Nissan has ʺOdor Engineersʺ working in Europe, Japan and the United States
These employees work to create a more pleasant smell for customers
A new car’s smell comes from the various materials and adhesives used in its fabrication
A lot more thought goes into the smell of a car than it seems. Indeed, manufacturers, such as Nissan, have employees dedicated to make sure the odor of a new vehicle is pleasant.
The smell typically associated with new cars comes from the plastics, the foam, the leather, the adhesives and the rubbers used in their construction.
These materials create gases as they slowly evaporate which gives a smell that is often common among many of an automaker’s products, and this is by design.
Nissan employs ʺOdor Engineersʺ whose job it is to smell different substances to be used in an automobile and to choose the ones which would cause a pleasant scent.
Since chemicals and gasses are involved, many countries such as Japan and China have laws destined to regulate air quality in new vehicles, which adds complexity to the engineer’s task.
2021 Nissan Qashqai | Photo: Nissan
Nissan’s odor testers smell all of the components used in their vehicles under different environmental conditions to make sure their scent doesn’t get overbearing during hot or cold weather.
According to Peter Karl Eastland, odour evaluation lead engineer at Nissan’s European technical center, his job is even more important in electric vehicles since the lack of sound coming from the drivetrain means passenger’s senses shift more toward smell.
