China to implement car interior pollution standards

China’s first set of guidelines for passenger car interior air quality will be implemented on March 1. 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 for the existing car fleet. They will help bring China up to date with other automobile markets, it is believed.
According to the guidelines, maximum limits will be imposed on the allowable amounts of benzene, toluene, 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.