Some of Britain’s most popular cars are filtering out as little as one per cent of toxic particles, according to a report by Emission Analytics.
Researchers analysed the air inside 11 cars, including the Ford Fiesta VW Polo and Toyota C-HR, to test how effective the ventilation systems were at removing harmful and toxic particles.
The Toyota C-HR was found to remove just one per cent of poisonous particles
Both the VW Polo and Ford Fiesta underperformed, filtering out 35 per cent and 40 per cent of particles effectively.
Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class managed to filter out 90 per cent of pollutants, even when the car was in heavy traffic.
Nick Molden, CEO at Emissions Analytics, said that the problem is there are no government standards when it comes to filtration systems in cars.
“There is little data to tell consumers what they are buying.
“So if you have kids with asthma or other conditions you cannot tell if the car you are buying will protect them,” he said.
Emissions Analytics found 57,000 toxic particles in every cubic centimetre of roadside air samples, which means drivers could be inhaling up to 38 million particles with every breath.
Toxic particles could be detrimental to people with respiratory conditions such as asthma.
