We spend a lot of time in our automobiles, so during this time it’s important to properly clean your vehicles’ interior. Maybe you drive for Uber or Lyft or drive the carpool. Either way you want to protect yourself and your passengers from accidental transmission.
You want to make sure your vehicle is properly disinfected, but not cause any lasting damage to your interior surfaces. You want to focus on highly touched areas such as steering wheels, switchgear, sifter, infotainment interfaces, etc. You will also want to disinfect the door handles and gas cap as well.
One of the first things recommended is soap. Good old soap. Soap, meaning something like classic liquid hand soap or dish soap, just make sure that what you are using isn’t labeled as free of detergents. Basic Armor All Wipes, for example, contain a mild detergent.
For those who have leather interiors, you can use makeup removal wipes, which typically contain moisturizers that are good for organic trim materials. Both alcohol and detergent-based cleaners can dry out the leather.
If you do use a drying cleaning solution you can counteract the drying by applying a leather moisturizer afterward. Leather conditioners also tend to contain surfactants, which are chemicals that help cleaners do what they do.
No matter what soap product you use to clean with, make sure that you wipe off the surfaces afterward. No matter how gentle the cleanser you do not want to leave it sitting on your car’s interior.
What you do want to avoid using is any kind of bleach solution on your vehicle. Including things like spray disinfectants or wipes. Make sure they do not contain any bleach.
All solvents should be avoided, things like alcohol, acetone, kerosene, etc. It’s not that those solvents will damage your interior, its more that they don’t really affect viruses.
Vinyl surfaces and plastic dashes are the easiest surfaces to wipe down. Leather and cloth can absorb water and other liquids into them. Making it harder to disinfect. Versus vinyl and plastic surfaces that do not absorb.