Turns out your steering wheel is 4 times dirtier than a toilet seat
So wash your hands you filthy animals!A recent study by CarRentals.com has revealed some information which will probably increase the sales of driving gloves ten-fold. The report which surveyed 1,000 US drivers about their car cleaning habits found that 32 percent say they've cleaned their cars only once a year, while 12 percent don't clean it at all. Gross.
Apparently up to 700 different strains of bacteria could be living in the average car and with so many shared touch points, that’s a lot of opportunities to catch something.
So how dirty is the average car? The study collated the average amount of bacteria per square centimeter also known as colony-forming units (CFU), to see which commonly touched areas in a car held the most bacteria.
The steering wheel reportedly had 629 CFUs, which is six times dirtier than the average smartphone screen, four times dirtier than a public toilet seat and two times dirtier than a lift button. So if you enjoy eating a hamburger behind the wheel, you're probably better to just eat it elsewhere, less toilet-seaty.
But it’s not just inside the car that could make you feel a little queasy. Some of the more germ infested places on your daily commute include the service station.
The fuel pump handle measured into the millions when it came to the CFUs reading making it 11,835 times dirtier than a public toilet seat.
Side note, isn’t it strange how we use a public toilet seat as a universal measurement of grossness?
From our own carsales.com.au study, we found that most Australians who are washing their car are doing it themselves (61%) but we’re not seeing too many super frequent washers. More than half washing between once a month and a couple times a quarter. 16% of Aussies get their car professionally cleaned and 12% palm off cleaning duties to a family member. That sweet, sweet pocket money.
The moral of the story, make sure you give your car the love and attention it deserves and give it a clean every now and then. Not just for it's sake and resale value, but for your own health and wellbeing. Hand sanitiser might also be a good addition to your glovebox especially after a visit to the servo.
Related: 8 easy hacks to spring clean your car
Related: Car etiquette: The dos and just don’ts of back-seat burgers
Related: We tried the car hack of cleaning car headlights with toothpaste to see if it worked
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