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Survey and Health Assessment of Products for Interior Car Care 2 Survey
2.1 ObjectiveThe objective of the survey was to:
2.2 Description of the product groupProducts for interior car care can roughly be divided into the following categories:
Protectants for rubber door seals etc. do not form part of the project. 2.3 Survey of supply of products for interior car care2.3.1 ProcedureThis project focuses on products for interior car care and the following activities form part of the survey of the supply of products in Denmark within this product category:
Contacting the retail trade (physical shops and internet shops) had the purpose of finding information about which products (within the field of interior car care products) are sold in Denmark. The contact also had the objective of trying to uncover which products Danish car owners mainly purchase. In addition to ”visiting” the internet shops when searching for available products on the market and purchasing products, the search on the internet had the purpose of obtaining information about the individual products in the form of compound knowledge and instructions for use. The purpose of contacting the Danish consumer organisation FDM was to try to procure information about which products car owners use for interior car care. The purpose of communicating with the professional car care centres was to find out which products they use. Manufacturers/importers were contacted to procure information about product compounds and to obtain information about the amounts sold in the Danish market. 2.3.2 Shop visitsA total of 21 shops were visited, including:
In connection with shop visits, the staff was asked which products groups are best selling and which products within the different product groups are best selling, if the customers ask for instructions on how to use the products and which answers the staff, if possible, gives. 2.3.3 Internet searchingSearching took place on Google.dk with different words and word combinations (e.g. interior car care, vinyl cleaner, fabric cleaner, fabric waterproofing and odour removers). In addition, searching took place by using named car care products. When going through the homepages of the internet shops it often became apparent that the products also can be purchased in physical shops. When the products could be purchased in physical shops that procedure was preferred because then it was possible to speak with the staff. 2.4 Survey results2.4.1 Quantification of productsThrough Statistics Denmark it has not been possible to establish the quantity of the products used for interior car care. “Skat” (the Danish Revenue Office) has informed that there is no KN code[2] that solely deals with these products. According to Statistics Denmark, a total of app. 2 million (2.020.013) passenger cars were registered as at 1 January 2007 in Denmark. Of that amount, app. 1.970.000 (1.969.827) cars were used for private driving. In addition, 459.000 vans and 35.000 trucks were registered. It must be expected that products for interior car care - to some extent – are used for these vehicles. According to the staff in the visited shops, all products registered in table 3.1”sell well”. It has not been possible to obtain information from all of the contacted importers about how much they sell on the Danish market, and therefore it has not been possible to outline the amount of products sold. However, as mentioned above, app. 2 million cars are used for private driving. It is unknown to which extent interior car care products are purchased for these cars. Two importers have estimated their share of sold products out of the total sold amount of interior car care products in the Danish market. By using that information a total amount of 100.000-150.000 litres/year appears. It should be pointed out that the estimate is encumbered with a presumably very large – but otherwise unknown uncertainty. 2.4.2 Car care centresFour professional car care centres were approached. The car care centres informed that mainly soapy wash water is used to clean seats, door upholstery, dashboards etc. In addition, "cleaning foam" is if necessary used for tough stains and Rodalon is used if there is mould in the car. However, one of the contacted car care centres uses a certain product series for vinyl cleaner, seat cleaner etc. As something relatively new, one of the contacted car care centres offers nano product treatment. That is mainly the case in connection with exterior car care (wax, car windows and rims) but also in connection with fabric waterproofing. 2.4.3 Consumer organisationsThe Danish consumer organization FDM was contacted and they informed that they receive many enquiries about car care products (for interior as well as exterior car care). Almost all enquiries are about which products have the intended effect and which do not, and if ”you get value for your money”. FDM has carried out a number of tests on car care products – all with regard to investigating the effect of the products. The most recent test (of wax protecting agents) was carried out 4-5 years ago. 2.4.4 Shop visitsAs mentioned earlier, the staff was in connection with shop visits asked which product groups are best selling and which products within the different product groups are best selling, if the customers ask for instructions on how to use the products and which answers the staff gives. The questions have mainly been answered by the staff in the car accessory shops. The supply of products for interior car care varied a lot in the shops that were visited. Some car accessory shops had a very large selection with many different products within each product group while the selection at other shops was more limited. The supply of products for exterior car care is