An often overlooked maintenance item is the cabin air filter. This filter is not in many older cars but in the last 10 years it has increased in popularity and is now used by all manufacturers. Its job is to filter the air coming into the cabin. This keeps the vehicles air-conditioning evaporator, heater core, vents and ducting clean. Also the air we breath is not loaded with road and tyre dust. Some of these filters are even using activated carbon to filter out fumes.
Unfortunately this filter is often overlooked by lazy mechanics in a lot of general services. This is one reason log book servicing is generally better as the manufactures specify when to change the filter. The filter lives under the dash in most cars but location does vary from model to model. Pictured is a cabin air filter from 2011 Mazda 2. It is easy to change and very important. You can clearly see how well they work with the accumulation of dust and debris in this filter.
So on your next service with Certified Automotive ask to how your cabin air filter looks.
