Ford files patent to eliminate "new car smell"

Taking a first sniff of that new car smell is one of the most iconic (and, in most of the world, popular) part of any vehicle purchase.

But those odours, so adored by Australians and Americans that we pay to recreate them using air-fresheners, are so unpopular in China that Ford is taking serious steps to eliminate them, filing a patent in the USA for a new method of removing the suddenly offensive scents.

In fact, new car odours were the single most complained about problem among new-car buyers, according to that country's 2018 J.D. Power China Initial Quality Study, with 10 per cent of customers making the same complaint.

"Unpleasant interior smell or odour remains the top industry problem in that market," J.D. Power senior director, Brent Gruber, told America's CNBC. "To put that in context, it is nearly double the problem rate of the second-most prevalent problem, excessive fuel consumption."

The new car smell is caused by organic compounds emitted by new leather and plastic when exposed to heat. And to tackle the problem, Ford has patented what it calls its "vehicle odour remediation" system, which - using either a human driver or autonomous technology - moves each new Ford into an area of direct sunlight to "bake" the smells out of its cabin.

The patent lists parking in the sun, opening the windows and running the engine and air-conditioning until the offending smells have been removed.

Do you love the new car smell? Or is it time send that odour packing? Tell us in the comments below.