So You Want to Breathe AND Drive?

Jun 16, 2017

Tis the season of extreme nasal distress, well for me at any rate. I can’t speak for you, but I am painfully allergic to basically my whole life. As such breathing has become something of an intense sport for me. It takes strategy, preparation, and often extreme measures. I have tried all of the allergy medications, and while Zyrtec has not failed me before, it is only effective to a point. I have started taking defensive measures to ensure that I can avoid allergy based misery when at all possible. I have allergy-proofed my home, and only recently started allergy-proofing my car. The difference it makes is crazy! I didn’t know how much of an allergy death trap my car was. It doesn’t help that I am, by nature, a messy person and my car collects all manner of garbage and random items. Every day before the allergy cleansing, I would get in my car and wonder if this was it. If this drive in my car would be my last. Fortunately, since cleaning out my car, I have been able to live another day.

In the hopes that others are familiar with this experience, I have collected a few tips on how to allergy-proof your vehicle so that you too can drive and breathe! What a novel idea!

There are three main steps to follow:

Phase 1: Clean. Clean out any messes or spills that may have worked their way into your seats and are causing mold to develop.Next vacuum, wipe down and rinse off the carpets, dashboard and steering wheel as often as you can. The dust and pollen will cover every surface of your car, mocking you and your inability to breathe without wheezing. With an old rag and a vacuum, you can surely fix their wagon!

Phase 2: Contain. So this might be a bit extreme but, so are my allergies. Have friends remove outerwear, the way pollen and dust typically get into your car. You can have a plastic bin in your truck where you can keep the offending clothes. I also recommend checking that the weather stripping is intact and every window/door shuts properly so allergens don’t creep into your car that way.

Phase 3: Replace. Check and replace your air filter regularly. Your friends at Destination Kia would be more than happy to help you with this if you’re unsure how to do it yourself. Having leather seats rather than cloth also make clean up much easier and provide fewer places for dust and mold to live. It wouldn’t hurt to replace your cloth floor mats with plastic ones, either.

Take care of yourself this allergy season! It’s tough out there, but following these steps will help you to actually enjoy, dare I say it, even enjoy this season without the fear of allergies ruining it for you!