Clean air in the Saab?

We have been dealing with the exhaust gas discussion for more than 3 years. Driving bans are threatened or have already been implemented. The drama never ends. While politicians and manufacturers continue to tinker with the symptoms, I am concerned with another topic: How good or bad is the air in the car itself?

Clean air in the Saab?
Clean air in the Saab?

A question that doesn't seem to concern anyone. The air pollution for residents of heavily polluted streets is an issue that is not in the interior of vehicles. Neither the media nor politics seem to care what drivers breathe every day. What about the commuters, the pensioners on their way to the shop, the children who are driven to daycare?

Or is it because you mutate from the victim to the culprit, as soon as you turn the ignition key? A strange situation, which gets even more explosive in the upcoming winter months. Then the air pollution in the cities is particularly high. Emissions from heating systems are increasingly coming to traffic, and inversion weather conditions are exacerbating the burden.

Clean air and Saab, that has always been an issue.

Clean air in the Saab - that was the 80s

Anyone who came to the Swedish brand at the time of a Saab 900 or 9000 had solid reasons. Saab addressed many things before the competitor picked them up. A strong argument for driving a Saab was the clean air in the interior. You could experience this impressively in the Saab 900. The air conditioning adjusted the air distribution via negative pressure (!), The fan was always running. This ensured a permanent, slight overpressure in the cabin - i.e. in the interior. Aircraft construction sends its regards.

Interior air filters and overpressure provided clean air in the 80 years. Today's Clean Air concepts of many manufacturers are based on this principle and have been further refined. And Saab too remained true to the concept. As in the 900 I, the ventilation in the 9-3 III can not be switched off completely. A slight overpressure is maintained.

Only today, the values ​​of what we understand by clean air are defined much more rigorously than in the 80 years. The EU limit values ​​for nitrogen dioxide NO2 The annual average is 40 μg / m3 be. These values ​​were exceeded by 2016 at 57% of all traffic-related measuring stations (Source: Wikipedia), and what it looks like in the interior of vehicles can only be guessed at. Because there are no figures, the automakers are remarkably cautious.

Better air in the interior is not a luxury

A friend pushes me then in summer a copy of the Autobild In the hand. In the 28 / 2018 edition, the editorial board publishes an exhaust gas study, which deals with the NO2 Load in car interiors deals. The result is staggering. On test drives in a vehicle with interior air filter climbs the NO2 Value up to 117 μg / m3 , Motorways and tunnel passages are particularly heavily loaded. There are short-term values ​​of up to 1.000 μg / m3 possible. Very distinctive: The value in the interior is always a lot higher than at the measuring stations of the respective streets in Dusseldorf, where the study was created.

The sobering result: Inmates in the car breathe much worse air than pedestrians on the sidewalks. And nobody cares. Seemingly.

The problem could be solved so easily.

In contrast to the diesel scandal, the non-compliance with limit values, the air pollution from ever larger and heavy vehicles, there is a simple, inexpensive solution for the interior. What was good in the 80s is still good today. An interior air filter with activated carbon reduces the NO2 Load of around 92%. The values ​​drop to 5 - 7 µg / m during measurement runs3, while the values ​​of the outside air depend on the measuring station at 38 - 39 µg / m3 lie.

Activated carbon filters are available for many Saab models

Air filters with activated carbon are installed in many new cars today, but unfortunately not for all brands - and often only for the higher-priced models. Not understandable, because the surcharge from the conventional air filter to the activated carbon variant should be in the cent range in the original equipment.

The good news: There are activated carbon interior air filters for many Saab models. Moving an older car is not automatically a restriction on air quality. The outfitter Mann-Hummel has one Online Catalog the filter lists for several types. Good air quality in the car is not expensive, activated carbon filters cost around € 15,00 - less than a good dinner. Your own health should be worth it.

The air filter for the interior holds 1 year or 15.000 kilometers. Then he loses his effectiveness and should be changed. An exchange is possible on your own or you visit his Saab partner who does it quickly.

Several workshops have recognized the problem and are sensitized. at Saab Service Frankfurt you have discovered the topic long ago. Frankfurt city air is not as clean as it should be, also here 2019 driving bans threaten. In Fechenheim you install, where possible, only biofunctional interior air filters. They not only eliminate pollen and particulate matter but also protect allergy sufferers.

Better air - for little money

Also in my 9-3 is now such a filter for the indoor air to find. The result of this simple measure is amazing. In tunnel passages, like the enclosure of the A3 near Hösbach, I used to press the recirculation button almost automatically. The bad air, resulting from the abrasion of tires and the exhaust of heavy trucks, was hard to bear.

Now the Saab drives through the tunnel, without registering a change in the air quality at all. Small cause, big effect. Even with older vehicles, you can improve the quality of the breath, for little money.

21 Comments
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saab_owl
saab_owl
5 years earlier

I can also only recommend the FP cabin filters from Mann / Hummel, I use this type in all my vehicles, for the 9-5I OG it was not available at the beginning, now it is available and I think it is better than the original “GM ”Activated carbon filter.

Aero 9-3
Aero 9-3
5 years earlier

Class article! 🙂
Thanks for thinking outside the box inwards ...
Will address my FSH this week ...
Continue Allen a good u. stable health!