generally larger than the supply of products for interior car care. The products described as best selling by the staff in the visited shops are for exterior car care. Car shampoo and rim cleaner are involved. The answers to the question of which product groups for interior car care are sold the most in the visited shops were not unambiguous but vinyl cleaner, vinyl make-up and fabric cleaner have been mentioned. In addition, window cleaner has been mentioned, but it was the impression of the staff that the product group is purchased for exterior use (to remove insects etc.). In general, the answer to the question of which products within each product group for interior car care sell the best was that quite an amount is sold of everything on the shelves. However, detailed questions have revealed that some products are sold to a greater extent than others and mainly those products were purchased for this project. In some shops, the staff said that they believe that most products are sold during spring. In addition, the staff has informed that they very rarely are asked questions about choice and use of the products, but when small talking during purchase it is regularly mentioned that now spring has arrived it is “the car’s turn next”. In a few of the visited shops the staff has also mentioned that it is their impression that possible directions for use on the packaging only receives a quick glance, e.g. information on how much fabric waterproofing should be used, but the entire content is simply used at once. The staff (in addition to the staff at the car accessory shops) at a few service stations answered the question of how frequently it is assumed that car care products for interior maintenance are used. The replies were that the frequency varies a lot. Some wash the car, vacuum clean and e.g. use vinyl make-up once a week while others hardly ever used these protectants – perhaps only once a year, typically during spring. Furthermore, the staff informed that mainly men purchase the products. 2.4.5 Internet shopsThe main criterion for selection of products for this project was in general that products sold to a certain extent should be in question. When visiting physical shops, the staff was, as mentioned above, asked which products sell the best. That criterion has been a bit more difficult to use in connection with internet trade; however, several homepages for car care products have a ”top 10 list” or the like of the best selling products. As mentioned previously, going through the homepages of the internet shops revealed that products that also are sold in physical shops often are in question. The products were purchased in physical shops when possible, because then it was possible to talk with the staff. 2.4.6 ProductsAll products were purchased in nationwide chain shops or on the internet. The survey resulted in the purchase of 41 products for closer assessment of which 6 were purchased on the internet. As mentioned earlier, the 41 products were selected on the basis of information from the staff in the visited shops about which products are sold the most within the individual product groups. In connection with purchase on the internet, the products were selected according to e.g. “top 10 lists” (to the extent products for interior care were on those lists) or by approaching the internet shops with inquiries about “popular products”. 2.4.6.1 Product outlineIn the below product outline, the purchased products are organized in groups (number of purchased products within the product category is stated in brackets):
Table 2.1 shows the declared substances in the purchased products. The information was partly obtained from the declarations on each product and partly from the safety data sheets (SDS). Direct copying from the product labels and the safety data sheet, respectively, is in question. In addition, the application method and the danger symbols and risk phrases appearing on the products and/or safety data sheet are stated. It has been stated, for which products a SDS has not been received. The column to the far right of the table shows which products have been selected for qualitative screening of volatile organic compounds. It appears from Table 2.1Table 2.1 that the products in general contain the following substances:
A number of car protectants have a cleaning effect and therefore they are comprised by the EU Detergent Regulation (see chapter 3). The survey revealed that may of the products have not been correctly declared according to the Regulation. On the packaging, five of the purchased products are considered to be nano products. Product 22, 23, 24, 38 and 41 are in question. Four of the five products are applied by spraying and for those four products additional investigations were carried out in the form of particle size distribution measurements and particle concentration measurements (see chapter 7). 2.5 Selection criteriaAs mentioned earlier, the survey of products for interior car care resulted in the purchase of 41 products. In consultation with the Danish EPA, 26 out of the 41 products were selected for further investigation in the project. The selection was carried out in the light of information about product contents, i.e. the substances that were declared by the manufacturer. In the selection process, great importance was attached to the following criteria:
2.5.1 Selected productsIn consultation with the Danish EPA, 26 products were selected for qualitative screening of compounds by GC/MS. The following products were selected for further analysis in the form of a qualitative screening of volatile, organic compounds (the number in brackets refers to the number in Table 2.1):
[2] A KN code is an 8 digit product code number (KN ~ combined nomenclature).
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