Chinese automobile interior pollution standards to come into effect in March

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai February 8) - China's first set of guidelines for passenger automobile interior air quality are to come into effect on March 1, auto.163.com reported earlier this week. The standards aim to ease consumer concerns over the problem of interior air pollution in Chinese automobiles. The standards will not only affect new vehicles, but can also be used to judge old ones. They will help bring China up to date with other automobile markets.

According to the guidelines, limits are posed on the allowable amounts of benzene, toluol, xylene, ethylbenzene, styrene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein inside Chinese automobiles. The guidelines will enforce global standards in the country for the first time. "A large deal of pollution comes from automobile interiors, from places such as seats, dashboards and carpets, as well as from the glues and other materials used [in the interiors]," Beijing Institute of Technology Professor Ge Yunshan, who helped draft the new guidelines, pointed out.