Spring is here folks and with it comes pollen! I don’t know about you but I sneeze when pollen gets near me. The other day I brought my car in for an oil change and they started talking to me about changing my Cabin/Pollen Filter. I had no idea what they were talking about so I decided to do some investigating.

The Cabin/Pollen filter, a feature found on most late-model vehicles, cleans the air that comes into the interior through the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. It catches dust, pollen and other airborne material that can make riding in a car unpleasant, particularly if you have allergies or other respiratory problems.

Recommendations on when it should be replaced vary by manufacturer — some say every 12,000 or 15,000 miles, others longer — and how often can depend on how much you drive and where. Check the maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual. If you drive in heavy traffic in an urban area that has poor air quality, you could need to replace the filter annually or even more often. However, that also could be true in a desert climate where there is a lot of dust.

Some signs that you need a new cabin air filter are reduced air flow through your HVAC system, such as when you crank up the fan too high and you get more noise than results. Another is persistent bad odors. Even if you don’t have these warnings, you should have the filter checked at least once a year.

But where is the cabin/pollen filter you ask? Many cabin air filters are located behind the glove box and are easily accessible by freeing the glove box from its fasteners (instructions should be in the owner’s manual). Others are located under the dashboard and may not be easy to reach, or under the hood where fresh air enters the HVAC system.

It turns out mine is behind the glove box, herein lies my problem, the car seat is behind the passenger seat and she is still rear facing so it is not possible to move the passenger seat in order to get behind he glove box, so I cannot get a new cabin/pollen filter until I am ready to take the car seat out……that is no small undertaking so the cabin filter will have to wait!

I will keep sneezing but for those of you who can get to yours CHANGE IT and enjoy the pollen free air! As always DRIVE SAFE!