Cornucopia of Car Fragrances Might Drive You to Distraction
Yearning for that wonderful “new car” smell or another exotic scent to replace those stale odors of burgers and fries, spilled baby formula or cigarette smoke in your vehicle?
Nobody wants a stinky car, especially we Californians, who seem to spend half our lives on the road. So it’s no surprise that our pursuit of good-smelling vehicles has generated creative approaches in auto air fresheners.
We motorists can still opt to hang those 99-cent tree-shaped car fresheners from our rearview mirrors. And, yes, they are available in the original “royal pine” scent introduced in 1952 by Car-Freshner Corp.
But for more daring and sophisticated drivers, there is everything from fresheners that resemble radar detectors to fruity-smelling plastic dinosaurs programmed to roar at the sound of a cellular phone ringing.
Gold Eagle Co. of Chicago--which says auto fragrances can transmit “feelings of relaxation, exhilaration, sensuality, happiness and personal fulfillment”--even markets one version that aims to enhance one’s romantic chemistry with its “intimate” fresh scent of garden flowers.
Drivers want fragrances in their vehicle “to enhance their lives, make them feel better and create an ambience,” said Elizabeth Perry, senior director of sales and marketing at Car-Freshner in Watertown, N.Y.
Beyond covering up bad odors, “fragrances make the time spent in the car more pleasant,” said Perry, who says her favorite scents in the company’s Little Trees line are strawberry-kiwi and peppermint.
Whatever one’s needs, there are probably scents and products available from auto air-freshener makers, which generated $301 million in U.S. sales last year, according to Aftermarket Business Magazine. That was up from $254 million from 1999.
If you want your vehicle to smell like a strawberry patch, you can buy strawberry-scented trees. For those smoggy days in Los Angeles, Car-Freshner makes Sierra Winds, which offers the fragrance you would smell if you were standing in the mountains with no pollution, Perry said. Among the dozens of other scents are papaya, citrus, vanilla, spice, bubble gum and ocean mist.
For those who view trees as too ordinary, there are fresheners in the form of guardian angels or airplanes. And if the idea of hanging a freshener from the rearview mirror seems a tad tacky, drivers can discreetly hide cans of scented gel beneath the seats.
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I tested nearly a dozen car fragrances in my Mercury Sable station wagon, a vehicle that has endured years of family trips to the beach, desert and mountains. I couldn’t begin to count the number of fast-food meals that have been consumed or the number of sodas and cups of coffee spilled in this car.
The worst the Sable ever smelled was the time a gallon of milk leaked--unbeknownst to me--in the rear-facing seat. The next morning, when I had carpool duty for tennis lessons, the smell of sour milk was so bad that my son’s buddies just about keeled over. Because I occasionally still find old French fries and sweaty socks under the seats, I figured my car would be ideal for testing some of products being marketed today.
Some of the fragrances were pleasant; others smelled like moldy fruit. That Golden Eagle freshener designed to enhance romance? It smelled like a bathroom deodorizer to me.
I enjoyed a coconut spray by Medo Industries Inc. that smelled like suntan oil and a day at the beach. A papaya-scented Little Tree from Car-Freshner had a subtle tropical smell that was more pleasant than the strawberry.
Some fragrances were so powerful that I felt as if I was breathing noxious fumes. Imagine being trapped in a vehicle that reeked of hair spray. That’s how one of the “new car” fresheners smelled. One spicy freshener had such an obnoxious scent that I wanted to throw it out the window. Instead, I tossed it in the glove compartment. Now my car registration reeks.
At Custom Images, an auto accessories shop in Cerritos, manager Andre Clark said his best-selling freshener resembles a radar detector and smells like bubble gum. The CS-X3 Mirage, from Eikosha Co. of Japan, sells for $13.95 and lasts a few months.
A car that smelled like bubble gum was novel for a few days. My kids loved it; my daughter wants one of the fresheners for her bedroom.
Custom Images also sells a tiny plastic vanilla-scented airplane, for $8.95, that clips to the vehicle’s air vent. When the device detects a cell phone ringing, lights are supposed to flash and the propeller to whirl. The one I tested looked cute but didn’t always work.
Meguiar’s Inc., the venerable Irvine company that makes all manner of car-care products, says its Odor Eliminator spray permanently snuffs out smells from pet accidents, spoiled food, sweaty workout gear and mildew. The spray, designed for use on car carpets and upholstery, “will eradicate the most extreme smells once and for all,” proclaims company President Barry Meguiar.
Indeed, I decided to put Odor Eliminator to the test: eliminating the powerful freshener scents lingering in my car. And by that measure, it worked well.
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I never did get that fabulous “new car” smell from the products I tested.
Many carwashes offer the scent, and I’m told that it’s close to the real thing. Rossmoor Car Wash & Detail in Orange County offers customers a “new leather” scent for their vehicles.
“Of all the scents, I think ‘new leather’ smells the most like a new car,” manager Bob Hooper said. The smell is provided by a “chip,” a small piece of cardboard that is saturated with the fragrance and placed under the seat. The scent, which lasts three or four days, costs $1 or is included in premium carwash packages, Hooper said.
But Mitch Stalnecker, general manager of Offshore Stereo & Detail in Belmont Shore in Long Beach, said the only way to come close to getting the clean smell of a brand-new vehicle is to have it shampooed using an extraction method that takes odors out of the carpets and upholstery.
He also recommends using a fine-leather-care product to leave the seats smelling like new.
Of course, the cost of a thorough detailing is nothing to sniff at--about $130 for a Chevy Suburban full-size sport-utility vehicle, Stalnecker said. And to keep your car or truck smelling new, you’ll need it detailed every three or four months, he said.
I guess I’ll have to settle for coconut and papaya.
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Jeanne Wright cannot answer mail personally but responds in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Write to Your Wheels, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: jeanrite@aol.com.
