The “new vehicle fragrance” is a popular one. Plastics, stain-resistant textiles, and possibly some genuine leather are used in most automobiles and SUVs. It’s a symphony of scents that creates an emotional response. Professionals at automobile companies such as Nissan scent each new car meticulously to guarantee it has that distinct new car fragrance.
Materials used inside a car are exposed to so many demands. They must endure for years, be easy to clean, resist high temperatures, and so on, that expecting them to also smell great is a tall order.
However, it is because of these rigorous standards that carmakers hire people like Tori Keerl, a materials engineer at Nissan’s Farmington Hills technical center. She leads a team of odour experts that examine the odours of everything that goes inside Nissan Pathfinder SUVs and Frontier pickup trucks.
I met her on the New York Auto Show floor to discuss fragrances and put my own nose to the test.
Keerl was hired as a plastics materials engineer, but due to the fact that plastics make up the majority of materials inside a non-luxury vehicle, she was quickly promoted to overall responsibility for how Nissan automobiles smell inside.
“We have to analyses the odour of every vehicle before we launch it,” she told
Before putting a new model into production, Keerl and her colleagues sniff test specific vehicle elements like steering wheels, seat cushions, and visors to ensure they have a pleasant, or at least inoffensive odour.
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