driver's seat (649).

The gearshift, dashboard and back seats also had high levels of bacterial contamination, all equaling or exceeding those found on the average domestic toilet seat and flush.


In the end, the steering wheel (146 bacteria) was the least contaminated area of the car. This can be partly explained by the widespread use of hand sanitiser gel in the recent past due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Perhaps more worryingly, all of the cars the scientists swabbed for the study contained faecal bacteria in the boot, and fecal matter was found on the driver's seat.

It should be noted that there is a correlation between the age of a car and the levels of bacteria found, with older vehicles having the highest number of germs.

As a result, drivers may want to reconsider eating in their cars, or should at least make sure that they wash their hands thoroughly and avoid eating any food that drops on the floor or seat, for example.

Similarly, fresh produce like fruit and vegetables stored in the boot should be cleaned before eating, especially if they had come in contact with interior surfaces. It's also wise to clean your car regularly to avoid the build-up of bacteria over time.

To conduct this study, researchers from Aston University's School of Biosciences took samples from the interior of various cars (a Peugeot 307-SW, a VW Golf, a Ford Focus, a Honda Jazz and a Peugeot 308) to establish their levels of bacterial contamination.