The Cleaning Trick That'll Make Your Car Seats Smell Fresh

As any driver will tell you, it's not just about finding the right vehicle for your needs at the most suitable price. That can certainly be a significant struggle in itself, but another obligation, of course, is keeping that vehicle in good condition. From the thorough, time-consuming cleans (inside and outside alike) to the quick sprucing-up sessions, maintaining your vehicle is a full-time concern. The car community, fortunately, has come up with a range of handy hacks to help with that.

Those who transport takeout (and/or children) on a regular basis can attest to the fact that smells have a way of lingering. It happens to the best-maintained vehicles. But what to do about it?

From air fresheners to the likes of Febreze (the Procter & Gamble powerhouse hit $1 billion in sales per year in March 2011), everyone has their favored ways of keeping odors at bay. There's one simple trick that many may never have tried, though, a hack that can be very effective at neutralizing such smells on car seats. All you need is some baking soda.

Baking soda is an invaluable household item to keep handy. As the name suggests, it's used in baking to help tasty treats rise while cooking, but there's much more to this alkali than just that. If there's a cloying smell you're struggling to get out of your car seats, it could be exactly what you're looking for.

Mixing baking soda and water (Arm & Hammer recommends a general 2:1 ratio) and wiping your seats with it using a cloth before rinsing and drying can be an effective method of removing those stubborn stains. Smells can be combated using a slightly different approach: Instead of wiping, an even layer of baking soda should be spread across the surface of the seats. It should be allowed to lay undisturbed for a time  (longer for more serious smelly issues) and then vacuumed away.

While an air freshener may simply aim to overpower unwelcome smells with a pine fresh scent, baking powder's effect is a bit more sophisticated than that. Truman's' Alex Reed explained to Martha Stewart's blog in 2020, that a non-refrigerated, light, and even layer of baking soda is most effective at neutralizing smells. "Most smells are acidic in nature," Reed stated, and the alkaline composition of baking soda counteracts that. As such, it can eradicate smells nicely. It's another vital tool in the car-cleaner's repertoire.