Heiko
Heiko
5 years earlier

I change the two 9-5 Ng and OG once a year. But since I live in the country, I've always used the normal ones. But I'll give it a try if it makes a difference.

Ken-Daniel S.
Ken-Daniel S.
5 years earlier

then I'll ask for an activated carbon filter at the next service

Johnny Guitar
5 years earlier

At Polar Parts there are activated carbon filters for 9-3 YSD and YSF, as well as 9-5 YSE, in a range of 7,90 - 14.90 €.

jANV
jANV
5 years earlier
Reply to  Johnny Guitar

Johnny Guitar, thanks for the hint!

jANV
jANV
5 years earlier

At least for the YS3D (900 (II) & 9-3 (I)) MANN FILTER does not have any activated carbon filters on offer, at least I haven't found one for my Saabs.
All that remains is: close your eyes and eyes, and the air has been getting better and better in inner cities and on highways for many decades

Daniel
Daniel
5 years earlier
Reply to  jANV

One would have to see what fits from other car brands. For example, the filters of the Saab 9000 fit the Opel Zafira or Porsche Cayenne. Sometimes you have to wrap them around the edge once with a foam sealing tape. In the forum there is a very good test or comparison different products.

saab forever
saab forever
5 years earlier

Thanks Tom for this article. Keep it up ... Excellent for all SAAB drivers

Daniel
Daniel
5 years earlier

In other words: how bad is the original Saab filter? If I read up on the Mann homepage, this activated carbon filter can actually only filter fine dust, allergens, bacteria and mold. Man already attributes a nitrogen oxide reduction to your own “normal filters” ...
I'm really interested in that because with the currently installed original filter (6 months old) it stinks eg in a traffic jam quite fast and quite violent for exhaust gases. I would like to improve that. Maybe the new filter can do it all better than the original, I'll give it a try. I just see that this filter is even cheaper than the aftermarket multifilter and the original. Better air for less money, sounds like egg wool milk 😉

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
5 years earlier
Reply to  Daniel

Interesting question ...

Orio should pick her up. To sprinkle a few crumbs of activated carbon into the filter's lumps during production is neither revolutionary nor costly. If the best possible cabin air filter is so easy and cheap, it should be standard and nothing else available.

hansmichael ortlepp
hansmichael ortlepp
5 years earlier

Good tip! Guess that the filter would be useful for a convertible.

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
5 years earlier

Good article. Again!

It's full of key phrases. For example this one: "Or is it because you mutate from victim to perpetrator as soon as you turn the ignition key?"

Although I've never owned a diesel myself, that seems to be the case in the diesel segment. Even beyond diesel, but with diesel it is particularly evident ...

He is still being funded. The fact that a fuel that emits significantly more CO2 per liter (burned) than all the others is also the cheapest liter at the pump has long been understood by no thinking person ...

For a while, industry and consumers have been wrongly taxed and taxed for decades. And that had a very significant impact on technological developments and consumer behavior over the period.

For many years the diesel was despised by all other motorists and only a (meager) option for taxi drivers (200D with 55 hp) and wealthy farmers (Mercedes 300D). Suddenly and long before this would have become standard in gasoline engines, every diesel was a direct injection and charged with turbo ...

This state of affairs still persists. Diesel was and is still being fiscally promoted and at the same time it has long been demonized across party lines. It is good to know that you can still protect yourself against one or the other (political) nonsense and its real effects as a driver or occupant of a SAAB and how that works. It's amazing and disturbing at the same time that a SAAB is still up to date today, maybe even more up to date than before ...

Anyway, thank you very much for this article.

jANV
jANV
5 years earlier

I agree with 100%, and wonder at the same time why this partly moody, in his tenor, after my irrelevant opinion but very aptly in the open (policy) wound oppressive contribution of the blog readers with so many (currently : 6) Thumbs down is rated?

Herbert Hürsch
Herbert Hürsch
5 years earlier
Reply to  jANV

Maybe because the comment was actually a bit moody?

Perhaps hurried and only superficially reading (turbo) diesel drivers have put their thumbs down here? The comment was meant differently and not directed against her ...

The diesel in its current form, its high degree of distribution and its former technological breakthrough to a fully-fledged, fast and competitive car is a political product and the responsibility of the Greens, SPD, FDP, CDU and CSU. Of those who now point with their bare fingers at others and scream “scandal” ...

Herbert H.
Herbert H.
5 years earlier

Then I have bingo :-). In all three, the activated carbon filter is replaced once a year. Now my better feeling was rationally confirmed.

J93
J93
5 years earlier

Interesting! Never thought about it.
So I should go to Saab Service Frankfurt soon. My filter is already good 80.000TKm and 3 years in there: /
Make an appointment now ...

Reinhard Mann
Reinhard Mann
5 years earlier

really an important topic! I have been using filters with activated carbon for a long time (actually always). However, I was not aware that this would also reduce the NOx load. Odor improvement by activated carbon is clear, but due to which chemical reaction is the nitric oxide pollution so deitlich improved?
By the way: in the 90s I needed 10 minutes to change the filter, today I am happy if it can be done in 40 minutes and I don't have to go to the chiropractor afterwards! But that's probably just because of my advanced age ...

Herbert H.
Herbert H.
5 years earlier
Reply to  Reinhard Mann

Almost all cars that are changed over the interior of the filter are recreational killers, so is not the age 😀