What brought them about, and when? I found the one in our Accord. I don't remember how I came across it. We've had it (an '07) since '09, and never saw one before that.
How did we survive without them?
How did we survive without them?
Why do we have cabin air filters?
- Thread starter SpeedThrills
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twouvakind
Site Donor 2024
All the flotsam and jetsam ended up in the cabin and not a filter.
My 95 has a plugged up Evap core from bees wings. Before the areodynamic now the air intakes were shielded from junk or didn’t have ac.
Lots of people survived over the years, no seatbelts and no airbags. No ABS, no all season tires, not even a good brew of coffee. I do believe the first cars did not use air filters, certainly not oil filters.
Sometimes things do get better.
I've cleaned out a couple of CAF's that were chewed on. I'd rather pull out the rodent mess that way than have to figure out how to clean out innards of the HVAC box. I also have some wicked allergies and it can be nice to have that filter there, for whatever it good it might do.
Will say that like all other things that need servicing, they could do a bit better job at making it easy to do. The one's have had to do aren't bad, but some of it does scream "we did it on the cheap!"
Sometimes things do get better.
I've cleaned out a couple of CAF's that were chewed on. I'd rather pull out the rodent mess that way than have to figure out how to clean out innards of the HVAC box. I also have some wicked allergies and it can be nice to have that filter there, for whatever it good it might do.
Will say that like all other things that need servicing, they could do a bit better job at making it easy to do. The one's have had to do aren't bad, but some of it does scream "we did it on the cheap!"
My 2014 Ford F-150 has no cabin filter. I really like it in my Civic because I drive on gravel when exploring the countryside. I have the K&N washable cabin filter and it works great.
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Engine air filters as late as the 60's were just a housing that routed the air over some exposed oil. Every once in a while you cleaned and changed the oil. RIngs didn't last long.
In the 70's they came out with the round paper air filter. Often you found it curled up in a corner of the housing after getting damp once.
If you had AC in the early 70's it likely not longer worked anyway, so you rolled down the window. No cabin air filter required.
My wife's 2000 Accord had one, kind of a pain to change, I know my 1997 Rodeo didn't, nor did my 91 Miata.
Living in pollen country, I'm glad for them. Don't solve the misery in the spring, but they certainly help.
Living in pollen country, I'm glad for them. Don't solve the misery in the spring, but they certainly help.
Not trying to steal the thread, but some refrigerators have an air filter and I fully expect every new fridge to eventually have one. And the added cost of putting one in a fridge at the factory will be more than recouped by the sale of genuine replacement filters. The sales pitch will be removing the Ethylene gas which occurs from many fresh foods. Your food will last longer with filtration.
Welcome to BITOG 
The cabin filter does help a lot though
It filters the air coming in the car and also protects HVAC components like the blower motor and fan.
The first car to have a cabin filter was the Saab 9000 in the mid 80s.
The cabin filter does help a lot though
It filters the air coming in the car and also protects HVAC components like the blower motor and fan.
The first car to have a cabin filter was the Saab 9000 in the mid 80s.
CAFs have been around since the late '70s, and became common in the '90s. Particulates, especially super-fine ones, are not conducive to good lung health. Particulates from exhaust, brake dust, and similar are not natural contaminants that we have evolved to filter out efficiently. Natural particulates like dust and pollen also cause problems even in those who don't have allergies. All my cars since the 1990s have had CAFs., even my Nissan NX. My 1980 Rabbit, which I still have and drive on occasion, does not have a CAF and I hate driving it when the air quality is bad. CAFs also keep the interior clean with much less dust collecting on the dash. The activated charcoal CAFs will filter out most noxious odors.
Dealer service departments in the 90's were complaining to the manufacturers that they didn't have enough work, what with 100,000 mile spark plugs, absence of distributor caps, rotors and plug wires, 150,000 mile coolant and lifetime transmission fluid. So the engineers camp up with another maintenance item, basically a solution for a problem that didn't really exist but that they could convince people it does.
Apparently since 1979.Welcome to BITOG
The cabin filter does help a lot though
It filters the air coming in the car and also protects HVAC components like the blower motor and fan.
The first car to have a cabin filter was the Saab 9000 in the mid 80s.
THE HISTORY OF CABIN FILTERS
Despite the fact that the history of the automotive industry dates back to the 18th Century, the history of cabin filters is surprisingly short, with its beginnings in the 1970s. It was during that period that vehicle manufacturers began analysing the importance of air quality in the passenger...
filtron.eu
I got the vf2007 kn cabin filter. I wash it out in the shower once a month.
Based on circumstantial evidence, I believe the heater core of my Mazda was significantly clogged with leaves, dust, insects, etc. within 600k miles. A cabin air filter would've avoided that. The same could happen to an air conditioner evaporator.
REALLY? How many times have you changed a CLEAN AIR FILTER?
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My 2005 Tahoe did NOT come from the factory with a cabin air filter. However, the heater box, did have a provision/raised area where one would have been. Other GMT800 models, sparingly, did have factory cabin air filters.
I cut the heater box, bought the Dorman cabin air filter door, and installed a cabin air filter. In doing so, I cleaned years of dust, crud and junk from the evaporator core. It was a mess.
Many cans of cleaner, a mild blow nozzle and a vacuum. You should've seen the pile of junk I had to suck up. So I like having one for this purpose.
I cut the heater box, bought the Dorman cabin air filter door, and installed a cabin air filter. In doing so, I cleaned years of dust, crud and junk from the evaporator core. It was a mess.
Many cans of cleaner, a mild blow nozzle and a vacuum. You should've seen the pile of junk I had to suck up. So I like having one for this purpose.
#1 Imagine for a moment trying to keep the interior of a car clean which did not have air conditioning. Let me tell you it's a royal PITA.
#2 Air conditioning became standard so more people were driving with windows up. That turns the vehicle interior into a catch basin for everything coming in through the vents.
#3 Occupant comfort - clean evaporator coils operate more efficiently.
I much prefer to have the filter. It’s the dirt, bugs, leaves and other unmentionables that trap the condensate and help to corrode an evaporator. If the fins are clean then the water drains off better and helps to prolong the life of this often hard to replace item.
